How about some homemade sourdough with a fruity twist on a fine summer day? If you've been enjoying the tangy goodness of regular sourdough, we challenge you to try and incorporate some fresh strawberries and a hint of lemon zest into it! This Strawberry Sourdough Bread is perfect for a summer brunch or just a treat to make your mornings special. Let's get baking!
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Strawberries in Sourdough: But Why?
Why add strawberries to your sourdough? Because it's perfect for a summer breakfast! Imagine a slice of this bread toasted, slathered in cream cheese, and topped with fresh strawberries.
It's a taste of summer in every bite! Just like our Lemon and Blueberry Sourdough Bread!
Plus, it adds an extra challenge to your sourdough baking. Fresh fruit means extra moisture, so you'll need to up your intuition game. If you're feeling bored with your usual routine, this is the perfect way to mix things up and impress yourself (and everyone else) with your baking skills!
We also love the strawberry and sourdough combo in our Sourdough Galette With Fresh Strawberries and Sourdough Strawberry Cobbler!
If you want to master the art of flavouring your sourdough with everything from fruit to coffee, from purees to seeds, have a look at our Flavoured Sourdough eBook below:
Flavoured Sourdough: How, When and What Mix-Ins To Add To Your Sourdough?
Discover a variety of mix-ins and learn how they affect hydration and bulk fermentation, master the art of substituting water with coffee and tea, and explore a plethora of creative mix-in ideas. Plus, get 2 exclusive bonuses that will inspire you to create the most flavoursome and unique sourdough!
Ingredient Notes
Here are all the ingredients you're going to need. Find the quantities, detailed instructions and nutritional information in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- strong white flour: ideally with a gluten content of no less than 12%.
- salt and sugar.
- water: if your tap water is highly chlorinated, use filtered water. You will need slightly less water for this sourdough loaf, as you need to account for the moisture from strawberries. Do not add too much water, as fresh strawberries increase sourdough hydration!
- active sourdough starter: 100% hydration.
- fresh strawberries: hulled and cubed. Have frozen strawberries? Make our Strawberry Sourdough Cobbler instead!
- zest of a lemon.
Step-By-Step Method
1. Prepare the Dough: Once your sourdough starter has doubled in size, mix the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the water and sourdough starter, and run the mixer with the dough hook attachment for 6-8 minutes.
2. Rest and Fold: Scoop the dough into a large, clean bowl, cover it with a damp kitchen towel or plastic wrap, and let it rest for 30 minutes. While it rests, mix the cubed strawberries and lemon zest, then cover and place the mixture in the fridge.
3. First Set of Folds: With wet hands, coil fold the dough after the 30-minute rest. Cover and let it rise for another 30 minutes.
4. Second Set of Folds: Repeat the coil fold, cover, and leave the dough for another 30 minutes.
5. Incorporate Strawberries: Scatter half of the strawberries on top of the dough. Stretch each of the four corners over the centre to encase the strawberries. Flip the dough, scatter the remaining strawberries, and fold the four corners in again. Cover and let it rest for 30 minutes.
6. Final Folds: After 30 minutes and 1 hour, perform two more sets of coil folds. By the end, you'll have done:
- 2 x coil folds
- 1 x stretch and fold (with strawberries)
- 2 x coil folds again
You can watch the video of both types of folds and incorporating the strawberries below.
6. Bulk Fermentation: Cover the dough and leave it undisturbed for 1-1.5 hours.
7. Shape and Proof: Scoop the dough onto a lightly floured worktop, shape it into a tight boule, and place it into a very well-floured banneton basket (or a good alternative to a proofing basket). Cover and let it proof in the fridge overnight.
Day 2: Score, Bake and Cool
1. Preheat the Oven: Set the oven to 230°C Fan and place a Dutch oven inside to preheat.
2. Prepare the Dough for Baking: Take the sourdough out of the fridge and invert it onto a piece of parchment paper. Dust the top with a bit of flour and score it with a dough scorer or thin blade.
3. Bake: Lift the dough into the preheated Dutch oven using parchment paper. Cover with the lid and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for another 25 minutes.
4. Cool: Once baked, lift the bread onto a cooling rack and remove the parchment paper. Let it cool to room temperature before slicing.
Leftovers & Storage
Your Strawberry Sourdough Bread will stay fresh for up to 36 hours, but because of the fresh strawberries, it's best to freeze sourdough for longer storage. To do this, slice the bread into individual slices and separate each slice with a small sheet of parchment paper.
This step is key since the moisture in the loaf can make it tricky to separate frozen slices later. Once you've done that, double-bag everything to protect your sourdough from freezer burn. This way, you'll have delicious, ready-to-toast slices whenever you want!
Strawberry Sourdough Serving Suggestions
There are three distinct ways that we LOVE this Strawberry Sourdough:
- Breakfast Toast: Toast a slice of your Strawberry Sourdough and spread it with a generous layer of cream cheese. Top with fresh strawberries or Strawberry Compote for an extra burst of flavour!
- French Toast: Transform your strawberry sourdough into a decadent breakfast by making French toast. Serve with a drizzle of maple syrup and a sprinkle of powdered sugar.
- Summer Lunch Sandwich: Use this bread to make a delicious summer sandwich. Layer on some goat cheese, rocket (arugula), and a few thin slices of prosciutto for a savoury-sweet combo.
More Summer Sourdough Recipes
Looking for a standard sourdough bread - head to our recipe for My Everyday Sourdough Bread! For a milky creamy crumb, try our Honey Oat Sourdough!
And here are some of our favourite recipes using active sourdough starter or sourdough discard:
Strawberry Sourdough Bread
Equipment
- Proofing Basket or Any Alternatives
Ingredients
- 400 g (1⅔ cups + 1 tbsp) strong white flour
- 8 g (¾ teaspoon) salt
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- 220 ml (¾ cups + 3 tbsp) water
- 160 g (¾ cups) active sourdough starter 100% hydration
- 100 g (3.53 oz) strawberries hulled and cubed
- zest of 1 lemon
Instructions
Day 1:
- Once your sourdough starter has doubled in size, mix flour, salt and sugar in a bowl of a stand mixer.
- Add the water and sourdough starter and run your stand mixer, fitted with dough hook attachment for 6-8 minutes.
- Scoop the dough in a large clean bowl, cover with a damp kitchen towel of plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
- In the meantime, mix cubed strawberries and lemon zest, cover and place the mixture in the fridge.
- After 30 minutes, with wet hands, coil fold the dough. Cover and let it rise for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, perform a second set of coil folds, cover and leave the dough for 30 minutes.
- Scatter half of the starwberries on top of the dough, and stratch each of the four corners over into the centre to encase the strawberries. Flip the dough upsidedown and scatter the rest of the strawberries, and fold the four corners in again. Cover and leave the dough to rest for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes and 1 hour perfroma two more sets of coil folds. By the end of it you would have done: 2 x coil folds, 1 x stretch and folds incorporating the strawberries and 2 x coil folds again.
- Cover the dough and leave it undisturned for 1-1.5 hours.
- Once the bulk fermentation is finished, scoop thed strawberry sourdough onto a lightly floured kitchen worktop. Shape it into a tight boule and pop it into a VERY WELL FLOURED banetton basket (or a large bowl lined with a generously floured tea towel). Cover the top (or pop the basket in a large plastic bag) and pop it in the fridge for its final proof overnight.
Day 2:
- The next morning or once you're ready to bake, set the oven temperature to 230°C Fan. Place the Dutch oven into the oven whilst it is preheating.
- Take the sourdough out of the fridge and invert it onto a large piece of parchment paper. Dust the top of the dough with a little bit of flour.
- Using a dough scorer or a thin blade, score the top of the loaf.
- Lift the dough into the pre-heated Dutch oven by the sides of the parchment paper, cover it with a lid and place it in the oven for 25 minutes.
- After 25 minutes, take the lid off and continue cooking for a further 25 minutes.
- Once baked, lift the bread out onto a cooling rack, and slide the parchment paper from the base. Leave it to cool down to room temperature before slicing!
Video
Nutrition
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