Description
This Blueberry Coffee Cake Focaccia combines bubbly sourdough or yeast focaccia, with blueberry muffin flavors, a delicious buttery brown sugar crumble topping, and pockets of a lightly sweetened cream cheese filling. This focaccia is made with a homemade blueberry jam that gets layered in the middle and on top of the bubbly focaccia. This bread makes a delicious breakfast or brunch treat. You can also add lemon zest into the focaccia dough and blueberry filling if you prefer a lemon blueberry flavor combination.
Ingredients
Sourdough Version:
1/2 cup sourdough starter
Yeast Version
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
Dough:
2 cups warm water, (warmed to 110F for yeast and warmed to 90F for sourdough)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
Blueberry Filling
3 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Juice of 1 lemon
Crumble Topping
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Cream Cheese Filling
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Icing
1 tablespoon blueberry jam
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1–2 tablespoons milk
Instructions
1. For the sourdough:
Add the sourdough starter, warm water, sugar, bread flour and salt. Use a wooden spoon or Danish dough hook to mix all ingredients together until the dough is combined. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 8 hours or overnight. Continue to step 2 after the dough is done rising. The blueberry filling will need time to cool, so make it roughly 30 – 45 minutes before using.
For the yeast dough:
In a large bowl, add the instant yeast, warm water, sugar, bread flour and salt. Mix with a wooden spoon or Danish dough hook until ingredients are combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise for 1 ½ hours in a warm place. Continue to step 2 after the dough is done rising. The blueberry filling will need time to cool, so make it roughly 30 – 45 minutes before using.
2. Make the blueberry filling. In a large skillet, add blueberries, cinnamon sugar and juice of lemon. Cook over medium heat, until sugar is dissolved and blueberries begin to release their natural juices. Remove from the heat, set aside and allow to cool 30-45 minutes before using.
3. Drizzle 2 tablespoons olive oil (for a crisper bottom, use 1/4 cup olive oil) in a 9×13 inch pan. Tilt the pan to evenly coat the bottom and sides. Add the dough to the pan. Gently stretch the dough to mostly fit the size of the pan. Add half the blueberry mixture on top of half the dough, then stretch the dough without the blueberry filling on and fold the dough over top of the blueberry filling. If your dough is now taking up half the pan, turn the dough 90 degrees and gently stretch to mostly fit the pan. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 1 hour in a warm place.
4. Make the crumble topping. Add the brown sugar, flour and cinnamon to a bowl and mix to combine. Add in the softened butter and use a fork to claw the ingredients together until pea sized morsels remain. Set aside in refrigerator until ready to use.
5. Preheat oven to 425F.
6. When dough is done rising, add remaining blueberry filling on top of dough. Sprinkle with crumble topping. Drizzle 2-4 tablespoons olive oil over dough (this helps the top of the dough get crisp. If you use 4 tablespoons, the dough will be more crispy). Using oiled fingertips make deep indents all over dough. Place 9×13 pan on rimmed baking sheet in case some of the filling/topping bubbles over.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 20-30 minutes, or until golden brown in color, or when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. You may get some blueberry filling on the toothpick, but there shouldn’t be any raw dough. If the dough is getting too dark while it is baking, loosely place a piece of aluminum foil and over top of the bread.
8. Allow the bread to cool for 30 minutes before adding in the cream cheese filling.
9. Make the cream cheese filling. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or a large mixing bowl and a handheld mixer, beat the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Place cream cheese mixture into a piping bag, or a zip top bag with one corner snipped off. Use a butterknife, or the handle of a spoon to make holes all over the focaccia. Pipe cream cheese filling into the holes.
10. Make the icing. In a medium sized bowl, stir together the powdered sugar, blueberry jam and milk. Add enough milk to make it easy to drizzle, but not too thin. Drizzle over the focaccia. Cut the focaccia into pieces, serve and enjoy!
- Prep Time: 30
- Rise Time: 2 1/2 hours (yeast) 8-12 hours (sourdough)
- Cook Time: 20-30 minutes
- Category: Breakfast/Brunch
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American