title
Dried Fruit & Nut Dessert Bread (Small Round)
ingredients
[{"amount": 350, "unit": "g", "name": "bread flour"}, {"amount": 204, "unit": "g", "name": "water"}, {"amount": 70, "unit": "g", "name": "active sourdough starter"}, {"amount": 7, "unit": "g", "name": "salt"}, {"amount": 3.5, "unit": "g", "name": "malt"}, {"amount": 18, "unit": "g", "name": "oil (about 1.5 tbsp)"}, {"amount": 30, "unit": "g", "name": "honey (about 1.5 tbsp) -- not optional this time, this is meant to taste like a dessert bread"}, {"amount": 30, "unit": "g", "name": "granulated sugar (about 2.5 tbsp) -- added for extra sweetness, on top of the honey"}, {"amount": 1, "unit": "tsp", "name": "ground cinnamon"}, {"amount": 90, "unit": "g", "name": "dried fruit, chopped if large -- raisins, dried cranberries, and/or chopped dried apricots work well together"}, {"amount": 55, "unit": "g", "name": "walnuts or pecans, toasted and roughly chopped"}, {"amount": 0, "unit": "as needed", "name": "melted butter, for brushing after baking"}]
steps
[{"text": "Toast the nuts first: spread on a baking sheet, bake at 350F for 5-10min until fragrant, let cool, then roughly chop."}, {"text": "Mix 350g flour, 204g water, 70g starter, 7g salt, 3.5g malt, 18g oil, 30g honey, 30g granulated sugar, and the cinnamon until no dry bits remain. Don't add the fruit/nuts yet."}, {"text": "Let rest 20-30min, then do one round of stretch & fold. You don't need to pre-soak the dried fruit -- it hydrates on its own during bulk fermentation."}, {"text": "After that first fold, work in the dried fruit and the cooled toasted nuts -- fold them in rather than kneading hard, just enough to distribute evenly through the dough. Adding them after the initial mix (not at the very start) keeps flour from getting trapped in the creases of the dried fruit."}, {"text": "Continue stretch & folds every 30-60min through bulk -- 2-3 more folds is typical (gentler than a plain loaf since you're folding around fruit and nuts now, not just dough)."}, {"text": "Bulk ferment until puffed and jiggly, not just risen -- judge by feel, not the clock."}, {"text": "Shape into a ROUND (boule) -- smaller and more compact than your usual Large Loaf batard. Place seam-side UP into a well-floured rattan banneton (a smaller one if you have it, or just don't expect it to fill a large one)."}, {"text": "Proof at room temp 1-2hr, or retard in the fridge overnight."}, {"text": "Preheat your Dutch oven (lid on) to 450F for 30-45min."}, {"text": "Turn the dough out onto parchment, score lightly, lower into the hot Dutch oven, lid on."}, {"text": "Bake covered about 25-30min (shorter than your Large Loaf since this is a smaller round), then uncover and finish 8-12min until golden -- keep an eye on it, the honey and fruit sugars brown faster than a plain lean dough."}, {"text": "Pull at 205-210F internal."}, {"text": "Remove from the Dutch oven right away, brush the top with melted butter while hot, and cool on a rack before slicing."}]
source
USR369 + web research
notes
Dessert version of your sourdough Large Loaf formula, scaled down to about 58% of the original (350g flour vs 600g) for a smaller round loaf, plus dried fruit, toasted nuts, cinnamon, and more honey than the soft-crust version since this one's meant to taste sweet on purpose.
WEB-RESEARCHED 09/08/26 -- technique confirmed against several real fruit-and-nut sourdough/yeast bread recipes: (1) toast the nuts first for better flavor, (2) no need to pre-soak dried fruit -- it hydrates fine during bulk fermentation (some recipes soak 1hr + rinse if worried about sulfur dioxide preservatives on the fruit inhibiting fermentation, but plain works fine for most dried fruit), (3) add the fruit/nuts AFTER the initial mix, not at the start, so flour doesn't get trapped in the fruit's creases, (4) fold them in gently rather than aggressive kneading once added.
RATIO: dried fruit + nuts land at about 25% and 15% of the flour weight respectively (90g fruit / 55g nuts against 350g flour) -- middle of the range seen across researched recipes (some go much heavier, up to equal weight to the flour, for a very dense fruit-forward loaf; this stays more moderate so it's still recognizably bread, not a fruitcake).
SCALING NOTE: percentages match your Large Loaf base (58% hydration, 20% starter, 2% salt, 1% malt, ~5% oil) just scaled to 350g flour instead of 600g -- if you want it even smaller or bigger, everything scales proportionally off the flour weight.
SWEETENED FURTHER 09/08/26: added 30g granulated sugar on top of the existing 30g honey (total ~60g sweetener, about 17% of the 350g flour weight) since USR369 wants this noticeably sweeter -- solidly in sweet-bread territory now, more like a cinnamon-raisin style loaf than a lightly-sweet sandwich bread. One thing to watch: at this sweetener level, fermentation can run a little slower than usual since sugar competes with the starter's yeast for water (osmotic effect) -- bulk fermentation may take a bit longer to look 'puffy and jiggly' than your usual timing, so still judge by feel/appearance, not the clock, and give it extra time if it seems slow to get going.
REAL BAKE TIME + ELEVATION NOTE (added 09/09/26, from Bake #15, first real bake of this recipe as the Dessert Loaf portion) -- USR369 bakes at 5,500ft elevation. Actual observed timing ran noticeably longer than the written estimate above (covered ~25-30min + uncovered 8-12min = ~33-42min total): real internal-temp checkpoints were 25min covered -> 140F, +10min -> 160F, +10min -> 185-190F (lid came off here, ~45min covered total, already well past the written 25-30min covered estimate), then +5min uncovered -> 202-204F, +5min more (moved off the Dutch oven onto an open sheet pan for direct heat) -> 204-205F with foil added to protect the crust, +5min final push -- total time to target was close to 60min, roughly 40-50% longer than written. This matches the platform's standing altitude finding (DoughCalc's altitude note, Sourdough Bake #1/#2 bottom-burn notes): above 5,000ft, bakes commonly run longer than the printed time at the same temp -- go by internal temp (205-210F target), not the clock, and expect covered time alone to often run 40-45min rather than 25-30min at this elevation for a dough this size/density. UPDATED BAKE STEP FOR THIS ELEVATION: bake covered ~40-45min, then uncover 10-15min watching color closely (sugar/fruit still brown fast), pull at 205-210F internal -- treat the original 25-30min/8-12min figures as sea-level estimates, not what to expect at 5,500ft.
TOASTING RECONSIDERED (09/09/26, from Bake #15's actual result): USR369 found the toasted nuts lost flavor this bake and is planning NOT to toast them next time. This is a direct contradiction of the 09/08/26 web-research note above recommending toasting for better flavor -- flagging honestly rather than picking a side: the research reflects general technique consensus, but USR369's own tasted result this time didn't bear it out. Possible causes worth considering next time (not confirmed): over-toasting past fragrant into bitter, nuts sitting too long between toasting and folding in (losing aromatic volatiles), or the long bake at this elevation (~60min to target) cooking the flavor back out regardless of toasting. Next bake: try untoasted and compare directly -- that's the real test, not assuming either way from one data point.
REAL BAKE AT 1100g-FLOUR SCALE (09/12/26, Bake #17, item #62): same combined "Soft Crust" batch as recipe #36's matching note above (1100g flour, recipe #39 base ratios) -- this loaf's portion came out to 1000g of a ~2200g total dough (45.5% by actual weight, not a fixed gram target). Add-in quantities (sugar/honey/cinnamon/fruit/nuts) for this specific 1000g portion were NOT recorded this bake -- worth weighing and logging next time so the percentages can be checked against this recipe's established ratios (25.7% fruit, 15.7% nuts, 8.57% sugar, 8.57% honey, 0.74% cinnamon, all of flour weight) at this larger scale. Folds: every 45min, 3 total (vs. 1hr+10min at the smaller scale in recipe #38). Retarded 10hr in the fridge, baked in a round Dutch oven, roughly 65 minutes total to an internal temp around 204-206F -- no browning problem reported on this one (unlike the egg loaf), consistent with less egg-driven Maillard browning even with similar sugar/honey content. Result: looked really good. Taste not yet reported as of this note.