I know, I know. I bang on about this all the time.
The very best part of sourdough baking (for me) is being able to share bread with others.
And as my friends on the Bay Run found out recently, if you stand still long enough, I’m likely to hand you a loaf. In turn, Sue and Mel shared their warm baguettes with our favourite barista Samira, and when I popped in for a coffee the following day, she asked me if I’d bake a fruit loaf for her.
I don’t normally bake to order, but I couldn’t refuse Sami – after all, she’s been cheerfully making brilliant decaf piccolos for me for over a year. So I took the box of dried fruit she gave me and baked three sourdough fruit loaves for her the next morning…
She was excited, but didn’t want to take all three loaves. I figured she could share one and take two home, which is exactly what she did. By the time Mel and Sue had made their way over for coffee, Sami had already cut up and handed out a whole loaf to customers. How cool is that!
Big Boy and I shared a hot buttered slice as we walked, and it was divine…
I came home, fed up Priscilla, and made another batch. Here’s the formula I used:
- 100g bubbly sourdough starter (see note)
- 1kg bread/bakers flour
- 700g – 750g water (the flour I’m currently using is very thirsty, so adjust the water quantity as needed)
- 18g fine sea salt
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 100g dried dates, chopped
- 50g dried apple, finely chopped
- 50g dried apricots, chopped
- 100g walnut pieces
Note: Over the past couple of years, I’ve adopted the current trend of using less starter in my sourdoughs, and the results have been very pleasing. You could, however, simply add the dried fruit and cinnamon to the basic overnight sourdough recipe and it should work fine.
1. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the starter, water, cinnamon and dried fruit.
2. Add the flour and salt, and squelch everything together with a clean hand. Cover and allow the dough to rest for about half an hour.
3. Uncover the dough and give it a brief knead in the bowl (less than a minute), then cover it again and allow to prove overnight.
4. The following morning, the dough should be well risen and puffy. Dust the bench with flour or fine semolina (my preference) and scrape out the dough. Stretch and fold it onto itself so that all sides are coated in flour – this makes it easier to work with. There are photos of this process in our earlier tutorial.
5. Divide the dough into two or three even pieces. I bake three smaller loaves in my ginormous oven, but you could just as easily bake two larger ones. If you have a tiny oven, just halve the quantities and bake a single loaf. Shape each piece into a ball, then let it sit on the bench for 15 minutes, covered in a tea towel. This short rest will make shaping the loaves much easier.
6. Shape each ball into a round or oval loaf, trying to keep as much fruit inside the loaf as possible. Sit each loaf on a sheet of parchment, or nestle it seam-side up in a tea-towel lined banneton. If you’re going to use bannetons, I suggest rolling the shaped dough in fine semolina first, which will help prevent sticking. Preheat the oven to 220C with fan. Allow the dough to prove until puffed up – about 30 minutes to an hour.
I line my bannetons with Tenegui (coarse weave cotton hand towels) from Daiso. They work brilliantly!
. . . . .
7. If using bannetons, carefully turn the loaves onto sheets of parchment and slash a long cut on the top, either in the middle or offset to one side. Try to avoid any bits of fruit. Place each loaf into an enamel roaster and cover with lid. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
My grotty enamel roasters. I never bother to wash them!
…
8. Remove the lid and bake for a further 20 minutes (you might need a bit more time if you’re baking larger loaves). I like to reduce the temperature to 210C with fan at this point, as the sugars in the fruit can cause the top to burn a bit. Bake until well browned and hollow sounding.
. . . . .
In theory, you should let the loaves cool before slicing, but this bread was so delicious hot and smothered in butter that all I can really recommend is letting it rest for half an hour or so before cutting into it.
This is hands down my favourite fruit and nut sourdough so far! It doesn’t have raisins or sultanas in it, nor is there any added sugar, yet the dates, apples and apricots add rich sweetness and depth of flavour. The walnuts turn the dough a gorgeous purpley-grey which carries through to the finished bread.
I took a leaf out of Sami’s book and invited all the neighbours over for a slice…
. . . . .
Break bread with others, folks. Share the sourdough love as often as you can! ♥
PS. If you’re just starting out, you might enjoy our earlier sourdough tutorials:
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
I’ve just returned home after a 5 month trip and am keen o get back into bread baking. Your post couldn’t be more timely. Thanks Celia for your continued inspiration. Just waking up the dehydrated baby now.
Hi Celia,
I was led to your blog by Google a bit more than a year ago when we were about to move to Sydney from North Europe. I was searching if I can get rye flour in Sydney. Well of course in your blog I found much more than that. I am so inspired by your blog and even started to try sour dough bread. I made my starter following your recommended Cityhippyfarmhgirl’s way. I baked a few bread loaf. I have to say my bread has been always kind of flat and my starter has never been so bubbly like yours. I have been using Manildra’s strong bakers flour and recently changed to Manildra’s protein enriched flour. Just wondering if I am using the right flour or something else also went wrong. Thanks.
The only other thing might be water? I use regular tap water in my doughs, but I always feed my starter with high protein flour and filtered water. Hope that helps! Brydie’s breads are always fabulous, so if you’ve made her starter, she might be able to offer more insight?
Thank you Celia. I will try the water thing to see if it helps.
You are such a legend Celia … thanks again for the inspiration! xo
Wish automation had reached the point we could share tastes as well as visuals. Yum.
This nutty fruity loaf made my morning … and then I had a chocolate sourdough chaser … toasted … with butter … sorry (not sorry!) to all of you who didn’t get the golden ticket of being one of Celia’s spoilt neighbours. xx
What a lovely story…sharing the love…or is that the bread…your bread making skills have brought wonderful moments and people into your life. Regards Kathy A, Brisbane
That’s very inspiring, Celia!
Reckon I’ll go more citrusy and up the spices…
so beautiful!
Hi Celia. I love your posts – they make me feel as if I have known you for years. How different is your bread using less starter? I tend to make bread when we are so close to running out so I am nervous to use less starter in case my bread doesn’t turn out and that would be a disaster because I haven’t eaten bought bread in ages. Thanks for sharing.
Carol, I’ve been really surprised at how well using the smaller quantity of starter works. Make sure to have it really bubbly to start with though. Maybe try just one batch when you’re not too pressured and see what you prefer? :)
Always love your sourdough posts Celia sharing bread brings generosity in others. I took some loaves for my hairdresser and she did my granddaughters first hair cut for free and put some golden curls is a little bag. How lovely is that. Quick question if you have time to answer, when you reduce the starter do you leave all the other ingredients the same?
Helen, pretty much. Flour and salt are the same, but water is increased a bit. If you have a look at the high hydration dough tutorial (link in post above), you can see the formula I use most of the time now. That’s a lovely story about your hairdresser!
Oh, wow. I reallllyyyyyyy want to be your in-real-life friend so I can reap the benefits of your delicious baking and generosity :) I really want to get into bread making and this is inspiring me!!
What a lovely bread this is! Thanks for sharing the recipe, I made the dough 1st thing yesterday morning and it came out of the oven about 10pm last night. We had a slice while it was still warm because we couldn’t wait until breakfast time!
That’s great news! You’re very kind to let me know, thank you! :)
Ooh I love the sound of this!
Yum! I’ll be baking this on the weekend xo
You would be impressed by my FIRST attempts at Sour Dough ..’ Constance’ took a while to wake up like all Sleeping Beauties but she kept me busy with her ravenous appetite for flour and cool water for another week till I had enough to feed the entire Hunter Valley !! I added some gorgeous Wakame I bought in Chinatown a couple of months ago and used less salt ..as my salt is the Pink variety that comes from the Dali Lama’ s neighbourhood and it’s very salty but Yumptious as well … Both loaves look and taste wonderful with a subtle ‘ sour ‘ aftertaste that resonates for ages on my palate ..
I can’t believe I’ve FINALLY done it !! Thanks so much you wonderful woman … now I’ll think of you every time I look at her and slice off a chunk of Pure Heavenly Indulgence … can’t wait to try the dried fruit version …
… ohhhh what a Bakers BLISS it is 💋😘🌻
BEST fruit loaf ever? OK, I’m ON it!! Thank you again. I also got The Artisan Sourdough Made by Emilie and am having fun with it. There are so many ways to ‘skin the cat’ with sourdough! I bake a lot of rye breads with rye starters and have great luck. Rye starter? I just kept feeding some of my white starter until it became a rye starter and I feed it once a week if not using and keep in the fridge. Cheers!!
Wow, that sour dough looks INCREDIBLE! I love this, thank you so much for sharing Celia!
Hi…. I love your blog…. I have a relative of Priscilla….. Who has become a spelt relative… I make bread regularl
My stepdaughter is expressing an interest in sourdough but she wants an ordinary flour one….
I’ve seen some on line for sale but…..? What do you think?
Meg
Ohhh Yum
I know what I’m baking tomorrow!!
Thank you for your gracious gifts
Len
Possibly a very odd question, but do you ever sell portions of your starter? I’m in the USA, but wanting to get into making sourdough as my next bread adventure! I read about your marvelous Priscilla starter in Alexandria Cook’s blog and thought how amazing it is you’ve kept it going for that long! Thank you :)
I’m sorry, I don’t, but my friend Emilie at the Clever Carrot blog is selling hers, which is an offspring of Priscilla. She’s based in the US as well! She’s written a book about baking sourdough with it – if you scroll down a few posts here, you can read about it. Enjoy your bread adventure! :)
Awesome thank you!! I’ll definitely reach out to her and am excited you’ve led me to another awesome blog to follow :)