I’ve recently been reading a lot of food blogs from the northern hemisphere, welcoming in the new Spring weather with fresh new recipes. However, in Australia, we’re now moving into Autumn weather, and wouldn’t it be nice to wake up in the morning to a warm slice of Braided Bread with Blueberry and Cream Cheese Filling?
This recipe is not too difficult: rolling out a yeast dough into a rectangle shape, placing the filling in the middle, and then ‘braiding’ the side tabs into the middle of the dough.
But wait! Does this sound too complicated? Not at all! I’ve never braided bread before, and if a klutz like me can do it, so you can you!
The Method
First, make the yeast dough and then let it rise double in size. Roll the dough out into a rectangle shape and then place the cream cheese and blueberry fillings in the center of the dough.
Next, on a diagonal, cut the sides of the dough into tabs about one inch wide.
Now, fold one tab at a time into the center of the dough, alternating sides and making sure the tabs overlap. Press the end of each tab gently into the dough after folding.
Let the dough rise again, brush with egg wash and bake for 25 – 30 minutes. And it doesn’t matter weather you live in the northern or southern hemisphere, this bread tastes good wherever you live!
P.S. If you enjoyed this post, please do ‘like’ my G’day Souffle’ Facebook page!
27 Comments
Joanne T Ferguson
April 8, 2014 at 6:54 pmG’day Fran! I’ve never made a braided bread either, true!
Love your recipe and photo and you now have inspired me to do!
Cheers! Joanne
Fran
April 8, 2014 at 7:15 pmThanks, Joanne- this is so easy to do!
Carol
March 7, 2015 at 6:04 amDare I ask? Can Phyllo dough be substituted?
Joanne
April 8, 2014 at 9:28 pmOh my, this is just gorgeous, no matter what the season!
John@Kitchen Riffs
April 9, 2014 at 2:16 amPretty bread! And great flavors. Never have made a loaf like this, but you’re right that’s it’s pretty doable. Now that we have your instructions, of course! Good stuff — thanks.
Megan
April 9, 2014 at 9:50 amYou’ve inspired me! I can’t wait to make this recipe!! Thanks!
Fran
April 13, 2014 at 10:16 amMegan, it’s lots of fun to make this bread!
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef
April 9, 2014 at 9:21 pmFran, this is wonderful. I want to make this for Easter breakfast!
Fran
April 13, 2014 at 10:17 amHi Maureen, I think this bread will be healthier than eating chocolate eggs on Easter morning!
atasteofmadess
April 10, 2014 at 1:36 amThis is gorgeous! I have never made a sweet braided bread. I need to get on it!
Daniela
April 10, 2014 at 11:08 amThat’s a brilliant idea for all seasons Fran!
Give me blueberries and give me cream cheese and I’m happy.
The bread looks delicious and perfectly browned.
Juliana
April 10, 2014 at 11:29 amBeautiful loaf of bread…you sure did a great job braiding the bread…and yum… delicious filling…cream cheese and blueberries…
Thanks for the recipe Fran, hope you are having a fabulous week
Donalyn@The Creekside Cook
April 11, 2014 at 4:20 amOh Fran, that does look really beautiful, not to mention tasty. I’ve been doing a lot of sourdough lately, which would be perfect in this recipe – thanks for such a delicious idea!
Gourmet Getaways
April 11, 2014 at 10:37 amOMG! This looks so perfect and cute!
I just love how the finished bread looks and I can’t imagine how good it would taste!
Kumar's Kitchen
April 11, 2014 at 9:30 pmthis is an elegant and beautiful berry loaf….and such amazing step wise pictures…we were always a bit unsure about braided breads but your process makes them a must try at home this weekend,thanks so much for sharing such lovely kitchen inspirations…Have A Great Day!!!
maria s
April 12, 2014 at 7:07 pmoh ive tried making braided bread but it’s nowhere nearly as beautiful as yours is!
Amira
April 17, 2014 at 1:50 amFabulous, This can be filled with almost anything and turn out great. Your filling is mouthwatering, your loaf looks so fresh and delicious. I’m in the mood of baking these days so I will try this for sure.
Joy @MyTravelingJoys
April 20, 2014 at 9:47 pmThanks for the inspiration! I made this recipe but substituted a jar of my homemade rhubarb & strawberry jam for the fruit filling. And, I used fresh farmer’s cheese. The braid turned out fantastic – perfect for our Easter meal!
Anneli Faiers
April 25, 2014 at 10:41 pmGosh that looks so pretty and the filling sounds sublime. What a lovely idea and you make it sounds so much simpler than it looks! Great instructions as ever Fran x
Claire @ Simply Sweet Justice
May 9, 2014 at 2:20 amHi Fran, what a beautiful bread! Your pictures make it look much simpler and less intimidating. With the blueberries and cream cheese filling, this sounds divine.
Cristina
September 10, 2014 at 5:45 amGreat recipe! Just FYI, I made the dough, let it rise for 2 hours, punched it down and then put it in the fridge overnight. let it sit out of the fridge for 1 hour prior to assembling everything and it all turned out perfectly! So, you can do a lot of the work the day before.
Fran
September 10, 2014 at 7:35 amThanks Christina, good idea to do some of the prep work the day before!
Kim | Low Carb Maven
February 16, 2016 at 6:19 amFran! This bread is so beautiful! I love the blueberry filling. It looks so perfect. Thanks for sharing.
Mitch Boutte
October 14, 2016 at 9:46 amI live in Tacoma Washington , it’s raining out and I was bored ,…. while searching around the internet I stumbled across a picture of your bread , and saw how easy it is … loved the dough so much that I used half of it for cinnamon rolls , your explanation, and pictures made it so easy that this old man did every thing right the first time… yea I love any thing with Blue berries and/or, Huckle berries , the cream cheese also made a perfect topping for the cinnamon rolls, I’m 55 and I haven’t baked any thing ever ! thank you
Fran
October 14, 2016 at 1:05 pmMitch, thanks so much for stopping by my blog. I’m glad the recipe turned out well for you an helped to overcome your rainy day boredom!
William Burch
May 13, 2020 at 5:33 amCouple things I noticed when making this.
The amount of dough yielded by this recipe resulted in much larger rectangles then originally specified, and as a result the amount of filling had to be increased.
Also the final filling is best done on the final baking sheet as transferring a filled loaf to a sheet turned out to be impossible for me, and I had to discard my first loaf
Fran Flint
May 13, 2020 at 10:43 amWilliam, thanks so much for your comment. I’ll go through this recipe again to see if any changes need to be made to the proportions.