Blueberry Bread
This is an official month declared by the USDA! Did you know that blueberries are native to North America and we grow them in 35 out of the 50 states? That means we supply about 95% of the world’s crop. It’s known as a superfood, because they’re rich in fiber, low in calories and full of vitamins and antioxidants. It’s also one of the few foods found in nature that are blue, so there’s always that.
I wanted to try Blueberry Bread with my breakmaker, so I found a recipe on the Fleischmann’s site, the people who produce the instant yeast in bottles and packets. The experts at Zojirushi advised me to use dried blueberries because using fresh ones would make the dough soggy. This also gave me a chance to use the dispensing attachment that comes with the breadmaker—it drops whatever dry ingredient you want into the dough for you, so you don’t have to interrupt the cycle or even take the dough out. Worked like a charm. This is all I needed according to the recipe. (The black container is the auto ingredient dispenser.)
Ready to go.
This was the best looking bread I’ve been able to bake with my breadmaker. I mean, look how perfectly shaped it is! And the texture and color of it was amazing. Then when I sliced it open and saw the swirly blueberry, I was totally impressed. And yeah, it tasted as good as it looked, so I rated this one an “A” and patted myself on the back.
Blueberry Jam
Now for some fresh (ok, frozen fresh) blueberries and my Blueberry Jam using a Zojirushi recipe for the breadmaker! This also turned out amazingly good, and I think the credit goes to using fresh ingredients.
The frozen blueberries worked out great, and I made up for the freshness factor by using lemons from our garden!
I mean, this jam only requires blueberries, sugar and lemon juice—add it to the pan and the machine does the rest. Be sure to mash up the berries first.
Cook for an hour and twenty minutes with the Jam Course and ta-dah! Fresh blueberry jam!
Pour the jam into a glass jar and refrigerate to thicken it a bit. The homemade jam recipes online suggest adding pectin to the jam to add firmness, which I did—you can buy that at the supermarket.
This was a very tasty jam—not too sweet like the kind you get at the store. And it felt good knowing there weren’t any preservatives in it; but of course that means you can’t keep it that long in your fridge. Next up for jams—strawberry!
Just For Fun
What do you do when the twist-off cap on your soda won’t open? You use your slipper of course! (Don’t worry—I cleaned the bottle before drinking!)
All images by Bert Tanimoto
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