The BEST Summer Loaf You Didn’t Know You Needed

Hold onto your proofing baskets, because we have officially reached peak summer baking.

If you’ve ever found yourself staring at a basket of juicy, ripe summer peaches and wondering, “How can I turn this into bread?”—I have the answer for you. This Peach Cobbler Sourdough Bread is a mind-blowing mashup of three world-class treats: a gooey cinnamon roll, a comforting summer peach cobbler, and a perfectly tangy, chewy loaf of artisanal sourdough.

It’s sweet, it’s spiced, it’s jammy, and it has a literal buttery oat crumble baked right into it. Let’s dive into how to make this absolute showstopper.

Why You’ll Fall in Love with This Loaf

• The Cinnamon Roll Scent: Adding cinnamon and a touch of sugar directly into the dough base means your entire house will smell like a bakery from the moment it hits the oven.
• Double the Crumble: We make a gorgeous oat streusel, bake half of it to fold inside the dough with crushed graham crackers, and save the rest to bake right onto the crust.
• The Jammy Pockets: Homemade thickened peach jam creates sweet, gooey pockets throughout the crumb that contrast beautifully with the sourdough tang.

The Hardest Part: Hands Off!

Do not cut into this loaf while it’s hot! Because of the moisture from the real peaches and jam, cutting it too early will make the interior gummy. Let it cool completely on a wire rack for at least 2 hours to let the crumb set perfectly.

How to Eat It

While this bread is spectacular on its own, it turns into an absolute weapon when sliced, toasted, and slathered with salted butter. Or, if you want to go full dessert mode, use it to make the best French toast of your entire life.

Have you ever tried putting fruit or crumble inclusions in your sourdough before? What summer fruit should we try next?

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Peach Cobbler Sourdough Bread

Created by Sue Mun

Makes One Sourdough Boule

Ingredients:

For the Dough:

• 110g ripe starter
• 350g water
• 20g sugar (white or brown sugar)
• 500g flour
• 2g ground cinnamon
• 10g salt

For the Peach Filling:

• 3 ripe peaches, peeled, cored, and diced
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tbsp corn starch plus 1/2 tbsp water
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract 

For the Oat Crumble:

• 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
• ¼ cup (50g) light brown sugar
• ½ cup (46g) old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon table salt
• 1 stick (113g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Inclusions:

• 1/2 cup baked oat crumble
• 3-4 graham crackers
• 1/2 cup peach jam
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon

Instructions:

Make the Peach Jam:

1. In a small pot, add all of the peach filling ingredients (except the cornstarch slurry) in the pot. Cook over medium high heat for about 5-7 minutes.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the cornstarch and water to make a cornstarch slurry and then mix stir it into the peach mixture. Continue cooking for about 1 minutes until thickened.
3. Remove from the heat immediately and pour the mixture into a medium bowl to cool off completely in the fridge.

Make the Oat Crumble:

1. Preheat the oven to 325F.
2. Melt the butter in a medium mixing bowl. Stir in the remaining streusel ingredients. You should have a crumbly mixture.
3. Crumble 1/2 of the oat crumb mixture (reserve the remaining half for the topping of the sourdough bread) onto a parchment-lined pan and bake for 12-14 minutes, until deep golden brown. Set aside to cool.

Make the Dough:

1. In a large glass or ceramic bowl, mix together the warm water and the ripe sourdough starter.
2. Add in the bread flour, sugar, ground cinnamon, and salt and mix until a shaggy dough forms.
3. Cover and rest for 1 hour.
   1. Stretch and fold #1. Using wet hands, stretch the dough into itself about 6-8 times or until gluten develops. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
   2. Stretch and fold #2. Using wet hands, stretch and fold the dough into itself until it can not stretch anymore. Cover and rest for 30 minutes.
   3. Stretch and fold #3. During this step, add in some baked oat crumble (about 1/4 cup). Repeat the steps from above. Cover and rest for 30 minutes. 
   4. Stretch and fold #4. Repeat the steps from above. 
4. Cover and bulk ferment for 6-10 hours. Or until the dough has doubled in size and the dough peels away the sides of the bowl easily. If not, continue to proof longer. 

Shape the Dough:

1. Flip the dough over and gently stretch to a long rectangle. Then gently push/pull dough into a tight round in a candy cane motion.
2. Dust with rice flour and place into banneton bread mold. 
3. Gently pull the edges of the round into the center of the dough. Just so it adds tension to the dough and helps improve oven spring when it bakes. 
4. Cover and proof in the fridge overnight (8-10 hours)

The Bake:

1. Preheat oven to 450F and place dutch oven in the oven to also preheat. 
2. Flip onto silpat or parchment and gently score the top of the dough using a lame knife.
3. Carefully place the sourdough into your hot Dutch oven. Cover with the lid. 
4. Bake at 450F for 25 minutes with the lid covered.
5. Lower the oven to 425F. Uncover the lid and top with some of the reserved unbaked oat crumb topping if you wanted to. Then bake again for 20-25 more minutes. Or until the internal temp is above 190F.
6. Cool completely on a wire rack before cutting and serving.