This is a great recipe to try when you're tired of hard, crunchy sourdough and seeking a way to use your discard to make a soft, close-crumbed, moist bread. Sourdough Apple Sauce Raisin Bread is a little sweet, a little moist, and full of plump, juicy raisins and apple flavor. It's great at tea time and for breakfast, toasted or not. Don't expect the bread to look like a quick bread with a high, peaked top. It won't. In fact, the top of the bread is fairly flat because of the amount of moisture in the bread. The Apple Sauce Raisin Bread also won't taste like a quick bread and, instead, it will be full of tangy, yeasty flavor. My husband wondered what that yeasty smell was when he came into the kitchen just after I'd removed the bread from the oven. He thought perhaps the neighbors were cooking pizza on the grill. Nope. It was the strong yeasty smell from the bread. Ummm! Enjoy!
Sourdough Apple Sauce Raisin Bread -- Makes 1 Loaf
1 cup of sourdough starter/discard
1/4 cup of canola oil
1 large egg
1/4 cup of dark brown sugar
1 cup of apple sauce
1 cup of whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup of raisins
1/2 cup of water
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of salt (or a little more if you aren't watching your sodium)
In a large bowl beat together well the starter/discard, canola oil, egg, brown sugar, apple sauce, and whole-wheat flour. Loosely cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set the batter aside for at least an hour (or 4-5 hours is fine if you want to start the batter after breakfast and return to it at lunchtime or a little after). In a small bowl, combine the raisins and water and microwave them for 45-60 seconds or until hot. Set the raisins/water aside to cool. Coat a large loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray or line it with foil and coat the foil with spray. When the batter has been sitting for a while and you're read to continue with making the bread, drain the raisins, saving 1/3 cup of the raisin water and adding it and the raisins to the batter (you can discard the remaining water if there is any). Then add the all-purpose flour and the salt to the batter. Beat the batter well and pour it into the prepared pan. Let the batter rise for a couple of hours or until it just crests the top of the pan. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and bake the bread for 50-60 minutes or until it is deep brown on top and reaches an internal temperature of 190-200 degrees (or until a pick inserted in the bread comes out with no wet batter attached). Let the bread cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes before turning it out to cool completely. The bread is easier to slice after it has cooled completely.
