Carrot cake flavors in a crusty sourdough loaf? Yes, please. This bread has shredded carrots, raisins, chopped nuts, and a brown sugar spice filling tucked inside.
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This is my take on carrot cake sourdough, with photos from my own kitchen. It takes a little planning, but most of the time is the dough doing its thing.
Carrot Cake Sourdough Bread
A crusty sourdough loaf with carrots, raisins, nuts, and a brown sugar spice filling.
Ingredients
Bread dough
- 100 g active, bubbly sourdough starter
- 350 g water
- 40 g maple syrup
- 500 g bread flour
- 10 g salt
Fold-ins
- 100 g raisins
- 70 g pecans or walnuts, chopped
- 100 g raw carrot, shredded
Spice filling
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 40 g brown sugar
- 20 g all-purpose flour
Directions
- Mix and rest. Stir the starter, water, and maple syrup together. Add the bread flour and salt, then mix until no dry flour remains. The dough will look shaggy. Cover and let it rest for 1 hour.
- Bring it together. With damp hands, lift the dough from the edges and fold it toward the middle, working around the bowl until it forms a smoother ball. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
- Stretch, fold, and add the good stuff. Lift one side of the dough and fold it over the center. Turn the bowl and repeat on the other three sides; that’s one set. Do 4 sets, resting 15–30 minutes between them. Gently work in the raisins, nuts, and carrot during the second or third set.
- Let it rise. Cover and leave at room temperature until the dough is noticeably risen and puffy, with bubbles along the sides. This can take several hours, depending on your starter and kitchen temperature. Meanwhile, stir together all the spice filling ingredients.
- Shape and fill. Gently stretch the dough into a rectangle. Sprinkle some filling over it, fold the top down, then fold the sides inward, adding more filling between folds. Roll it into a snug loaf, keeping the filling tucked inside. Gently pull it toward you to tighten the surface, then place seam-side up in a well-floured proofing basket. Pinch the seam closed.
- Refrigerate. Cover the basket and refrigerate for 5–12 hours.
- Heat the oven. About 1 hour before baking, preheat the oven and your covered Dutch oven to 450°F. Leave the dough in the fridge while the oven heats.
- Score and bake. Turn the cold dough onto baking parchment and score the top with a bread lame or sharp knife. Carefully lower it into the hot Dutch oven using the parchment. Cover and bake for 30 minutes at 450°F. Remove the lid, lower the oven to 425°F, and bake for 10 more minutes.
- Cool before slicing. Carefully lift the loaf out of the Dutch oven and onto a wire rack. Let it cool completely before cutting. This is the hard part, but give that crumb time to set.
A few things that help
Give the fold-ins a gentle hand. Add the carrot, raisins, and nuts after the dough has had a chance to strengthen. A small tear around a nut is fine; avoid pulling the dough until it rips.
Watch the dough. A warm kitchen moves things along faster than a cool one. Look for a visible rise and bubbles before shaping. If you want a closer look at this stage, King Arthur’s guide to bulk fermentation is helpful.
Keep the filling inside. Leave a little bare dough around the edges as you sprinkle, then pinch the seam closed. An oval loaf works nicely, but a round loaf is fine too.
Give the bottom a little protection. If your bread tends to get too dark underneath, place a baking sheet on the rack below the Dutch oven. Use a Dutch oven and parchment rated for the baking temperature.
From my kitchen
Serve a slice as it is, toast it with butter, or add a little cream cheese. Coffee on the side sounds like a good plan.
More bread recipes to try
Easy Sourdough Bread · Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls · Zucchini Banana Bread
A little help in the kitchen
Lori’s ingredient notes: Pecans and walnuts are the options in the recipe; chop either into small pieces so they are easier to fold through the dough. Keep the measured carrot and filling amounts as written.
Prep ahead: Chop the nuts and mix the dry spice filling ahead. Grate and refrigerate the carrots separately, then follow the dough’s rise and the 5–12-hour refrigerator rest.
Save some for later: Slice only after the loaf has cooled completely. Freeze extra slices with parchment between them, then toast for breakfast with fruit and plain yogurt on the side.
A little help with the carrot shreds: An OXO box grater with a removable zester makes it easy to grate the carrots for this sourdough loaf. Measure the shreds before adding them to the dough so the loaf keeps the balance in the recipe. Bread that borrows from carrot cake is already a pretty fun idea.
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