Having little surprises in your bread is such fun. I love to choose new mix-ins every time I make this Sourdough Fruit & Nut Bread.
Kids and adults alike will enjoy this bread! It's great at snack, breakfast, or brunch. Enjoy plain or with homemade butter and jam.
Slice it nice and thick and pair with fried eggs and Venison Breakfast Sausage. Pairs perfectly with tea or coffee, and I'm not against the kids mixing up a glass of Healthy Chocolate Milk, either.
Key Ingredients
Flour - A combo of bread flour, AP, and fresh-milled or whole wheat gives this bread the perfect texture. It's also a great way to introduce whole grains to your family.
Sourdough - Use your active starter as-is or create a traditional levain for the most classic sourdough taste and timing.
Fruit - A mixture of 2-3 types is good here. Mango, cranberries, and figs are favourites.
Nuts - I like walnuts in bread as they are soft to chew.
How to Make Fruit & Nut Bread
***See recipe card below for precise measurements and instructions.***
Step 1: Create a levain for 5 hours and also autolyse your flour.
Step 2: Let rest, covered, while you chop fruit and nuts.
Step 3: Add your desired mix-ins to the dough.
Step 4: Stir in; then perform sets of stretch-and-fold while you bulk ferment.
Step 5: Divide dough in half and allow to ferment some more.
Step 6: Place in parchment-lined baking pans and bake until golden.
FAQs
It's not required as long as you have very happy starter. I recommend feeding it the night before you want to bake so you can get started right away. Even without a levain you will autolyse your flour/dough. Especially when using fresh ground grains you need to allow the wheat to hydrate properly before proceeding.
For this recipe, yes. Sometimes I think it truly is easy to just pull out that scale and weight everything out. You can get super accurate results this way - though you also need some knowledge of the feeling of dough since you might not need all the water that's called for. That's why I also recommend learning Intuitive Sourdough because those techniques serve you well even with weighed ingredients.
Photos by Dante from Shire by the Sea
More Sourdough Recipes
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Sourdough Fruit & Nut Bread
Ingredients
Levain:
- 30 grams all-purpose flour or bread flour
- 30 grams freshly milled whole wheat flour
- 60 grams water
- 30 grams active sourdough starter
Dough:
- 820 grams all-purpose flour or bread flour
- 66 grams freshly milled whole wheat flour
- 750 grams water
- 18 grams salt
- 150 grams levain from above, OR active sourdough culture
- 6 dried figs chopped
- 6 slices dried mango chopped
- ½ cup dried cranberries chopped
- ½ cup walnuts chopped (optional)
Instructions
- If Making Levain: Mill wheat berries, and mix levain ingredients in a small container, leaving for 5 hours at 25°C/77°F (so a warm room).
- Mix 820 grams bread flour, 66 grams whole wheat flour, and 650 grams of water, mixing with hands until no dry bit are left. Cover for 2 hours (time it for the last 2 hours of levain, if using) with plastic or damp tea towel.
- Chop dried fruit and nuts into small chunks and set aside.
- When levain is ready, or after dough has autolysed, add salt, dried fruit, and levain or sourdough starter. Add remaining water (about 100 g) but slowly as it may not all be needed.
- Mix all ingredients together by hand, pinching and folding, until well incorporated. Cover.
- During bulk fermentation (4 hours) give the dough 6 sets of stretch and folds, the first 3 in 15 minute intervals and the last 3 in 30 minute intervals.
- Lightly flour your working surface and pour out the dough. Cut dough in half with knife.
- Shape each half into a rough round shape and leave for half an hour uncovered.
- Shape dough into round or oval shape an put into floured proofing baskets.
- Cover with large plastic bags, seal and refrigerate overnight.
- In the morning take out your loaves and set oven to 450°F.
- Line loaf pans with parchment paper and carefully transfer dough over into pans.
- Bake loaves for 45-50 minutes until loafs are a golden hue. You can also check for an internal temperature of at least 190°F.
- Cool on rack for 30 minutes.
Notes
- A levain is the traditional way of making sourdough. You can either make that up ahead of time, OR simply proceed with strong and healthy starter in the dough.
- The dough is quite forgiving - you can use pretty much any mix of flours and have a great loaf! I think the tangy sourdough is a great way to add whole grains in your diet because the flavours all blend together.
- Use any type of dried fruit you like.
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