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Spiced Fruit Sourdough Loaf

Spiced Fruit Sourdough uses my easy, no-knead bread baking method to create a loaf full of rich flavour. Dried fruits are steeped in honeyed black tea and orange zest and folded into a spiced dough made the night before. Using the soaking liquid in place of water in the dough adds even more flavour.

Course Bread
Servings 1 large loaf

Ingredients

For the fruit:

  • 500 ml hot black tea
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 75 g raisins
  • 75 g currants
  • 1 orange, zest only finely grated

For the dough:

  • 600 g flour (e.g. 200g rye/400g white wheat)
  • 1.5 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp mixed spice
  • 60 ml sourdough starter approx 60g if measuring by weight

Instructions

The day before you want to bake the bread

For the fruit:

  1. Dissolve the honey in the hot tea.

  2. Combine the raisins, currants and orange zest in a heatproof bowl and pour the hot tea over. Cover and leave for 3-6 hours.

  3. Using a fine sieve, strain the fruit over a jug, reserving the soaking liquid. Set fruit aside, covered in the fridge, until the next day.

  4. Measure the soaking liquid and make up to 400 ml with tap water if necessary. Set aside until you're ready to make the dough.

For the dough:

  1. In a large bowl, stir the flour, salt and spices together.

  2. Dissolve the sourdough starter in the reserved soaking liquid.

  3. Stir the liquid into the flour, salt and spices. Bring together into a rough dough that leaves the sides of the bowl clean.

  4. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave overnight or 14-16 hours.

On the day of baking:

  1. Scrape the dough out of its bowl onto a well-floured worktop and flatten out.

  2. Spread half the soaked fruit over the dough. Fold over the sides of the dough to cover the mix and flatten the dough again.

  3. Spread the rest of the fruit over the dough, fold over the sides again and continue folding until it's distributed evenly

  4. Shape your loaf to the proving vessel, cover with cling film and leave to rest 10 min.

  5. After 10 min place the dough into lined, floured proving basket or tea towel-lined bowl, cover with cling film and leave for 90 min.

  6. After 60 min preheat oven to 250C/500F/Gas 10 and put a cast iron pot with lid into the oven.

  7. After 90 mins, carefully flip the dough from the proving basket into the pot, slash the top, replace the lid and put in the oven. Turn heat down to 220C/425F/Gas 7. Bake for 30 min.

  8. After 30 min remove pot from the oven, take bread out and put bread directly on the oven shelf. Bake for 10-20 min until the bread is cooked through, turning down the oven if necessary to stop the outside burning

  9. Leave on a wire rack to cool.

Recipe Notes

 

Different flours will absorb varying amounts of water so you may need to increase or decrease the liquid measurements.

To make Chai Masala Spiced Fruit Sourdough variation: use 3 chai tea bags and 1 regular black tea bag to make the tea and replace the mixed spice and cinnamon with 3 tspn of chai masala mix.