If you have active discard to use, try it in a sweet-tart Sourdough Cherry Bread. The bread is incredibly easy to mix up and it's great for dinner, breakfast, or with your tea or coffee. The bread is yeasty-tasting, moist, studded with sweet-tart cherries, and finished with a crunchy almond topping. Although the bread may sound sweet, it's actually only a little sweet, so if you like sweet breads, you can add a little more sugar (2-4 tablespoons) to the recipe. I actually prefer the bread without additional sugar because I think the pie filling adds enough sweetness to the batter. The bread really is a bread, not a cake. You can reheat the bread in the toaster or air fryer and smear the warm bread with butter or cream cheese if you like, but I like it "as is." Enjoy!
Sourdough Cherry Bread -- Makes 1 Loaf
Bread
1 cup of starter/discard
1/4 cup of canola oil
1 large egg
1 cup of cherry pie filling
1 cup of all-purpose or white whole-wheat flour
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of salt
Topping
2 tablespoons of melted butter
2 tablespoons of flour
1/4 cup of dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 cup of sliced almonds
In a large bowl combine the starter/discard, oil, and egg and beat them well. Beat in the pie filling and then one cup of flour. Loosely cover the bowl and let the mixture sit for at least an hour. I usually let it sit for about four hours, during which time the mixture will rise about 1/3-1/2 in volume. Beat in the remaining one cup of flour and the salt for a minute or two. The dough will be quite wet. Line a loaf pan with aluminum foil and spritz the foil well with non-stick cooking spray. Pour the dough into the prepared pan. Combine all the ingredients for the topping in the same bowl you used for the dough. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the dough in the loaf pan, pressing the topping a bit into the dough. Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise until it just crests the top of the pan. This usually takes two to three hours in my kind of cool (68-70 degrees) kitchen. Bake the bread at 350 degrees for 40-50 minutes or until deep brown. An instant read thermometer should register 190-200 degrees or so. Let the bread cool in its pan for about 10 minutes, then use the foil to lift the loaf out of the pan to cool completely.
