It's my Sourdough Anniversary! (19)

My brand new starter in April 2020

My starter now. It began with the 2020 starter and has gotten better over time.

Today marks the six-year anniversary of when I started working with sourdough! This was the day my starter was ready for my initial bake. I have to confess, my first few loaves weren't my finest creations, but they improved over time. Even a mediocre sourdough loaf can be turned into excellent toast or croutons. There's no reason to discard those imperfect loaves!

I currently maintain three starters. My original starter is made with whole wheat, and I mainly nourish it using whole wheat flour. The other two starters are fed with all-purpose flour. You might wonder why I don't use the whole wheat starter for all my baking. Over time, I found that it doesn't yield the lighter loaf that a starter fed with all-purpose flour does. All my starters initially began with whole wheat, but I switched to feeding two of them with all-purpose flour once they became active. Occasionally, I use my whole wheat starter in some loaves along with the all-purpose starter when I want a heartier, more whole wheat type of loaf. To learn about creating your own starter, refer to my blog post #2. For tips on maintaining the starter, check out blog posts #5 and #8.

Enough about that! I've experimented with a couple of new recipes and I wanted to share one of those with you in this post. Last month, I had a surplus of apples (I'm really enjoying the Cosmic Crisp variety right now!) and decided to try making Sourdough Apple Fritter Bread. My husband is a big fan of apple fritters, but they're not the healthiest 😂. I figured there must be a bread recipe I could try. After looking at several options, I found one I really liked on adamantkitchens.com. It was easy to make, used a full cup of starter (227 grams), and wasn't packed with sugar. While it's not exactly low-calorie, a slice is satisfying and makes for a great occasional treat.

A finished loaf of Sourdough Apple Fritter Bread.

Had to show you a slice too!

Begin by mixing the bread dough using discard (an active starter isn't required for this recipe). After the dough is mixed, prepare your apples by peeling and dicing them, then combine them with cinnamon and some sugar. The streusel topping consists of brown sugar and cinnamon. You can choose to let your dough rest at room temperature for a while or refrigerate it overnight. I only let it rest for about 30 minutes at room temperature, and it turned out perfectly. Once your dough has rested as desired, spread half of it in a prepared loaf pan, then top with half of the apple mixture and half of the streusel mixture. Add the remaining batter, spreading it evenly to cover the apples and streusel. I used an offset icing spatula to do this. https://www.amazon.com/s?k=offset+icing+spatula+baking

(I've included a link to an example of this type of spatula on Amazon. You can find it in many other places as well.)

Next, sprinkle the remaining apple mixture and the rest of the streusel topping on top. The loaf will need approximately 60-70 minutes to bake. Allow the bread to cool in the pan for about 20 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack to cool completely. The loaf has a tender crumb (yum!), so handle it carefully when moving it to the rack. Once the bread has cooled slightly, you can add the vanilla glaze as described in the recipe. You can skip this step, but I recommend the icing. It truly is delicious.

I'll share some details about another recipe I tried recently. I discovered it on the King Arthur website. It's called Vermont Sourdough and incorporates rye flour into the mix. It turned out great, but I'll discuss that more next time. Thanks for reading, and talk to you soon. Happy Baking!

Bridget