Everything you love about an apple fritter, baked into a loaf of sourdough. Made with reduced apple cider and layered with tender cinnamon-spiced apples and ribbons of brown sugar.
Prep: 35 min | Bake: 35 min | Total: 20 hrs | Yield: 1 loaf
Ingredients:
320g reduced apple cider
150g active sourdough starter
500g bread flour
10g salt
1 Tablespoon of unsalted butter
1 Granny Smith apple, cored and diced small
2 tsp granulated sugar
1 tsp apple pie spice
¼ tsp nutmeg
½ cup brown sugar
Directions:
Pour 540g of apple cider into a medium saucepan and reduce it to 320g (takes roughly 6-7 minutes).
In a large bowl, add 320g reduced and cooled cider, 150g active starter, and 500g bread flour, and mix until you have a shaggy dough. Cover and set aside for one hour.
After the 1-hour rest, incorporate the salt thoroughly. Cover the dough and allow it to ferment undisturbed in a warm area for 3½ hours.
After the 3½-hour fermentation period, perform 4 sets of stretch and folds, spaced 30 minutes apart.
After the third set of stretch and folds, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the diced Granny Smith apple, granulated sugar, apple pie spice, and nutmeg. Cook for 5–6 minutes, until the apple is just tender and excess moisture has cooked away. Transfer to a plate and allow to cool completely before adding it to the dough.
Cover a banneton, flour it, and set aside; grab your brown sugar and set it aside next to your cooled apples.
Laminate your dough by pulling all four corners of it until it resembles a square.
Add half of the brown sugar and apples. Before folding the left side over, cover with the rest of the sugar and apples, before folding the right side over. Roll the dough into a ball and work quickly to create tension at the top.
Place the dough ball into the banneton and stitch the bottom before covering and allowing it to ferment in the fridge for at least 12 hours.
Set the oven to 450 degrees F.
Line your Dutch oven with parchment paper and place the loaf in after giving it a superficial score.
Add two ice cubes to the Dutch oven and place it in the hot oven for 7 minutes.
After seven minutes, take the lid off and give the loaf a deep score. Place the Dutch oven back in, covered, and bake for 13 minutes.
Lower oven temperature to 425 degrees F and take the lid off. Bake another 15 minutes until the internal temperature reads 205 degrees F.
Allow the loaf to cool. This would be absolutely amazing with apple butter and cream cheese!