Sourdough Flavors You Need to Try This Fall

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If you love baking sourdough, fall is the perfect time to experiment with seasonal ingredients. From warm spices to fresh apples and pumpkin, there are so many ways to bring cozy, autumn-inspired flavors to your sourdough recipes. Here are some of our favorite sourdough flavors you need to try this fall.

Today, we’re sharing all our favorite sourdough flavor ideas that are easy to make and guaranteed to become your new to-go seasonal bakes. These recipes include sourdough bread AND sourdough discard ideas! Now, Let’s get to baking.

Why You’ll Love These Fall Sourdough Flavors

Seasonal Ingredients – No matter what flavor you choose, each one captures the best of fall with spices, fruits, and cozy aromas we all know and love.

Beginner-Friendly – Adding fall flavors or inclusions to your sourdough can look very elaborate and maybe even complicated. The reality is, it’s easier than you think! Even the newest sourdough baker can pull these add-ins off.

Versatile – Perfect for loaves, muffins, donuts, and more! We’ll show you examples of sourdough loaves and other fall-inspired treats we’ve made.

Impressive but easy – Bakery-worthy results with minimal effort. Because you’re already busy enough.

Tips for Adding Flavors to Sourdough

• Add Inclusions After Bulk Fermentation Starts – This helps keep the dough’s structure and is the best way to evenly distribute flavors.
• Chop Ingredients Small – Apples, nuts, and even dried fruit should be diced small to prevent tearing the dough. We’ve learned the hard way…big chunks of inclusions make the final shaping difficult.
• High-Quality Spices – High-quality doesn’t always have to mean expensive. We recommend observing the color of the spices you get to determine the freshness. If it looks dull in color, it’s probably sat on the shelf for awhile. Might want to skip that one. Fresh spices will make the flavors more intense, and keep in mind with cloves and nutmeg a little goes a long way.
• Balance Moisture – If you’re adding ingredients like pumpkin puree, slightly reduce your water if your dough feels too sticky.

Fall Sourdough Flavor Ideas

1. Apple Cinnamon Sourdough

This is the coziest fall sourdough loaf I’ve ever made. The sweet, crisp apples and warm cinnamon make this sourdough perfect for breakfast toast with honey butter.

2. Pumpkin Spice Sourdough

You can absolutely add pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spices to a traditional sourdough loaf, but we actually used those pumpkin flavors in our Pumpkin Cinnamon Sourdough Bread. This festive fall favorite should be enjoyed fresh from the oven, but also freezes so well!

3. Maple Pecan Sourdough

Rich maple syrup and crunchy pecans add sweetness and texture to every bite. If you’re adding these inclusions to a loaf, make sure you adjust the water because of the maple syrup. If you’re looking for a cute, easy discard recipe for a fall brunch, here is our sourdough baked maple pecan donuts! They are so addictive and freeze really well.

4. Cranberry Walnut Sourdough

Tart cranberries and chopped walnuts are the perfect inclusion on a holiday table. If you’re bringing dessert, check out our cranberry and coconut sourdough discard muffins. Swap out the coconut for walnuts and your cozy holiday sweet treat will be the dessert everyone is raving about.

5. Chocolate Swirl Sourdough

Cocoa powder and chocolate chips create a dessert-like loaf that is perfect for cozy evenings by the fire. Our beginner-friendly recipe will have you eating this for dessert every night.

How to Incorporate Fall Flavors into Sourdough

1. Mix Your Base Dough: Start with your standard sourdough recipe. If you don’t have one, try out our Same Day Sourdough Recipe. It doesn’t include overnight proofing, but you can easily shape it and toss it into the fridge after the bulk fermentation.
2. Add Inclusions: When you’re on your second round of stretch and folds, add the fruit, nuts, or spices first and then stretch and fold as normal.
3. Adjust Bulk Fermentation: Inclusions can effect your bulk fermentation, sometimes slowing down the process. We recommend taking your dough’s temperature and using the Bulk Fermentation Chart by The Sourdough Journey. This will tell you how long your dough should bulk ferment for.
   • TIP: Other signs your dough is done bulk fermenting:
     • There are bubbles on the top and sides of the dough.
     • The dough doesn’t stick to your finger and come with you when you pull away.
     • The dough is giggly when you shake the bowl.
     • When you pull the dough away from the sides of the bowl, the dough easily comes off the sides and doesn’t stick/hold on to the bowl.
4. Shape and Proof: Follow your usual shaping and proofing routine. If you don’t have one, we’ve included a baker’s schedule below.
5. Score and Bake – Add your expansion score and bake as directed per your favorite sourdough recipe, or at 420 degrees for 25 minutes with the lid on and 25 minutes with the lid off.

Baker’s Schedule for Fall Sourdough (if needed)

We created a baker’s schedule to follow someone who has a 9 – 5 job to show that achieving any kind of sourdough is possible even if you’re gone most of the day!

Storage

Cool your flavored sourdough completely before slicing! We recommend waiting for at least an hour, but understand if you can’t wait that long. hehe

Your loaf can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days or stored in the freezer for up to 2 months.

If you tried any of these recipes and loved them please come back and give it 5 stars! Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram @goldenhourgrains.

Want More Fall Sourdough Recipes?

Check these out!

Sourdough Discard Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

How to Make a Pumpkin-Shaped Sourdough Loaf for Fall

Are you local?

If you live in the Lubbock, TX area we would love to bake bread for you! Sign up for reminders for our next bread drop so you don’t miss a chance to pre-order bread from us!

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