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Soft and tender, this apple cinnamon sourdough bread is filled with freshly grated apple and a ribbon of cinnamon swirl throughout. Perfect for a crisp fall day, this loaf is baked up as a sourdough boule with a crispy crust and tender apple cinnamon interior. Slather on some butter and enjoy this delicious apple cinnamon sourdough loaf.
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Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love Apple Cinnamon Sourdough Bread
- Flavor: You’ll love how this unique loaf of sourdough bread has a sweet, mild apple flavor.
- Fresh Apples: The freshly grated apples melt perfectly into the loaf for more moisture and a sweet flavor.
- Unique Twist: This easy adaptation on a classic sourdough loaf is perfect for celebrating the fall!
Sample Schedule: Sourdough Baker’s Timeline
A sample baking schedule helps me when baking with sourdough. Sourdough takes much longer to rise than commercial yeast bread. This schedule helps me plan my bake.
A few notes: This schedule assumes the dough temperature is 78-80°F throughout the process. If you’d like to make the bread all on the same day, skip the cold fermentation and let the dough rise for a few hours in a banneton or bowl before baking.
| Day 1 | Levain/Mixing/Bulk Fermentation/Shaping/Cold Fermentation |
| 8:00 AM –11:30 AM | Mix Levain. Let sit at 78°F for about 3-4 hours until doubled/bubbly and ripe. |
| 11:30 AM | Fermentolyse: Mix bread flour, whole wheat flour, water, grated apple and ripe/active/bubbly levain. Let sit for 30 minutes before adding in the salt and reserved water. |
| 12:00 PM | Mix dough with salt and reserved water |
| 12:30 PM 1:00 PM 1:30 PM 2:00 PM | Stretch and Fold #1 Stretch and Fold #2 Stretch and Fold #3 Stretch and Fold #4 if desired |
| 4:00 PM | Shape Dough Begin Cold Fermentation |
| Day 2 | |
| 9:00 AM | Preheat Dutch oven |
| 9:30 AM | Score and bake |
Important Ingredients
- Sourdough Starter: Use an active/ripe sourdough starter (doubled in size/bubbly/mild sour aroma) to mix the levain.
- Bread Flour: I almost always use a 12.5% protein bread flour for my breads. This apple cinnamon sourdough bread is mixed with a high water content and needs to be paired with a strong flour. If you don’t have bread flour and substitute all-purpose, you will need to reduce some of the water in the recipe.
- Water: I use tap water in my baking and usually warm it up to help keep the dough warm during the fermentation process. If the dough is cold, the fermentation will move more slowly.
- Salt: Salt enhances the flavor and helps temper the fermentation – don’t leave it out!
- Grated Apples: I like to use either Honeycrisp, Pink Lady and Granny Smith in this recipe
- Cinnamon Sugar Mixture: Cinnamon sugar can often be difficult to add into a high hydration sourdough bread. It makes the dough sticky quickly because sugar absorbs water. To help compensate for that, this recipe calls for a paste of cinnamon/sugar mixed with softened butter, a little flour and a pinch of salt. Mix the paste together and spread it over the dough after bulk fermentation and right before shaping.
- Substitutions
- Nuts: I’ve made this loaf with 100 grams of chopped pecans and it gives more texture, flavor and also tastes incredible! Add your favorite chopped nuts in during the second set of stretch and folds if desired.
- Sourdough Starter: If you have a ripe, active sourdough starter that is fed equal weights of flour and water you can substitute that for the levain in this recipe.
- Apples: Use your favorite flavor of juicy apples. Honeycrisp and Pink Lady are my go-tos. I sometimes add in a Granny Smith apple if I have one on hand.
Substitutions
- Nuts: I’ve made this loaf with 100 grams of chopped pecans and it gives more texture, flavor and also tastes incredible! Add your favorite chopped nuts in during the second set of stretch and folds if desired.
- Sourdough Starter: If you have a ripe, active sourdough starter that is fed equal weights of flour and water you can substitute that for the levain in this recipe.
- Apples: Use your favorite flavor of juicy apples. Honeycrisp and Pink Lady are my go-tos. I sometimes add in a Granny Smith apple if I have one on hand.
How to Make Apple Cinnamon Sourdough Bread
Levain
1:1:1 Levain (ready in 3-4 hours/same day): This recipe calls for a levain mixed the same day you mix the dough. It should take 3-4 hours until it’s ready to be mixed with the dough, if you keep the levain temperature at 78-80°F. Levain is ready when it has doubled in size, has lots of bubbles, a slightly sour aroma and is just about to start going down from its peak height. Mix together:
- 35 grams of ripe/mature starter
- 35 grams of warm water
- 35 grams of all-purpose or bread flour
If you prefer to mix the levain the night before, you can mix a 1:10:10 levain that is ready in 10-12 hours or overnight. Mix together:
- 5 grams of ripe/mature sourdough starter
- 55 grams water
- 55 grams all-purpose or bread flour
Sourdough Starter: If you have a ripe, bubbly active sourdough starter, you can substitute it for the levain in the recipe. 100 grams of levain is equal to 100 grams of sourdough starter.
Bulk Fermentation: Fermentolyse
Prepare your ingredients by grating apples on the back of a box grater. I like to use Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, or Granny Smith apples for this apple cinnamon sourdough bread recipe. You need 200 grams of grated apple. You can include any of the juices if you are experienced working with a wetter dough.
As soon as the levain is ready (bubbly, doubled in size, peaked), mix together the ripe levain, bread flour, whole wheat flour and water, grated apple and reserved juices. This method is called a fermentolyse, and it helps strengthen the gluten strands in the dough before the salt is added. Salt has a shrinking effect on the gluten strands, so doing this first gives a better overall texture and crumb to this bread. Cover the dough, set it in a warm (78°F) place and let it rest for 30 minutes.
Bulk Fermentation: Stretch & Folds
Sourdough apple cinnamon bread is an artisan style bread, which means we don’t use traditional kneading methods, instead we use a series of gentle folds to help strengthen the gluten strands in the dough. This dough usually gets about 3-4 sets of stretch and folds over a 2 hour period, if the dough is kept right around 78°F.
Stretch and Fold: To stretch and fold, wet your hand (so it doesn’t stick to the dough). Reach down to the bottom of the bowl of dough and pull the dough up and over the top of the dough. Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat the stretch and fold. Turn another quarter turn and repeat. Perform one more quarter turn with stretching and folding the dough. Cover and set aside for 30 minutes. Repeat every 30 minutes for a total of 3-4 times.
Optional: Adding Chopped Nuts Right before your second set of stretch and folds, add 100 grams chopped nuts on top of the dough. As you stretch and fold the dough, the nuts will incorporate. Continue repeating the stretch and fold process every 30 minutes.
After you have completed 4 stretch and folds, let the dough rise in a warm place for 2-3 more hours. At the end of this phase of the bulk fermentation, your apple cinnamon sourdough dough should have risen about 30-40% and have a few scattered bubbles around the top/edges of the dough. If you don’t see these signs, continue rising in a warm environment until it is ready to shape.
Shaping the Dough
Prepare the cinnamon filling by mixing together softened butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, cornstarch and salt. Set aside while you prepare your bowls. Prepare a bowl or banneton with a liner or sprinkle liberally with rice flour.
After the bulk fermentation is finished, dump the dough out onto the countertop. Gently prepare to shape the dough by pulling the dough into a 12 by 12 square shape. It does NOT need to be very thinly stretched. Dollop most of the cinnamon mixture on the top of the dough. Fold one side of the dough to the middle and then the other side of the dough to the middle. Add the rest of the cinnamon sugar mixture on top of that dough. Then roll the dough up into a cylinder or circular shape. Immediately place the dough in the prepared banneton basket without too much handling of the dough. Cinnamon sugar tends to release moisture in the dough making it necessary to work quickly and get it in your bowl.
Cold Ferment and Proofing
After shaping your apple cinnamon sourdough loaf, cover the dough with plastic wrap or a shower cap. At this point, you can store your dough in the refrigerator overnight for about 18-24 hours. Alternatively you can let your dough rise outside the fridge for another 3-4 hours and then bake your loaf the same day. If you choose this method, stick your banneton or bowl of dough in the fridge or freezer to chill it for a few minutes before scoring.
Baking the Bread
Classic artisan sourdough gets its beautiful oven rise from steam that has been built up in the oven. To do this, preheat a Dutch oven (top and all) in the oven at 500ºF. Allow the Dutch oven to heat for about 30 minutes at 500ºF.
Once the oven is preheated, pull the loaf out of the refrigerator. Remove the plastic wrap or shower cap (this is easy to do straight out of the refrigerator if the dough is chilled – not easy if the dough warms up) and place a piece of parchment paper on top of the bread dough. Flip the dough over so that the dough is now sitting on the parchment paper. Take off the bowl banneton and liner.
Smooth flour over the top of the dough (add a little extra for more contrast if desired) or leave the flour off completely for no contrast. Use a bread lame or very sharp knife to score the dough. Bread with inclusions typically does not score quite as well as bread without. This is not a loaf for intricate scoring. One large slash, about 1 inch deep is sufficient.
Carefully take out the Dutch oven from the preheated oven with hot pads. Take the top off and place your bread into the Dutch oven (including parchment paper – this helps with the transfer). Put your hot pads back on before you pick up the lid of the Dutch oven and place it on top of the bread. Put the whole Dutch oven back into the oven. Lower the temperature to 450ºF and bake for 25 minutes. Once 25 minutes are up, take the top off the Dutch oven and lower the temperature again to 400ºF. Continue baking for 20 more minutes until the bread is fully baked with an internal temperature of 205ºF.
Once you remove your bread from the oven, make sure your apple cinnamon sourdough loaf cools completely before cutting and enjoying.
How to Store Leftovers
I like to let my loaf cool completely. Then slice, stick in an airtight bag and freeze. You can also freeze the whole loaf and then let it thaw or warm back up in the oven for a few minutes before enjoying.
Amy’s Recipe Tip
This sourdough loaf has a very mild apple flavor. If you want more concentrated apple flavor, try substituting half of the water with good quality apple cider.
Frequently Asked Questions
This is a very mild flavored apple loaf. It has 200 grams of freshly grated apple in it and is perfect for the fall season.
This loaf has specific temperature instructions to help keep your loaf from burning on the bottom. With that said, it can still happen. Loaves with cinnamon sugar are more apt to burn if the sugar leaks out of the dough. To help this, make sure you are using parchment paper. Place a baking stone on the rack below the Dutch Oven and sprinkle some cornmeal or rice in your Dutch Oven to keep the bottom of the loaf raised a little bit. Decrease the initial oven temperature can also help.
Yes. Instead of shaping and placing in a banneton, place in a loaf pan. You can either let the dough rise for a few hours and then bake it with a pan of hot water underneath OR stick it in the refrigerator to cold proof and bake from cold the next day. Stick another loaf pan on top of the pan to keep the steam in for the first 25 minutes of the bake. Then take the lid off and finish the bake.
Sourdough loaves with inclusions don’t usually score as beautifully as plain loaves. This is because the inclusions interfere in varying degrees with the gluten strands and ultimately the way they work together to make a loaf of bread. Embrace the process and know that loaves scored with inclusions are going to taste delicious but won’t have the same great score as you may expect from a regular artisan loaf.
Apple Sourdough recipes
If you tried this Apple Cinnamon Sourdough Bread or any other recipe on my website leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments below. Happy Baking!
Apple Cinnamon Sourdough Bread
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Ingredients
Levain (1:1:1, 3-4 hours at 78-80ºF)
- 35 grams ripe starter, about 2 Tablespoons
- 35 grams all-purpose flour or bread flour, about 1/4 cup
- 35 grams water, about 2 Tablespoons
Apple Cinnamon Sourdough Bread
- 100 grams levain, scant 1/2 cup
- 250 grams water, about 1 cup
- 200 grams grated apple, about 1 3/4 cup, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady and Granny Smith are my favorites
- 50 grams whole wheat flour, about 1/3 cup, see recipe notes
- 450 grams bread flour, about 3 1/4 cup
- 10 grams salt, about 1.5 teaspoons, reserved
- 25 grams water, about 5 teaspoons, reserved for adding in with the salt
Cinnamon Sugar Mixture
- 45 grams unsalted butter, 3 Tablespoons
- 80 grams brown sugar, about 1/3 cup
- 4 grams ground cinnamon, about 1 teaspoon
- 3 grams cornstarch, about 1 teaspoon
- 2 grams salt, 1/4 teaspoon
Instructions
- Day 1: Levain/Mix/Bulk Fermentation/Shape/Cold Bulk Fermentation
Levain (1:1:1, 3-4 hours at 78-80ºF)
- Mix Levain: Mix together ripe/active sourdough starter with all-purpose or bread flour and water. Cover loosely and let sit 3-4 hours at 78-80°F until doubled, bubbly & peaked.Note: If you have a ripe, bubbly, active sourdough starter that is fed equal parts flour and water – it can be substituted for the levain in this recipe.
Apple Sourdough Bread
- Grate Apple: Grate apples on the back of a box grater until you have 200 grams of apple. This is about 2 medium-sized apples. Set aside.Note: If your apples are especially juicy, lightly squeeze them to release some of the excess liquid before adding them to the dough. For more experienced bakers who are comfortable working with wetter doughs, you can reserve some of that juice and add it back in with the apples for extra flavor.
- Fermentolyse: Once the levain is ready (bubbly, doubled in size, milky sweet smell), mix together 100 grams levain, 250 grams water (warm the water if the ingredients are too cold and cool water if the ingredients are too warm), 200 grams grated apple, 450 grams bread flour and 50 grams whole wheat flour. Let rest for 30 minutes.
- Mix the Dough: After 30 minutes, add the reserved 10 grams salt and 25 grams of water. Combine using your hands by squeezing the dough between your fingers, pinching chunks of dough and reincorporating together. The dough will break apart and then reform in the bowl through this process. Pick up one side of the dough and fold it over on itself. The dough will be sticky. Wet your hands as needed and continue to work with the dough until all the salt and water has been incorporated. Transfer the dough to a plastic container or a glass bowl and cover.
- Stretch and Folds: Perform a series of “stretch and folds” throughout the next 2 hours. The goal is to strengthen the dough. To “stretch and fold,” wet your hand (so it doesn’t stick to the dough). Reach around the dough down to the bottom of the bowl, pull the dough up and over and place it on top of the dough. Turn the bowl a quarter turn and repeat the stretch and fold. Turn another quarter turn and repeat. Perform one more quarter turn, stretching and folding the dough. Cover and set aside. Take note of how the dough feels through this process. It will go from feeling a little shaggy to smooth and elastic. Cover the bowl and wait about 30 minutes in between stretch and folds.
- Stretch and fold #1: 30 minutes into bulk fermentation, perform your first series of stretch and folds.Stretch and fold #2: 30 minutes later – the dough will spread out. Perform stretch and fold #2. At this point if you want to add chopped nuts, now is the time to add them.Stretch and fold #3: 30 minutes later, the dough will spread out. Stretch and fold again. Stretch and fold #4: Optional, if you feel your dough is slack and could use more strength, stretch and fold again.
- Bulk Fermentation Continued: Let the dough rest in a warm place, for the rest of bulk fermentation, about 2-2.5 hours at 78-80ºF. During this time the dough will puff up about 30-40%, become more aerated, start to pull away from the edges of the bowl and have a few scattered bubbles around the edges/top of the dough. If your dough is not showing these signs, make sure it's warm enough and give it another half an hour or so until it is showing signs that it's ready to shape.
- Mix Cinnamon Filling: Mix together softened butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, cornstarch and salt. Set aside.
- Shaping: When the dough is showing signs that it's ready to shape, dump the dough out onto the countertop. Gently pull the dough into a 12 by 12 square shape. It does NOT need to be very thinly stretched. Dollop most of the cinnamon mixture on the top of the dough. Fold one side of the dough to the middle and then the other side of the dough to the middle. Add the rest of the cinnamon sugar mixture on top of that dough. Then roll the dough up into a cylinder or circular shape. Immediately place the dough in the prepared banneton basket without too much handling of the dough. Cinnamon sugar tends to release moisture in the dough making it necessary to work quickly and get it in the banneton.
- Cold Bulk Fermentation: Cover the dough with plastic wrap or a shower cap and store in the refrigerator overnight for about 18-24 hours. Alternatively you can let your dough rise outside the fridge for another 3-4 hours and then bake your loaf the same day. If you choose this method, stick your banneton or bowl of dough in the fridge or freezer to chill it for a few minutes before scoring.
Day 2: Bake
- Pre-heat the Oven: Put a Dutch oven (top and all) into the oven and preheat to 500ºF. Allow the Dutch oven to heat for about 30 minutes at 500ºF.
- Once preheated, pull the loaf out of the refrigerator. Remove the plastic wrap or shower cap (this is easy to do straight out of the refrigerator if the dough is chilled – not easy if the dough warms up) and place a piece of parchment paper on top of the bread dough. Flip the dough over so that the dough is now sitting on the parchment paper. Take off the bowl banneton and liner.
- Scoring: Smooth flour over the top of the dough (add a little extra for more contrast if desired) or leave the flour off completely for no contrast. Use a bread lame or very sharp knife to score the dough. Bread with inclusions typically does not score quite as well as bread without. This is not a loaf for intricate scoring. One large slash, about 1 inch deep is sufficient.
- Bake: Carefully remove the Dutch oven from the 500ºF oven with hot pads. Take the top off and place your bread into the Dutch oven (including parchment paper – this helps with the transfer). Put your hot pads back on before you pick up the lid of the Dutch oven and place it on top of the bread. Put the whole Dutch oven back into the oven. Lower the temperature to 450ºF and bake for 25 minutes. Once 25 minutes are up, take the top off the Dutch oven and lower the temperature again to 400ºF. Continue baking for 20 minutes until the bread is fully baked with an internal temperature of 205ºF. Note: If your oven runs hot or you are using a dark cast iron pot, there's a tendency for the bottom of the loaf to burn. Make sure to put a sheet pan on the rack underneath the pot to deflect the heat and decrease the temperature to 425ºF instead of 450ºF.
- Let cool completely and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
While I enjoyed this loaf a lot, the apple flavor really was nonexistent (I used Pink Lady). Would chunks provide more apple flavor? I replaced some of the water with apple cider concentrate (from King Arthur Flour), but it wasn’t enough. I also worked very quickly with the cinnamon mixture, per instructions. I wonder if the cinnamon mixture should have been cold, instead of room temperature as I used? After cold fermentation, the banneton basket and cotton liner had cinnamon liquid on it. Would the interaction of the cinnamon and sourdough cause it to weep? My apples weren’t particularly moist, so I was a little surprised. Apparently no one else has had that problem. Can you tell me what I did wrong? My loaf also took an additional 20 minutes to reach an internal temp of 205F. This recipe was also the first one that reduced the temperature twice while baking. What was the reason for doing that? If I make this again, I’d like more apple flavor, and I’ll also use a bowl instead of the banneton for cold fermentation. Thanks so much for your help. I’d like to understand what happened. I’ve only been baking sourdough for about 6 months, so I still consider myself new especially since I only bake once a week.
It doesn’t sound like you did anything wrong. Cinnamon does pull moisture from the dough, so it’s very common to get some leakage. The oven temp is reduced to prevent burning, which can happen with loaves like this with added sugar. The apple flavor is meant to be more mild in this bake. I would serve with some apple butter to make the most of the apple flavor. I hope I hit all of your questions! Happy baking!
This bread was great! I loved the swirls of cinnamon and sugar, it had a great texture, and was fabulous toasted! Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for the review!
My family loved this recipe and it was so easy to make. Thank you for providing such good detailed directions with tips and pictures ❤️
Thanks for the review!
How long can it cold ferment for?
We usually recommend 12-36 hours for cold ferment time.