Name: Blueberry Muffin Bread
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 70 min
Total time: 80 min
Ingredients: 2 1/2 cups (313 grams) self-rising flour; 1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar; 1 cup (240 grams) milk (room temperature); 1 large egg (50 grams) (room temperature); 1/4 cup (56 grams) vegetable oil; 1 cup (170 grams) blueberries (fresh or frozen); zest of 1 lemon (optional); sparkling sugar (optional)

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This blueberry muffin bread is a cinch to make! You can make it one bowl and takes minutes to throw together. Forget muffins…make this instead!

Blueberry Muffins for breakfast are great. Don’t get me wrong. But muffin bread is even better.

Seriously. Why? Well because there is no fussing with liners in a muffin tin. Or scooping batter.

I came across this blueberry muffin bread in the One Bowl Baking Issue from Bake From Scratch and I was hooked. A muffin bread is all the taste and deliciousness of a muffin WITHOUT the fuss. You doing a happy dance yet over there? It’s ok I won’t judge.

What Is Self-Rising Flour?

Before we jump into the recipe, we need to talk flour. This bread is special because it uses self-rising flour. Self-rising flour is a staple ingredient in England and in most southern recipes. Self-rising flour is as it sounds a flour that will rise on its own. No it’s magic. It contains a leavening agent! And salt. Once you have tried using it in a recipe, you will love it. I promise.

Self-rising flour, invented by Henry Jones in the 1800s, and is what gave rise to the popular mixes like Jiffy and Bisquik. (Source: The Kitchn)

What’s The Difference Between All Purpose and Self-Rising Flour?

First of all let’s establish they are not the same. And for some very important reasons. Which means you can’t just do a 1:1 swap if a recipe calls for one or the other.

All purpose is just flour. Nothing else. Self-rising flour, on the other hands contains baking powder and salt.

But that’s not all. All purpose flour is a bit of higher protein content than self-rising flour. Which is why Southerners swear by using self-rising flour in their biscuits. This means that your DIY self-rising flour may not produce quite a tender of a baked good then if you were to use store-bought. But hey if you’re making some one biscuits, I doubt they are going to be mad at you!

How To Make This Blueberry Muffin Bread – Step By Step

Step 1 – Start by measuring your dry ingredients.

For this recipe it uses self-rising flour. If you are new to using or do not have any you can make your own self-rising flour. It won’t maybe have exactly the right texture but will be a close comparison. Because self-rising flour has the baking powder and salt already in it that means less mixing for us! Woo hoo! So simply measure your sugar and flour in a bowl and give it a whisk.

Pro Tip: Use a kitchen scale to avoid dirtying up your dry measuring cups and get the process done even faster.

Step 2: Add in your wet ingredients.

Then add in your liquid ingredients – egg, milk, vegetable oil, lemon zest. You don’t have to add the lemon zest, but I just think blueberries and lemon are just such a natural pairing and give this bread a great taste. And whisk it all together. Be sure to stop whisking once the flour has just been incorporated. Lumps in your batter are OK and preferred!

Step 3: Pour half of the batter into your pan. Then top with half of your blueberries.

Step 4: And then repeat! More batter and top off with the rest of the blueberries. Top with a sprinkle of sparkling or turbinado sugar.

If you want to use a second bowl then toss your blueberries in a tablespoon of flour and then mix right into your batter. This will give you more blueberries dispersed throughout (if you’re ok with a second dirty bowl!)

Step 5: Then bake (about 60-70 minutes).

Every oven is different! So set your timer for 60 minutes and check every five minutes after that. Once a wooden skewer inserted comes out clean, then remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing from the pan and cool on a cooling rack.

Can I Use Frozen Blueberries?

Yes! I did. I had blueberries in the freezer so it was perfect to use up.

If you use frozen, do not thaw before using them.

Do I Have To Use Self-Rising Flour?

What makes this bread come together fast is the fact that it uses self-rising flour which has the baking powder and salt already added to it.

If you don’t have any in your pantry you can go ahead and make your own self-rising flour. Self-rising flour does have a lower protein content than AP flour so you may get a slightly different texture. So just be careful and not overmix your batter!

Tips For Making This Blueberry Muffin Bread:

Use a kitchen scale when measuring your dry ingredients to make fast work of this bread. If you do use your measuring cups, then be sure to measure your flour correctly by spooning it into the cup and leveling it off with a flat edge.
If you use frozen blueberries, do not thaw them before using them. Just toss them right into the batter as is.
Do not overmix this batter. Making this blueberry bread is just like making muffins. This muffin bread should be lumpy. If you mix too long, the bread will be chewy and tough because the mixing activates the gluten in the flour. Gluten is the protein network that provides structure. So less mixing = less gluten = tender muffin bread.
Don’t add too much of the batter at first, otherwise all of your blueberries will end up at the top! You can measure out your batter for best accuracy.
Make sure to let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing it. If you remove it too early then it may fall apart.

Tools Needed To Make This Blueberry Bread:

8×5 inch loaf pan (if you use a different sized pan you may need to adjust the baking time!)
Mixing Bowl (I recommend glass or metal, not plastic because it can retain odors and grease over time)
Kitchen scale (makes quick work of measuring!)
Whisk (I love this one because it double as a bowl scraper!)

If you love this recipe let me know and leave me a comment and rating below! Thank you so much in advance!