Raspberry Bread with Sourdough

In this raspberry bread recipe, fresh berries and soft, sweet bread come together to make an easy and elegant treat. Ribbons of raspberry filling wrap around the bread, and a secret ingredient makes this loaf extra light and fluffy. While it looks challenging, you’ll be surprised at how simple this bread is to make!

My mom and I love berry picking – raspberries, blueberries, strawberries – they’re all so delicious. This week we had one bowl of raspberries left that we’d picked at the end of June, and they were still ripe! To use them up, I cooked them into a sauce and made this raspberry bread.

Even though this recipe takes a bit more time than other sourdough recipes, it isn’t complicated and is sure to turn out yummy. Enjoy it for breakfast, afternoon tea, or dessert with ice cream. Your friends and family will be so impressed and delighted with your bread!

Tips for making Raspberry Bread

• I recommend using a stand mixer to knead the dough because the dough is so sticky. If you don’t have one though, you can knead it by hand for 5-10 minutes, until it forms a stretchy ball. 
• Because it is an enriched dough, the bread might not double in size while it’s proofing. That’s ok. As long as it has risen noticeably, it should turn out fine.
• Depending on the temperature of your kitchen, your bread may not need to rise for 10-12 hours after shaping. You want it to rise enough to fill the pan.
• You can use raspberry jam for the filling or if you have fresh raspberries on hand, you can make your own!
• Watch the bread carefully while it’s baking to make sure it doesn’t get overly brown. If baked too long, the bread will turn out dry. Once the bread is a light golden brown, it’s ready to come out.
• You can store this bread at room temperature for up to five days. Store it in an air tight container to ensure it stays fresh.

Tools you will need

To make this raspberry bread, you need a stand mixer with a dough hook and paddle attachment, a rolling pin, parchment paper, and two loaf pans.

Ingredients you will need

Don’t let the long list of ingredients intimidate you! All you need are basic baking ingredients, some raspberries, and a little pink lemonade.

Bread Dough:

• 4 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sourdough starter
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup honey
• 3 eggs
• 1/4 cup pink lemonade
• zest of 1 lemon

Raspberry Filling:

• 1 cup raspberry jam

OR Make your own filling:

• 2 cups raspberries
• 3 tbsp honey
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tbsp cornstarch

Glaze:

• 1 tbsp honey
• 1/4 cup water

How to make Raspberry Bread

Even though this recipe is long, it’s not complicated! Give it a try – you’ll be surprised at how easy it is.

For the dough:

Place the flour in the bowl of a stand mixer. Start with a paddle attachment on your stand mixer.

Add in the eggs, sourdough starter, honey, pink lemonade, and lemon zest, and mix on medium speed using a paddle attatchment until it starts to form a ball of dough.

Cut the butter into pieces. With the mixer still on medium speed, add the butter to the dough piece by piece. Once you’ve added the last piece, mix until the butter is completely incorporated into the dough.

Change the paddle attatchment on your mixer to a dough hook. Mix the dough on medium speed for 10 minutes. It will be pretty sticky, but if if doesn’t form a ball when you use the dough hook, then you can add a bit more flour to make it more manageable.

After kneading the dough with the dough hook, cover the bowl with a towel and let the dough rise for 10-12 hours. It will might not double in size, but it should rise noticeably.

For the Filling:

While the dough rises, you can make the raspberry filling. In a small pot over medium heat, stir together the water, honey, and cornstarch. Add in the raspberries once the cornstarch and honey are dissolved.

Cook the raspberry filling on medium heat for about fifteen minutes, until thickened and bubbly. Remove from heat and let cool completely. Store the filling in the fridge until ready to use.

Assembling the Raspberry Bread:

The next morning, remove the dough from the bowl and set on a piece of parchment paper.

Divide the dough into two pieces. Use a rolling pin to roll out one piece of dough into a rectangle about 16″ long and 9″ wide.

Spread half of the raspberry filling or jam on the rectangle up to about 1/2″ from the edges.

Roll the rectangle lengthwise and pinch the seam to seal. Turn the roll seam side down on the parchment paper.

To shape the bread in a braid:

Place the log of dough seam-side down on the parchment paper. Starting about an inch from the top of the log, cut down the middle of the roll.

Twist each strand of dough 1/4 of a turn so that the filling is facing up. Braid the dough by layering one strand over the other until you get to the end of the strands. Tuck the ends under and place the bread in a greased bread pan to rise.

To shape the bread in a swirl pattern:

Cut the roll into thin slices like a cinnamon roll. Place two of the rolls side by side in a greased loaf pan. You want them resting on their thin edge so they are standing up. Overlap their edges so that one is slightly in front of the other.

Repeat with the remaining slices to fill the loaf pan, carefully overlapping the edges so that the slices form an interlocking pattern.

Repeat either folding and shaping process with your other half of the bread.

Second Proofing and Baking:

Cover both pans and let the bread rise until nearly doubled in size, which may take 4-5 hours.

Put the bread in the fridge and preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Remove the bread from the fridge and bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.

Optional Glaze:

In a small pan, heat the honey and water. Stir to dissolve the honey. Drizzle over the fresh bread and enjoy!

Did you enjoy this Raspberry Bread Recipe?

If so, make sure to try some other sourdough treats from the Kitchen Counter! Here are a few of my favorites:

• Sourdough Coffee Cake
• Sourdough Babka
• Sourdough Donuts
• Sourdough Shortbread Cookies