Soft and fluffy milk buns made with fresh blueberry and lightly sweetened with honey are delicious, healthy, and perfect for breakfast or to accompany your meals. The recipe can be made with commercial yeast or sourdough starter.
We absolutely love these soft honey milk buns made with fresh blueberries. That faint aroma of blueberries and honey made these little buns extra tasty! The best part is, these buns are made without added refined sugar and just a bit of butter. Despite that, the buns still turn out soft and stay soft for at least 2-3 days when kept in an air-tight container at room temperature.
Ingredients and substitutions
1. Milk
You can use dairy or non-dairy milk. If you use whole milk, the taste will be richer and even tastier. I’ve made it with skim milk and soy milk before too and they turned out really well too
2. Fresh blueberries
You can also used thawed frozen blueberries if you don’t have fresh ones.
3. Honey
I usually use raw honey
4. Bread flour
I usually use King Arthur’s Bread flour, which has about 12.7% protein. I don’t recommend using all-purpose flour
5. Instant yeast
I use SAF red-label instant yeast. You can use any instant yeast you like
6. Milk powder
Milk powder adds a nice milky aroma and also helps to tenderize the bread and bread can rise higher because of the extra protein
7. Unsalted butter
This recipe doesn’t use a whole lot of butter. So, I don’t recommend omitting butter altogether. It helps to keep the bread moist too
8. Salt
I usually use fine sea salt
Blueberry Honey Milk Buns (with sourdough option)
Ingredients
Blueberry puree:
- 70 g milk
- 100 g fresh blueberries
- 25 g honey
Dough if using commercial yeast:
- 250 g bread flour (12.7% protein content)
- 10 g milk powder
- 4 g instant yeast
- 4 g salt
- 15 g unsalted butter
Sourdough version:
Prepare SSS for sourdough version: (peak in 7-10 hours)
- 35 g active starter (100% hydration)
- 105 g bread flour (12.7% protein content)
- 45 g water
- 20 g sugar
Dough:
- 128 g bread flour (12.7% protein content)
- 4 g salt
- 20 g milk powder
- 15 g butter
Instructions
Prepare blueberry puree:
- Put the fresh blueberries, milk, and honey in a food processor or a blender and process into a puree
Prepare SSS for sourdough version:
- About 7-10 hours before you plan to make the bread, combine all ingredients for the stiff starter in a bowl. Stir a bit to roughly combine and then use your clean hand to knead it. This is a stiff starter, it's like dough. Make sure no pockets of dry flour are visible. Transfer to a large see-through container (plastic or glass is fine, preferably wide-mouth so you can get it out easier later). Loosely cover with the lid and let it ferment until triple in size
- Tear into little pieces when it is ready to be used. It mixes more easily into the dough
Prepare the bread dough:
- Mix all the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the blueberry puree and the stiff starter for sourdough version. Use a dough hook attachment to knead the dough on speed 2 until all the crumbly dough starts to come together into one mass, it may take about 3-5 minutes for this to happen. If the dough is too dry, you can add some milk, 1 teaspoon at a time
- Once you get a rough dough, add the butter and continue to knead again on speed 4 until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes or until you reach the window pane stage, meaning when you take a small amount of the dough and gently stretch it thin, it won't tear easily
1st proofing:
- Place this dough in a lightly oiled large bowl, cover it with a clean and damp tea cloth or plastic wrap and let it rise at a warm place. If you use commercial yeast, this may take about 1 hour or longer depending on temperature. If you use a sourdough starter, proof for 2 hours. The dough may not double for sourdough version but that's okay, we are not aiming for double with sourdough. If you use commercial yeast, the dough has clearly almost doubled or doubled in size
- When you poke the dough with your lightly-floured finger, the indentation stays and the dough doesn't collapse.
Shaping:
- Punch down the dough to release gas. Divide into 9 smaller doughs. I suggest weighing each dough so you get rolls with similar size and they will bake evenly in the oven
- Keep them covered and work with one dough at a time. Take one dough. Flatten it slightly with your palm and then pull the edges towards the center all around to shape into tight round dough ball. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat with the rest of the dough
Final proofing:
- Keep the dough covered with clean towel and let them ferment at a warm place, about 82-86 F (28-30 F) until they are noticeably puffy. When you gently poke the dough with your finger, it springs back very slowly and leave some indentation. The dough is done proofing. This may take 1-2 hours if you are using a commercial yeast and about 3-3 1/2 hours for sourdough version. Don't read the clock, pay attention to the dough is more important
Baking:
- 15 minutes before the end of proofing time, preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) for conventional oven. 330 F (165 C) for convection oven
- If you wish, you can sprinkle the surface of the dough with some flour and then use a bread lame or very sharp knife to score the surface of the bread. This is for decoration purposes only. You can skip if you like
- Bake in the oven for 13-15 minutes or until the internal temperature of 190 F (88C). Do not overbake the buns
Cool down:
- Remove from the oven and let them cool down on the rack
Serving:
- They can be served warm or at room temperature. Once cool down, the outside of the buns will be crusty, but the crumbs remain soft and fluffy
Storing:
- Let the buns cool down completely. They can be kept in an air-tight container or zipper bag, push all the air out and seal the bag, for about 2-3 days
- Do not keep any bread in the fridge. The cool air makes the bread go stale very quickly
- For longer storage, keep them in a freezer bag and keep them frozen for one month. Simply thaw at room temperature and reheat for a few seconds in the microwave just until warm or reheat in an oven at 350 F (180 C) for 5 minutes or until warm
Recommended products:
Nutrition
Step-by-step on how to bake blueberry honey milk buns
1. Put the fresh blueberries, milk, and honey in a food processor or a blender and process into a puree. If you are making the sourdough version, make the sweet stiff starter. About 7-10 hours before you plan to make the bread, combine all ingredients for the stiff starter in a bowl. Stir a bit to roughly combine and then use your clean hand to knead it. This is a stiff starter, it’s like dough. Make sure no pockets of dry flour are visible. Transfer to a large see-through container (plastic or glass is fine, preferably wide-mouth so you can get it out easier later). Loosely cover with the lid and let it ferment until triple in size
2. Mix all the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in the blueberry puree and the stiff starter for sourdough version. 
3. Use a dough hook attachment to knead the dough on speed 2 until all the crumbly dough starts to come together into one mass, it may take about 3-5 minutes for this to happen. If the dough is too dry, you can add some milk, 1 teaspoon at a time
4. Once you get a rough dough, add the butter and continue to knead again on speed 4 until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes or until you reach the window pane stage, meaning when you take a small amount of the dough and gently stretch it thin, it won’t tear easily
5. Place this dough in a lightly oiled large bowl, cover it with a clean and damp tea cloth or plastic wrap and let it rise at a warm place. If you use commercial yeast, this may take about 1 hour or longer depending on temperature. If you use a sourdough starter, proof for 2 hours. The dough may not double for sourdough version but that’s okay, we are not aiming for double with sourdough. If you use commercial yeast, the dough has clearly almost doubled or doubled in size
6. Punch down the dough to release gas. Divide into 9 smaller doughs. I suggest weighing each dough so you get rolls with similar size and they will bake evenly in the oven
7. Keep them covered and work with one dough at a time. Take one dough. Flatten it slightly with your palm and then pull the edges towards the center all around to shape into tight round dough ball. 
8. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat with the rest of the dough
9. Keep the dough covered with a clean towel and let them ferment at a warm place, about 82-86 F (28-30 F) until they are noticeably puffy. When you gently poke the dough with your finger, it springs back very slowly and leaves some indentation. The dough is done proofing. This may take 1-2 hours if you are using commercial yeast and about 3-3 1/2 hours for sourdough version. Don’t read the clock, paying attention to the dough is more important
10. 15 minutes before the end of proofing time, preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) for conventional oven. 330 F (165 C) for convection oven. If you wish, you can sprinkle the surface of the dough with some flour and then use a bread lame or very sharp knife to score the surface of the bread. This is for decoration purposes only. You can skip if you like
11. Bake in the oven for 13-15 minutes or until the internal temperature of 190 F (88C). Do not overbake the buns
12. Remove from the oven and let them cool down on the rack
13. They can be served warm or at room temperature. Once cool down, the outside of the buns will be crusty, but the crumbs remain soft and fluffy
Did you make this blueberry honey milk buns recipe?
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