Apple Cider Sourdough

As the crisp fall air rolls in, it’s time to indulge in the season’s best flavors!

While pumpkin spice may take center stage, my heart belongs to apple cider. If you’re like me and can’t resist its charm, this sourdough is your new autumn go-to.

Imagine biting into a loaf that’s delightfully fluffy, subtly sweet, and bursting with the essence of fall. Infused with apple cider, studded with fresh apples, and packed with all those cozy flavors we love, it’s an irresistible treat that hits just the right note.

This apple cider sourdough recipe is dedicated to cozy flavors.

Jump to:

• Tips
• Key Ingredients
• How To Make Apple Cider Sourdough
• Troubleshooting
• Batch + Storage
• Recommended Equipment
• 📖 Printable Recipe

Key Ingredients

Apple Cider: I used purchased apple cider from my local grocery store. It’s a pure, unfiltered, fresh pressed apple juice usually found in the refrigerated section. If you can’t find it, you can try to use fresh apple juice.

Sourdough Starter: For this recipe, you want to use a fed and active sourdough starter. Your starter should have been fed before beginning and have at least doubled in size.

Psst.. Want to know more about feeding your starter, storing sourdough starter, how to use discard, or even which is the best jar for your starter? I’ve got tons of guides to help you!

How To Make Apple Cider Sourdough

Make The Dough:

1. In a large bowl, combine 350g of room temperature apple cider and whisk in 100g of active sourdough starter until mostly combined. I prefer to mix my liquid ingredients with the sourdough starter before adding the flour because it’s much easier to ensure that the starter is more evenly distributed in the dough. Set aside.
2. In a small bowl, combine 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon cardamom, 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, and 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg. Stir until well combined.
3. Dump 500g unbleached bread flour on top of the sourdough starter/ cider blend , then add 1/2 of the spice blend from step 2, plus 12 g salt. Reserve the remaining spice mixture for the shaping stage.
4. Using a danish dough whisk, spatula, or spoon mix until a shaggy dough forms. Knead the dough with your hands until all the dry bits are incorporated.
5. Cover the bowl and set aside for 60 minutes.

Stretch And Fold:

1. Prior to the first set of stretch and folds, peel and shred 1 medium sized apple, or enough for 1/2 cup shredded apple. Spread the dough in the proofing bowl by poking it down like you’re making focaccia, then sprinkle the shredded apple pieces over the dough.
2. Using damp hands, grab the dough and gently pull it until the flap is long enough to fold over itself, then fold the flap, rotate the bowl 90 degrees, and repeat 3 more times, this is considered a set of stretch and folds. Recover the bowl, and set it aside for 60 minutes.
3. Repeat the stretch and fold process 3 times over 3 hours, for a total of 3 sets of stretch and folds each followed by a 60 minute rest.

Bulk Ferment:

1. Complete a fourth and final stretch and fold then cover the bowl and set aside for 3 hours to finish the bulk ferment. It is important to keep the dough bowl somewhere warm to encourage the microbes to work quickly!

Shape:

1. Observe your dough, at this point, the dough should have risen in the bowl, and have a smooth surface with visible bubbles. If the dough is domed in the bowl it is ready to work with, if the dough is flat it may need more time in the bulk ferment.
2. Uncover the dough and transfer to a work surface or countertop. Gently press and spread the dough into a large rectangle. Sprinkle the remaining cider spice mixture over the surface of the dough, and spread evenly across the surface, leaving a gap along the edges.
3. Fold up the bottom third of the dough as though you were folding a letter, then fold in the right then left bottom corner towards the center. Continue rolling up into a batard or log shape.
4. Pinch the ends if you’re making a batard or tuck them in if your making a boule.
5. Dust the dough with rice flour then tuck seam side up into a banneton.

Don’t have a banneton basket? I have a guide on bannetons and banneton alternatives!

Prove + Cold Retard:

1. Prove the apple cider sourdough loaf in the banneton for 2-3 hours in a warm place before covering and placing in fridge to cold retard for up to 3 days. If you want to bake it right after proving, you’re welcome to, but the flavor is better after resting in the fridge.

Bake:

1. Place your dutch oven, cloche, or desired baking dish in the oven and preheat to 450f. If you don’t have a dutch oven, I do have a guide on open oven sourdough bread baking.
2. Once the oven is preheated, invert the banneton onto a sheet of parchment paper.
3. Use a lame, sharp knife, or clean razor blade to score the dough, I usually like to make one deep curved slash, but you can get as fancy as you like!
4. Carefully remove the dutch oven from the oven, and using the parchment paper as a sling, transfer the sourdough loaf from the counter into the dutch oven.
5. Bake the dough at 450f covered for 30 minutes and uncovered at 450f for 10-15 minutes, or until the loaf is cooked through and the crust is nicely browned. This sourdough will be darker than your average loaf when it bakes because the sugars in the dough will caramelize. You can test the doneness of the loaf with an instant-read thermometer. Bread is cooked once it reaches 205 – 210 degrees Fahrenheit internal temperature.

Cool:

1. Remove baked bread from the dutch oven and transfer it to a wire mesh cooling rack to cool completely before slicing. I like to leave it for at least 2 hours before slicing, as slicing too soon can affect the crumb and texture of your loaf.

Troubleshooting

Adding fresh fruit to this recipe during the stretch and fold stage can make the dough a little tougher to work with. Happens to all of us sometimes! Me included.

If you find that is the case for you, sprinkle a bit of flour over the wet dough and knead it in the bowl until it comes together. If required add a bit more, but try to keep your additions minimal!

Have faith, it’s a bit of a mess right now, but by the end of the bulk ferment it’s going to behave much better and it will bake up beautifully!

Batch + Storage

Batch:

This apple cider sourdough recipe makes one large boule or batard. This is enough for my family of 4 to snack on for at least 2 days! It can be doubled to make 2 loaves, or tripled, if desired.

Storage:

If you’ve got leftover sourdough, you’ve got serious willpower! There are a couple of ways to store sourdough bread to help prolong its quality after cutting.

Your loaf can be kept cut side down on a cutting board for up to 12 hours before the crust becomes too crisp. This is our go-to and usually we finish the loaf before the crust gets too crusty! I do recommend transferring it to a bread bag after 16-18 hours though.

Your sourdough loaf can also be frozen. To freeze sourdough, cool the loaf to room temperature, then tightly wrap it in plastic wrap, slide it into a bread bag, seal it up, and stick it in the freezer for 1-2 months. To use after freezing, remove the loaf from the freezer, unwrap, and allow it to come to room temperature (1 -2 hours) before slicing and enjoying.

Recommended Equipment

Baking sourdough is an accessible past-time, and doesn’t require any fancy mixers or special equipment, but there are things that can improve the quality of your baked goods. Here are a few things I find invaluable to my sourdough baking:

• Dutch oven: One of the key tricks to successful sourdough bread is to use a high heat, steamy baking environment, and since most of us don’t have commercial steam infused ovens, we use the next best thing! The heavy lid of the dutch oven clamps in steam and improves the rise and texture of your loaves.
• Scale: You certainly can make sourdough without a scale, and I know that we all resist change, but trust me when I tell you using the scale is the way to higher quality, more consistent results. I find it cleaner and easier to use the scale than to use my measuring cups and spoons at this point.

📖 Printable Recipe

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