Sourdough Apple Cinnamon Bread – Discard Recipe

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This sourdough apple bread is a buttery cake-like sweet bread filled and topped with juicy apples, brown sugar, and cinnamon. The sourdough discard and orange juice add a touch of tang and create a perfectly tender bread that will appease all your fall flavor cravings.

The mornings here on the coast of North Carolina are finally cool and crisp. And this morning, when I walked my daughter into preschool, I noticed the crunch of a few leaves under our feet.

We are ready for all of the magic of fall and the delicious flavors of the season.

Though I love pumpkin treats like sourdough pumpkin cobbler, apples are the first fall harvest. And, in my opinion, they are the real stars of early fall baking.

Last year, on YouTube, I shared a fall homemaking video where I dehydrated bushels of apples that we picked at a local apple orchard in the North Carolina mountains.

But this year, just about every apple I can get my hands on is going right into this delicious sourdough discard apple bread.

I made this while I had family in town, and the entire loaf was gone within minutes. It didn’t even have a chance to cool off before everyone devoured it.

In fact, the bread was still warm in the photos for this post because I was trying to snap some pics before everyone ate it, haha!

It only takes 15 minutes to prep, and while it bakes, your entire house will smell like warm apples and cinnamon.

This recipe is a great way for you and your family to welcome these long-awaited cool and crisp fall days.

Happy fall, friends!

Ps. From no-knead sourdough to chocolate sourdough, I’ve shared many fermented sourdough recipes. But this is the first of many sourdough quick bread recipes to come. Be sure to sign up for the email list so you can get all of the new recipes directly in your inbox.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Fall flavors – Apple season welcomes the start of fall, so this is the perfect recipe for your fall baking kickoff. It’s basically fall wrapped up in an apple pie sourdough bread.
• Easy – Sourdough apple cinnamon bread is a no-wait discard recipe. The batter only takes about 15 minutes to whip up. You don’t need any fancy techniques, and you don’t have to let the dough rise.
• Use up extra sourdough discard – If you have a little stash of sourdough discard, don’t throw it away! Use it to make sourdough apple cinnamon bread.
• Delicious – This sourdough sweet bread captures the cozy season with simple ingredients like tender fall apples and warming cinnamon. The cinnamon sugar apple mixture is similar to apple pie filling but mixed into a buttery sweet bread.
• Cake-like – The bread is as decadent as sourdough strawberry cake and carrot cake, but it still has the texture of a slice of sweet bread.

Tips for Making Sourdough Apple Bread

• How ’bout them apples – Though you can use any apples, I recommend picking ones that hold their shape when baked. Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Braeburn, Fugi, and Jonajold are good options.
• Butter and flour the pan – Be sure to butter and flour your loaf pan. Or line it with parchment paper if you prefer.
• Use active or inactive starter – Either active or inactive starter will work. If you don’t have a sourdough starter, making your own is easy. Grab my free sourdough starter guide to learn how to make your own.
• Let it cool – Sourdough apple bread is easier to remove from the pan and slice if you let it cool to room temperature. But we never make it that long.

Why Sourdough for This Sweet Bread Recipe?

One of the questions I regularly hear is, “Why are discard recipes necessary?” My answer is always, “Why not?”

Sure, sweet breads and other baked goods have been perfected without added sourdough starter discard. But like many sourdough bakers, I prefer baking with discard for several reasons:

• Option to long ferment – Sourdough discard recipes can be long fermented for easier digestibility. This is especially helpful for some gluten-intolerant folks. The directions for long-fermenting this recipe are below.
• Prevent food waste – After most starter feedings, a little discard is left over. Discard is perfectly viable food, so throwing it into a recipe prevents food waste. You can also freeze your sourdough starter for later use.
• Subtle sourdough tang—Sourdough discard adds a touch of tang to recipes like apple cinnamon bread and chocolate chip skillet cookies.
• Fun – At the end of the day, baking should be fun. So, if experimenting with discard recipes brings you joy along your sourdough journey, then that is reason enough.

Tools You Will Need

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• Stand mixer or hand mixer – Using a mixer cuts down on the prep time. I use a KitchenAid stand mixer, but a hand mixer will also work.
• Bowl – Grab a large bowl for making the apple mixture and a large mixing bowl for the batter if you are using a hand mixer.
• Knife – You will need a knife to dice the apples. If you prefer less chunky bits of apples, you can use grated apples instead.
• Peeler – I like to use a vegetable peeler to peel the apples.
• Cutting board – I use a butcher block end-grain cutting board to help protect my knives.
• Measuring cups and spoons – I included the cup measurements, so grab your measuring cups and spoons if you need them.
• Kitchen scale – I also included the weight if weighing is more your baking style.
• Loaf pan – I love my stone loaf pan, but any regular-sized bread pan will do.
• Silicone spatula – I like to use a spatula to fold in the dry ingredients and smooth the batter in the pan.

Ingredients and Substitutions

• Apples – Fresh apples are the star of this sourdough sweet bread. Tart Granny Smith apples are great for baking because they prevent the bread from being overly sweet. But any apple will work. You can even use rehydrated freeze-dried apples.
• Lemon juice – The lemon juice prevents the apples from browning and adds some brightness to the bread.
• Brown sugar – The brown sugar is mixed with the apples and cinnamon to create a syrup. It seeps to the sides of the pan and creates a delicious caramelized edge. I haven’t tested it, but I imagine a little maple syrup would work, too.
• Cinnamon – The cinnamon adds warm and coziness to this sourdough apple bread. You could also add other warming spices like nutmeg or pumpkin spice.
• Butter – The butter creates a tender texture similar to a pound cake.
• Granulated sugar – It is a sweet bread, after all.
• Eggs and egg yolk – Eggs act as a binder, but the extra egg yolk is a secret ingredient that adds extra richness. Freeze-dried eggs will work for the whole eggs in this recipe.
• Sourdough discard – Active sourdough starter or inactive will work.
• Flour – Good old all-purpose flour will do. Bread flour will also work, but you may need to adjust the hydration. For extra nutrition, you could also swap some of the white flour for whole wheat flour, but you might need extra orange juice because whole wheat aborbs more liquid.
• Baking powder – Baking powder is the leavening agent for this sourdough apple bread recipe.
• Orange juice – Orange juice adds a bright flavor and moisture.

How To Make Sourdough Apple Bread

Preheat the oven to 350° F and grease and flour a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan (or line with parchment paper).

Add the apples, lemon juice, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Stir until combined. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed until it reaches a light and fluffy consistency, about 1-2 minutes. (A hand mixer will also work).

Add the eggs, egg yolk, and sourdough starter. Mix on medium speed until combined and smooth, about 1 minute.

Add the flour, baking powder, and orange juice. Mix again on medium speed until just combined. Don’t overmix!

Spoon half of the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Use a silicone spatula to smooth it over.

Top the batter with half of the apple mixture. Use your fingertips to gently press the apples partially into the batter.

Spoon the remaining batter on top. Again, smooth it over with a silicone spatula.

Add the remaining apples on top and press them slightly into the batter.

Bake for 1 hour or until golden brown. The internal temperature should be 190°-200° F. If your sourdough apple bread is browning too quickly on the top, tent it with aluminum foil.

Cool on a wire rack in the pan.

For a gooey bread, allow it to cool slightly before serving. For a pound cake-like texture, allow the bread to cool completely before serving.

How To Store Leftovers

Before packing up any leftover bread, ensure it has cooled completely to room temperature.

You can sourdough apple bread in an airtight container on the counter for up to three days. I love this bread chilled, so I often store it in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

If you are worried you won’t get through the whole loaf in time, first, teach me your restraint, haha! Then, you can store your leftover bread in the freezer for up to three months.

How To Long-Ferment Sourdough Apple Bread

One of the perks of sourdough recipes is that they can be long-fermented to improve digestibility. Ongoing research suggests that this may be especially helpful for some people who are gluten-intolerant (source).

The fermentation process pre-metabolizes the grains, which makes them more digestible.

Here is how to long ferment sourdough apple cinnamon bread:

1. Use active sourdough starter for long fermenting (inactive will work, but it takes longer).
2. Skip preparing the apples until you are ready to bake in Step 4.
3. Follow the recipe, but do not add the baking powder and orange juice.
4. Cover the bowl with a lid, beeswax wrap, or plastic wrap, and allow it to sit at room temperature for 8-12 hours. You can also store sourdough in the fridge for 3 days to long ferment.
5. When you are ready to bake, prepare the apples.
6. Then, mix the baking powder and orange juice into the fermented batter. A stand mixer can help combine the ingredients because the batter can be stiff after long fermenting, especially if it was in the fridge.
7. Continue the remainder of the recipe.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to use unfed sourdough discard?

No, you can use either active or inactive sourdough starter discard. And if you store your starter in the fridge, you can use it cold. You don’t have to worry about letting it warm to room temperature or feeding it.

If you use active discard, I recommend weighing it for the recipe. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, measuring it in cups will definitely work. Just stir out the bubbles first.

Check out my active starter, inactive, and discard overview on YouTube.

Should I use salted or unsalted butter?

Either! Salted butter will highlight the other flavors. However, this bread is delicious either way. I used unsalted because it’s what I had on hand.

Can you make sourdough apple bread in advance?

Yes! In fact, though my family eats it hot right out of the pan, I think it is best after it has chilled for a day in the fridge.

You can also freeze sourdough apple bread. You can freeze sourdough bread (even sweet bread like this) as a whole loaf or pre-sliced.

What hydration should the starter be?

This recipe assumes you are using a 100% hydration starter. That simply means your starter’s flour and water content are equal.

So, for instance, if you feed your starter 50 g of flour and 50 g of water, it will be 100% hydrated.

Like many discard recipes, sourdough apple bread is forgiving. So don’t worry if your starter isn’t exactly 100% hydration.

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If you tried this recipe and loved it, leave a comment or review below!