Peanut Butter & Jam Sourdough
Wondering how to take your morning PB&J toasts to the next level?
Look no further!
Marbled peanut butter and jam sourdough is the way. This loaf sees you making 2 types of dough simultaneously and laminating them together before bulk fermenting for a deliciously swirled treat!
This peanut butter and jam sourdough bread recipe is dedicated to the next level.
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Tips
- I used homemade raspberry jam in this recipe, though I believe a darker jam like blueberry would result in a more pronounced marbling!
- Don’t be intimidated by the idea of marbling, it’s really very simple and I’ll walk you right through with a step by step photo guide in the recipe below.
- The jam dough is intentionally higher in hydration. The jam dough has smoother ingredients so I wanted to ensure that it would be the outside of the loaf during shaping as it’s less likely to tear. You’ll notice the difference during stretch and fold and lamination, but don’t despair, it’s perfect!
Key Ingredients
Peanut Butter: We always buy Kraft Creamy peanut butter so that’s what I used for this recipe. Other peanut butters should work but may have slightly different results or flavor profiles.
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 Peanut Butter And Jam Sourdough
Grind The Peanuts:
This dough has both peanut butter and ground peanuts for an extra flavor boost, so before starting you’ll need to grind up the peanuts.
- Add 60g roasted, salted peanuts to the jar of your blender or food processor and grind until the peanuts are mostly finely ground. They may stick to each other a bit, and the sizing may not be completely consistent, but that’s ok, we’re just grinding, not trying to make peanut butter! I used my Vitamix dry grains container and it worked perfectly!
Make The Dough:
- In a medium bowl, combine 180g of room temperature water, 50g of active sourdough starter, and 40g smooth peanut butter, and whisk 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.
- Add 250g bread flour, 60g ground peanuts, and 4g salt to the bowl and 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.
- Cover the bowl and set aside for 60 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in another medium bowl, combine 140g of room temperature water, 50g of active sourdough starter, and 50g jam, and whisk until mostly combined.
- Then add 250g bread flour and 6g salt to the bowl and mix until a shaggy dough forms. Knead the dough with your hands until all the dry bits are incorporated.
- Cover the bowl and set aside for 60 minutes.
Stretch And Fold:
- Working one bowl at a time, 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.
- Repeat the stretch and fold process 2 times over 2 hours, for a total of 2 sets of stretch and folds each followed by a 60 minute rest.
Laminate + Bulk Ferment
- Lightly flour a working surface, then working one flavor at a time, turn the dough out of the bowl and carefully press and stretch into a rectangle. If the dough wants to tear, allow it to rest for a few minutes before trying again. Repeat with the other dough. The jam dough is higher hydration, by design, so it should stretch a little further than the peanut butter, ensure it’s stretched into a larger rectangle than the peanut butter flavor.
- Carefully lift the peanut butter dough and place it on top of the jam dough, aiming for the jam dough to have at least half an inch of overlap all the way around the peanut butter dough.
- Fold up the bottom third of the dough, then fold the top down, pressing the jam dough together to seal it. Turn the dough sideways and fold up the bottom third then roll it over itself.
- Use a bench scraper to pick up the dough and place it into a large bowl.
- Cover the dough and bulk ferment for 2-3 hours.
Pre-Shape and Shape:
- 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.
- Uncover the dough and transfer to a lightly floured work surface or countertop. Gently press and spread the dough into a large rectangle.
- Fold up the bottom third of the dough as though you were folding a letter then fold the top third downward. Rotate the dough 90 degrees then roll into a log. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and rest for 30 minutes.
- Drag the dough along the work surface using your pinkies under the dough ball to create tension. Continue pulling until a nice round boule forms.
- 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:
- Prove the peanut butter and jam 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:
- 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.
- Once the oven is preheated, invert the banneton onto a sheet of parchment paper.
- Use a lame, sharp knife, or clean razor blade to score the dough, I like to score my boules in an X, but you can get as fancy as you like!
- 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.
- 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. Bread is cooked once it reaches 205 – 210 degrees Fahrenheit internal temperature.
Cool:
- 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.
Batch + Storage
Batch:
This peanut butter jam 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.
SERVING SUGGESTIONS
This bread is just so good, even on it’s own. My teens, aka recipe flavor testers, said “Mom, you served. We ate. No crumbs” which I think is a compliment in the highest order. So you won’t struggle to fit this one in the routine!
- Plain with creamed butter
- Toasted with salted butter
- Grilled PB &J sandwich
- Toasted with creamed honey
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
Peanut Butter And Jam Swirl Sourdough
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Dough
- 180 g water room temperature
- 50 g sourdough starter active
- 40 g peanut butter smooth
- 60 g roasted salted peanuts
- 250 g bread flour
- 4 g sea salt coarse
Jam Dough
- 160 g water room temperature
- 50 g sourdough starter active
- 50 g raspberry jam
- 250 g bread flour
- 6 g salt
Instructions
Grind The Peanuts:
- Add 60g roasted, salted peanuts to the jar of your blender or food processor and grind until the peanuts are mostly finely ground. They may stick to each other a bit, and the sizing may not be completely consistent, but that's ok, we're just grinding, not trying to make peanut butter!
Make The Dough:
- In a medium bowl, combine 180g of room temperature water, 50g of active sourdough starter, and 40g smooth peanut butter, and whisk until mostly combined. Set aside.
- Add 250g bread flour, 60g ground peanuts, and 4g salt to the bowl and 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.
- Cover the bowl and set aside for 60 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in another medium bowl, combine 140g of room temperature water, 50g of active sourdough starter, and 50g jam, and whisk until mostly combined. Then add 250g bread flour and 6g salt to the bowl and mix until a shaggy dough forms. Knead the dough with your hands until all the dry bits are incorporated.
- Cover the bowl and set aside for 60 minutes.
Stretch And Fold:
- Working one bowl at a time, 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.
- Repeat the stretch and fold process 2 times over 2 hours, for a total of 2 sets of stretch and folds each followed by a 60 minute rest.
Laminate + Bulk Ferment:
- Lightly flour a working surface, then working one flavor at a time, turn the dough out of the bowl and carefully press and stretch into a rectangle. If the dough wants to tear, allow it to rest for a few minutes before trying again. Repeat with the other dough. The jam dough is higher hydration, by design, so it should stretch a little further than the peanut butter, ensure it's stretched into a larger rectangle than the peanut butter flavor.
- Carefully lift the peanut butter dough and place it on top of the jam dough, aiming for the jam dough to have at least half an inch of overlap all the way around the peanut butter dough.
- Fold up the bottom third of the dough, then fold the top down, pressing the jam dough together to seal it. Turn the dough sideways and fold up the bottom third then roll it over itself.
- Use a bench scraper to pick up the dough and place it into a large bowl. Cover the dough and bulk ferment for 3 hours.
Pre-Shape and Shape:
- 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.
- Uncover the dough and transfer to a lightly floured work surface or countertop. Gently press and spread the dough into a large rectangle.
- Fold up the bottom third of the dough as though you were folding a letter then fold the top third downward. Rotate the dough 90 degrees then roll into a log. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and rest for 30 minutes.
- Drag the dough along the work surface using your pinkies under the dough ball to create tension. Continue pulling until a nice round boule forms.
- Dust the dough with rice flour then tuck seam side up into a banneton.
Prove + Cold Retard:
- Prove the peanut butter and jam 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:
- Place your dutch oven, cloche, or desired baking dish in the oven and preheat to 450f.
- Once the oven is preheated, invert the banneton onto a sheet of parchment paper. Use a lame, sharp knife, or clean razor blade to score the dough.
- 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.
- 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. 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:
- 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.