These creamy and fluffy blueberry cream cheese buns are made with a soft sweet milk bread base, filled with creamy cheese, topped with juicy blueberries and sprinkled with a buttery streusel. They are a delicious bakery-style bread to share at parties.
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 250 grams ( 2 cups) bread flour, if you don’t have bread flour (high protein flour), all-purpose flour can work as well
- 30 grams (2 tbsp) sugar
- 180 grams (3/4 cup) milk of choice, heated in the microwave for 30-40 seconds
- 9 grams (3 tsp) yeast
- 10 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3 grams salt
For the blueberry cream cheese filling:
- 200 grams cream cheese
- 20 grams sugar
- 30 blueberries, more or less to your liking
Streusel topping
- 10 grams cold butter
- 25 grams cake flour, all-purpose flour can also work
- 10 grams sugar
Step-By-Step Instructions
1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the bread flour and sugar. Set aside.
2. In another bowl, measure out your milk of choice (I used whole milk) and heat it in the microwave for 30-40 seconds. It should be warm to the touch, but not too hot. Then add the yeast and mix well until the yeast has dissolved into the milk. The mixture should be slightly beige in colour.
3. Pour the milk into the flour mixture and mix with a wooden spoon or a pair of chopsticks until a rough mass has formed. Once a mass has formed, transfer the dough to a clean, floured surface.
4. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes by using the heel of your hand to push the dough away from you, then bringing it back. The dough should become less sticky and more elastic as you knead.
5. After you have kneaded the dough for about 10 minutes, add the butter and salt, then knead for another 10 minutes, making sure to evenly combine the butter and salt. Use the same technique to knead.
6. The dough should feel more elastic now. Form it into a neat ball, and place it back into your lightly greased bowl for proofing. Cover with a towel, plastic wrap or a lid, and let it proof for 50-60 minutes. If the weather is cold right now, you can place the bowl in the oven along with a small bowl of hot water.
7. You will know that your dough has finished proofing when it does not spring back after being poked. Remove the dough from the bowl and transfer it onto your work surface again.
8. Press the dough flat to remove large air bubbles. Then, using a bench scraper, divide it into 6 equal portions – do not worry if each portion is not exactly equal.
9. For each of the six portions, roll it into a rough ball and press it flat into a circle using the palm of your hand. Then, tuck the edges in, seal it, flip the ball so that the ugly side faces down, and roll it until the ball becomes smooth.
10. Space out the prepared portions on a lined baking tray. Cover with a kitchen towel and let it proof in a warm place for another 15 minutes.
11. Meanwhile, take the cream cheese out from the refrigerator to let it soften a bit. Then, make the simple streusel topping. Add the cold butter, sugar and cake flour to a bowl and use your fingers to work the butter into the flour until the ingredients become crumbly. Set aside.
12. After the dough balls have proofed, gently flatten each ball slightly with your hand. Then, press the base of a cup down into the centre of the circle and twirl the cup around a bit to secure the indent. This should make the dough portions look like inflatable pools. You can fix up the shape using your fingers or the back of a spoon. You may need to lightly flour the cup base. Cover the tray in a kitchen towel again, and proof for a final 30 minutes.
13. Meanwhile, make the cream cheese filling. Add the softened cream cheese and sugar to a bowl and mix well with a spatula. Transfer the filling to a piping bag with a round nozzle. If you don’t want to use a piping bag, you could also spoon the filling into the bread, but piping the filling on results in a cleaner look. Set aside.
14. After the dough has proofed, you may need to fix up the indents. Simply use the same cup to make the indents again. Then, brush all surfaces of the dough with an egg wash (10g egg + 2 tsp milk). Pipe the cream cheese filling, making sure to fill the entire indented section of the dough.
15. Lastly, press 5 blueberries into each bread and sprinkle with the streusel topping.
16. Bake at 180°C or 350°F for 16 minutes in a preheated oven. Let it cool until warm enough to enjoy! Store in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 day before transferring to the refrigerator for 4-5 days.
