Fresh Apple Sourdough Bread (Fermented Boule)

A sourdough apple bread boule sliced in half and stacked with the top half showing the crumb and the bottom half showing the crust, with chunks of fresh apple inside the bread.

Fresh Apple Sourdough Bread (Fermented Boule)

This sourdough apple bread features a fresh fruit inclusion, with apple chunks layered in the dough during lamination. Hints of brown sugar and vanilla complement the tangy sourdough flavor. It's perfect for breakfast, toasted and slathered with butter, drizzled with honey, or, better yet, smeared with apple butter.

Prep Time1

Cook Time50

Course: Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: sourdough bread

Servings:

Calories: 2230kcal

Author: Alicia Pyle

Equipment

Mixing bowl
Sourdough proofing cloth-lined baskets or bowls with tea towels
Bread lame or a razor blade for scoring
Beeswax wraps or plastic wrap for covering dough
Large bread knife

Ingredients

300 grams water 1 and 1/3 cup
7 grams salt 1 teaspoon
55 grams brown sugar light or dark, 3 Tablespoons
5 grams vanilla extract 1 teaspoon
500 grams bread flour divided, 3 and 1/2 cups
150 grams sourdough starter bubbly
1 cup apple chunks, peeled and chopped heaping cup of 1/2 inch chunks

Instructions

Dissolve the salt and sugar into the water and stir in the vanilla. Add half of the flour and mix the dough thoroughly using a spoon. Add the ripe sourdough starter and vigorously mix with the spoon for 3 minutes.
Add the rest of the flour, pinching and squeezing it into the dough until it has thoroughly come together. Use the Rabaud method of mixing sourdough for 3 minutes, then cover and rest for 30 minutes.
Mist your work surface with water and turn out the dough. Use a wet hand to knead the dough, using the slap-and-fold method. After 5 minutes of working the dough, use a bench scraper to shape it into a boule. Cover and ferment for 1 hour.
Do a coil fold, then cover and ferment for one more hour.
Mist your working surface and laminate the dough. To do this, gently stretch the dough into a large, thin square. Work your way around the edges, lifting and pulling carefully until the dough is stretched as far as possible without tearing. See the process photos for guidance. Spread half the apple chunks evenly across the dough.
Fold the dough like an envelope into thirds, taking the left side of the dough and folding it over to the center, adding more apples, then taking the right side and folding it over the left, adding the remaining apples. Then, roll or fold the bottom of the dough towards the top. Shape the dough into a round boule, tightening it as you pull it towards yourself. Cover and bulk ferment for 5 to 8 hours or until it has increased in volume by 75%.
Flour the top of the dough and turn it out onto the counter for preshaping. To do this, slightly flatten it out by pressing with your fingers, then take the right upper edge of the dough and fold it over while grabbing the left upper edge and folding it over in a stitching movement, pinching it together. Repeat this movement for the lower edges. Then, grab the bottom edge and tuck the dough into a ball, rolling it up from the bottom to the top. Rest uncovered for 20 minutes.
Flip the dough over and do another shape, pinching and sealing the seam. Coat the shaped boule in flour and place it seam-side up in a lightly dusted cloth-lined proofing basket. Cover and proof overnight (up to 15 hours) in the refrigerator.
Do a final shape and place the dough on a piece of parchment paper to rest for another 2 hours at room temperature. Place a layer of rice on the bottom of a Dutch oven, fold a square of aluminum foil, and place it on top of the rice. Near the end of the 2 hours, place the Dutch oven inside the oven and get it preheating to 450F (232C). Always use heavy-duty oven mitts when working with a hot Dutch oven!
Score the dough, then lift the parchment paper, with the boule, and place it into the Dutch oven. Bake with the lid on for 40 minutes. Using an oven mitt, remove the Dutch oven lid, and bake uncovered for another 10 minutes.
Allow the bread to cool on a wire rack for 2 hours before using a sharp bread knife to slice and serve.

Notes

Kneading and shaping terminology and techniques: Don't let the fancy sourdough lingo deter you. These steps are easy to do, and I have included some links in the above blog post to short and simple videos that show exactly how to do the Rabaud method, coil folds, and lamination stretching.

I think of the Rabaud method as working the sticky wet dough with your hands in a giggling lasso roping motion until it is smoother and stretchier.

A coil fold is simply scooping your hands underneath the middle of the dough and lifting it up, letting gravity do the stretching work, and laying it back down upon itself.

Lamination is stretching the dough out into a large flat square or rectangle and folding it up like an envelope. Inclusions can be added during this step.

The Basic Steps:

Combine all the dough ingredients (except the apple chunks)
Rest 30 minutes
Slap and folds for 5 minutes
1 hour ferment
3 to 4 coil folds
1 hour ferment
Lamination stretch, add apple chunks, fold up, and shape
Bulk ferment
Preshape
Shape, cover, and proof in the refrigerator overnight or up to 15 hrs
Final shape
Rest 2 hours at room temp
Score and bake

If any apple chunks pop out of the dough while you are working with it, just tuck them back into the bottom of the dough.

A good sourdough bread knife makes it much easier to slice and serve.

The addition of sugar to the dough will make this loaf brown much more than your typical sourdough recipe. To prevent the crust from getting too dark, be sure to line the bottom of the Dutch oven with rice, aluminum foil, and parchment. You can also reduce the temperature to 425F after 20 minutes of baking if you find your oven is getting the exterior too dark.

Nutrition