Makes 2
INGREDIENTS
- 2 x 20cm round tins required
- 390g water at 24˚C
- 100g bubbly, lively starter
- 500g organic stone-ground wholegrain spelt flour
- 10g fine sea salt
- Butter, ghee or coconut oil, for greasing
- Olive oil spray
- 4 large red apples
- 2 heaped tbsp soft brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 30g salted butter, cut into 1cm dice
METHOD
MIX
1 In a large bowl, whisk together 360g of the water and the sourdough starter. Add the flour and salt, and use a strong spatula to vigorously mix your dough for about 2 minutes. It will form a stiff ball of dough with no dry flour left. Leave to rest for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, refresh the remaining starter in your jar and set aside.
2 Mix in the remaining 30g water using the bassinage technique. The liquid needs to be fully incorporated into the dough. Cover and leave the dough to rest for another 30 minutes
PROVE
3 Grease 2 x 20cm, 4cm deep cake tins and line with baking parchment. Divide the dough between the tins. Spray a little olive oil over the surface of each loaf. Cover and leave to prove on the kitchen table overnight
BAKE
4 The next morning, the dough will have risen to almost the top of the tins. Preheat your oven to 220˚C/Gas Mark 7 for 30 minutes.
5 Slice the apples in half and remove the cores, then cut each half into 4 or 5 slices. Gently arrange these slices over the top of the dough in each tin, forming concentric circles. Don’t push the slices into the dough because it is delicate at this stage and you want to keep all the air in it. Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon over the apple slices and scatter the cubes of butter evenly
across the top. Spray the loaves lightly with olive oil — just enough to protect the apple slices from burning.
6 Reduce the oven temperature to 200˚C/Gas Mark 6 and bake for 30-35 minutes. Every oven is slightly different, so check your loaves towards the end of the baking time and take them out of the oven as soon as they are baked. Leave to cool in the tins for 5 minutes before removing from the tins and transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Your starter should now be ready to put in the fridge until you next want to prepare it for baking.
7 Once cool, store in a tin, wrapped in greaseproof paper. These are best eaten on the day they’re made, but if not, enjoy within 2 days
Recipe by Vanessa Kimbell, 10-Minute Sourdough: Breadmaking for Real Life