blueberry

A few months back, I made a couple blueberry pistachio sourdough loaves. I enjoyed the flavor combination so much that I decided to mix it into a shortbread dough, add some lemon zest, roll it into logs, chill, then slice and bake the cookies. The result was just as lovely as the bread. Blueberry pistachio is a unique and delicious flavor combination, tangy and earthy, and deeply satisfying.

Blueberry pistachio shortbread cookies are buttery and crumbly with a tart twist and a hearty texture. They are rich, but not too rich, and sweet but not too sweet, an altogether pleasing fruit-nut combo. 

ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • ⅔ cup dried blueberries
  • ⅔ cup pistachios

steps

In a large bowl, combine the flour, lemon zest, and salt and set aside. Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, cream together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy. Slowly add in the flour mixture. With the mixer on low speed, add in the dried blueberries and pistachios until just combined, no need to overmix.

Transfer the dough to a large piece of plastic wrap, roll it out into a log and refrigerate it for 1-2 hours. This will allow the flavors to really mingle and the dough to set. 

After the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 350°F. Using a sharp knife, cut ⅓ inch slices and place them about 1 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for ~12 minutes until lightly golden on the edges.

Pistachios are one of my all-time favorite nuts. Their brilliant green hue is such a beautiful color and their unique, earthy flavor is all the more enhanced when they are toasted or baked. Pistachios are delightful paired with blueberries. In this blueberry pistachio sourdough, dried blueberries bake with pistachios for a chewy bread, filled with sweet and savory notes. When baked, the dried blueberries create a jam-like consistency so you don’t even need any actual jam. Blueberry pistachio sourdough makes for a self-contained toast with a pat of butter or the flavorful bookends of a sandwich. 

ingredients

for the levain

  • 14g sourdough starter
  • ½ cup / 63g all-purpose flour
  • ⅓ cup / 80g water

for the loaves

  • 2 ½ cups / 650g water, divided
  • 20g kosher salt
  • 5 cups / 625g all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup / 63g whole-wheat flour
  • 1 cup / 127g pistachios, shelled
  • 1 cup / 159g dried blueberries

process

  • Day 1 (overnight) make the levain in the evening and let rest ~10 hours
  • Day 2 (morning) mix, stretch, fold dough ~4 hours
  • Day 2 (afternoon-overnight) bulk fermentation ~12 hours
  • Day 3 (morning) bake for 55 minutes. 

levain steps

The night before you are going to bake your bread, mix together the starter, all-purpose flour, and water until evenly combined. Cover in plastic wrap and let sit for 10-12 hours until the surface is bubbly and a small bit (about ⅛ teaspoon) of the starter floats in a glass of water.

loaves steps

In a large bowl, mix together the activated levain and 550g of the water until the levain completely dissolves. Add the all-purpose and whole-wheat flour and mix with your hands or a rubber spatula until it forms a shaggy dough. Let this mixture sit for 1 hour to let the flour fully absorb the water, this is the autolyse stage.

After the dough has rested for an hour, evenly sprinkle the salt over the top then add the remaining 100g of water. Pinch and squeeze the dough with your fingers to make sure that the salt and water evenly incorporates.

Starting at the top of the bowl, stretch the dough up and fold it in half over itself. Turn the bowl clockwise 90° and stretch and fold it once again. Turn the bowl twice more, each time 90° and stretch and fold each time, for a total of four stretches and folds. Then let the dough sit for 30 minutes. 

At this point, sprinkle half of the pistachios and dried blueberries over the top of the dough. Using your fingertips, press them into the dough and begin the first stretch and fold of the series. Turn the bowl and stretch and fold once more, then add in the remaining pistachios and blueberries, once again pressing them into the dough with your fingertips. Stretch and fold the dough twice more then let rest for 30 minutes. 

Repeat the stretch and fold process every 30 minutes followed by a 30 minute rest over the next hour and a half for a total of six stretch and fold sequences, including the one adding in the mix-ins. 

Following the final stretch and fold, let the dough rest for 30 minutes then turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it in half. Work with one piece at a time and fold the dough from four corners, essentially making four flaps which join in the center of the dough.

Dust two bannetons or large bowls lined with dish towels with rice flour and place the loaves seam-side up inside. Place in the refrigerator to ferment overnight.

Once the loaves are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 500°F and place two 5 qt. Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pots in the oven to heat. If you only have one, you can bake the loaves back-to-back. Test that the dough is ready to bake by lightly pressing it with your finger. If the indent moves back quickly, the dough is not ready to bake. If it keeps the indentation, then the dough is ready!

Turn the loaves out onto a piece of parchment paper with the top of the loaf as the part that was inside the banneton or bowl. Slice the top in a pattern of your choosing to ensure that the steam can release and the dough can rise to its full potential. 

Lower the oven temperature to 450°. Remove the heated dutch oven, place the dough inside, cover, and bake for 20 minutes without removing the lid. After 20 minutes, remove the lid and bake for another 35 minutes until crisp. Repeat with the second loaf if you are baking the pistachio blueberry sourdough loaves back-to-back.

Happy Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year and the first official day of winter! With four days until Christmas, I’ve been baking a lot of cookies, including these berry spritz cookies.

Spritz cookies are a holiday classic. They are buttery, delicious and fun to make. The simple butter cookie dough is pushed through a cookie press directly onto a baking sheet to create the distinct shapes and designs.

Here, I replace traditional food coloring with freeze-dried berries, which are ground to a powder to add color and slight flavor! For these berry spritz cookies, I used strawberries and blueberries, but feel free to try other fun flavors like cranberry, pomegranate, or orange which create vivid, natural colors without added dye. Berry spritz cookies will add a touch of pastel to your holiday baking repertoire !

ingredients

for the cookie dough

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon almond extract
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons of ground freeze-dried sliced strawberries (about ½ cup unground)
  • 2 tablespoons of ground freeze-dried blueberries (about ¼ cup unground)

for the topping

steps

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

In a medium-sized bowl, mix together the flour and salt.

Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract. Slowly add in the dry ingredients. Beat until the dough forms.

Divide the dough in half and place one half in a separate bowl and the other half in the mixer bowl. Add the strawberry powder to mixer bowl and beat on medium speed until thoroughly combined and dough has turned pink.

Remove the strawberry dough from the mixer bowl and beat the remaining dough with the blueberry powder.

Whisk the remaining egg with 1 tablespoon of water. 

Using a cookie press, press cookies directly onto a greased, unlined baking sheet. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with turbinado sugar.

Bake for 6-7 minutes, rotating the pan once.