Day 1

Feeding Sourdough Starter

• In the morning, feed your sourdough starter. You will need an active starter that's doubled in size after feeding. I mix 40g of starter with 40ml of water and 40g of flour and leave at 21-25°C for 4-5 hours to double in size. This produces 120g of starter (I use 115g in this recipe), 5g of which will probably stick to the jar and spoon :)

Mixing The Enriched Dough

• When your starter reaches its peak, in a bowl of a stand mixer, combine starter, milk and half of the flour into a shaggy dough. Cover and set aside for 1 hour. This is the kind of enriched fermentolyse process (autolyse with sourdough starter).
• Lightly whisk a large egg in a small bowl. Take out about 2 tablespoons of it and reserve for later. Add the sugar, melted butter, salt and the beaten egg to the fermentolysed flour mixture you made in the previsous step. Using a dough hook attachment, run the mixer on low speed, adding 1 tablespoon of the remaining flour at a time. Once all the flour is incorporated, carry on mixing for another 5 minutes.

Coil Folds and Bulk Fermentation

• In the meantime, lightly grease a shallow dish (or a large bowl). Tip the dough into the bowl and turn once to cover the dough in oil. Cover with a damp towel or cling film (plastic wrap) and let the dough rise in a warm spot for 30 minutes.
• Over the next 3 hours, perform a set of coil folds (or stretch and folds) every 30 minutes. After 6 sets of folds, let the dough rest for another 1-2 hours. It should be lively and bubbly by now.

Shaping and Cold Final Proof

• Generously grease an ovenproof dish with butter (I used an 18cm (7in) cake tin, to get more of a tear & share bread effect, but you can use a bigger tin for the rolls that are just touching).
• Prepare your apple and cinnamon sugar filling. Peel, core and chop a large apple into small cubes. Squeeze half a lemon over the apple cubes and mix to coat. In a small bowl, mix cinnamon and brown sugar.
• Scoop the dough out onto a well-floured work surface, taking care not to knock too much air out. With a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a large rectangle measuring approximately 40x25cm (16x10in). Brush the surface with the reserved egg.
• Sprinkle the dough with cinnamon and sugar mixture and use your hands to press it in, so that it sticks to the surface. Then spread the apple cubes all over.
• Working from the short side, tightly roll the dough into a log. Use a sharp knife to cut it into 8 equal pieces. Arrange them in the greased baking dish. If you use a smaller tin, they will rise upwards; if you use a large one, they will spread sideways as the dough rises.
• TIP: If you're using a springform cake tin, you may want to tightly wrap some foil around the bottom of your tin. Apples will release juices, and sugar will dissolve, creating a syrup at the base. Foil ensures the syrup cannot escape and make a mess in your fridge or oven.
• Brush the top with 1 tablespoon of melted butter, cover with clingfilm and pop in the fridge to cold proof overnight.

Day 2

• The next morning, take the rolls out of the fridge and place them in a warm place for 2 hours. They should increase in volume by about a third.
• Preheat the oven to 190°C Fan. Brush the top of the rolls with some milk and bake for 25-30 minutes. Individual separate rolls will cook much quicker than rolls that are snugly arranged in a tin (like mine). They should be golden brown and smell incredible!
• When cooked, leave them in the tin to cool down for 20 minutes before transferring them onto a cooling rack.

Make The Icing

• In the meantime, prepare the icing by mixing melted butter, icing sugar, vanilla paste, a pinch of salt and milk together and stirring to a smooth paste.
• Drizzle the rolls with the icing. We love them slightly warm.