I have been playing with adding nut butters to my doughs; I love nut butters, especially almond butter, so for me to mix of sourdough with nut butter seemed like a marriage made in heaven, and I can now report, that sourdough loves them too!
This loaf was made by adding peanut butter to a portion of my starter Star. The loaf came out beautifully, it was very sour and only very slightly nutty, so next time I did things differently.
In this loaf, above, I added 100g of almond butter to the dough and again it was lovely, with a hint of nuttiness and extra sourness.
The texture and outcome was lovely, and you can see the crumb below.
So in this loaf, above, I went further and added 200g of almond butter to my standard master recipe dough, as you can see the dough was wonderfully firm, and the colour from the nut butter spread through it.
This photo below shows just how much the dough grew with the added almond butter..
And this one shows just how lovely and firm the dough became after it’s final prove in the fridge..
So good! The flavour was nutty and sour and highly recommended. The loaf baked to a lovely crust, with a soft, tasty interior, packed full of the goodness from the almond butter and the extra protein.
The outcome of these loaves and experiments is to say…try it!
Adding nut butters to sourdough works really well. There needs to be enough to taste it if you want the nuttiness, or if you’re looking for a way to make your loaves more sour, try adding 50-100g peanut butter to your dough – it works!
Note: I use nut butters that are made from 100% of the nuts only, with no other additions. If you use nut butters with added salt you might want to reduce the amount of salt that you add to the dough.
To make your dough, use your standard process, I always use my master recipe, and add your portion of nut butter right from the start with everything else.
The dough will be sticky initially but as you work with it the stickiness will reduce and the nut butter will become incorporated.
The dough will be lovely and firm, and the oils from the nut butter will work through the dough without it getting slimy.
If you try it, let me know!
Elaine you are simply wonderful .
Hi Elaine, does it matter if you use smooth or crunchy peanut Butter? Thanks 🙂
Hi, no, either is good 😁
Elaine,
Have you tried nut flour instead of butter? I have almond flour sitting in my pantry and want to use it before its expiration date. Thanks,
Hi, yes I have, almond flour is lovely in sourdough, it adds a softness and slight sweetness to the dough 👍🏻 go for it!
Sounds delicious
About the extra sourness have you ever came across the advice to add some baking soda to balance out the sourness in sourdough bread? I read that it’s added just before putting the dough in the Benetton after the bulk rise, but I just don’t see how could that eliminate sourness if it’s not mixed inside the dough.
Me neither…I haven’t tried it myself to be able to comment though. There are many other ways to affect flavour 🙂
I’ve had great success with the master recipe’s flour mix altered, as follows.
300g AP
50g rye
50g whole wheat
I added 50g creamy peanut butter at the initial stage. It baked beautifully with a notable increase in sourness (my goal). The only issue I have is that it turned out noticeably dryer with a more “crumbly” crumb. Any ideas as to why and what to maybe do about it?
Thanks!
Hi, thank you, I can only assume that was due to the flours you used. Maybe try a little extra water next time?
All was perfect with the dough till it was ready for the refrigerator. When I pulled it slowly it broke apart and hard to pull and fold. The batter was stuck to the bowl a lot. I am not sure what went wrong.
Hi, it sounds like your dough may have over proved?
Why would using nut butters (which are generally sweet) make the bread more sour?
No idea of the science behind it, but it turn out that it does 👍🏻
And I don’t use nut butters with sugar or sweetener in. Just pure nuts so they’re not sweet
Hi, so if you are adding nut butter or nut flour do we need to add less flour…(substitute )
If you use nut butter, there’s no change, as per my recipe.
If you use nut flour, then yes, reduce the amount of flour accordingly.
Hi there, I tried this recipe and love it. I have always love the usual nut butter with banana bread . Now this is my new love ! Btw, I used a mix of AP FLOUR with spelt and rye.
Lovely, thank you so much 🙏🏻🙏🏻
Oh Peanut Butter is the Love of my food life. lol! What is the time that your dough was left for proving? i know it differs with every kitchen and conditions, but just curious as to how many hours was this one on the counter? Thank You. X
Hi, just the usual, 8-10 hours x x
Wonderful! I just love peanut butter, so this is a godsend. I (and others in the family) don’t like the bread to be too sour. How do I reduce the sourness?
Hi, I wouldn’t make this loaf if you’re looking for reduced sourness.
But there are also tips to reduce sourness on my faq page and in my book 👍🏻
Can I use peanuts that I have twice poured into a meat grinder and become like peanut butter?
You can use anything you like 👍🏻
Any ideas on why the nut butter makes it sooooo sour?
Sorry no, but it really does 👍🏻
I was so excited to try this recipe about a year ago. The smell is just divine is you’re a peanut butter fan like I am. However, I was disappointed that the peanut butter flavor did not come through like I anticipated it would. The next time I tried it, I did it with all bread flour, thinking that the flavor of the whole wheat overpowered the peanut butter. But even with plain bread flour, I still couldn’t taste the peanut butter. I haven’t read the other comments so I’m not sure if I’m the only one who experienced this or not. Should I increase the amount of peanut butter next time? I use peanut powder by the way. I rehydrate it per the directions, perhaps a bit stiffer than recommended.
Hi, thank you for the feedback. For me, I find that peanut butter powder does not have much flavour compared to peanut butter so it may well be that you do need more. But also, it doesn’t what brand of pb you use.
Sometimes I make this recipe and the loaf does have some of the pb flavour and other times it just has a really enhanced sourness. I hope this helps x
Fantastic recipe! I had made it with almond butter and added dried cherries that had been soaked until plump. ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! I have two more loaves bulk fermenting right now.
NOTE: I am also excited as your new book (Easy Everyday Sourdough) is being delivered Thursday! Thank you for making sourdough easy and understandable. You turned my baking around when I was almost ready to give up!
Thank you so much 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰 and that sounds lovely!
Thank you so much 🥰🥰🥰🥰 I hope you like it!
I made peanut butter sourdough for my weekend, special in my micro bakery. My customers loved it!
Wow, thank you!!
Anyone add nut butter to a whole grain bread?
Yes, it’s just the same but using wholegrain flour
I made your master sandwich loaf with dark chocolate oat milk and peanut butter. The dough took sixteen hours to bulk ferment, two hours to proof in loaf pan and 70 minutes to bake with cold start. I stretched out the dough and added a terrys orange chocolate, then rolled up for loaf pan. Waiting to slice and check out, tried the chocolate orange Bundt but it didn’t work.
How was it? I hope it’s fab!
Well it didn’t work. It got too dark and wasn’t baked all the way through. Might have been that I didn’t use a mix of flours, mine was all white bread flour. Not sure why but I will leave out the chocolate next time and bake a boule.
I wonder if it needed to be baked for longer at a lower temperature?
I’d like to try this, because I love peanut butter and want a more sour loaf. Reading the recipe in your book, my only concern is the first proof out on the counter. It’s hotter than you recommend in my house, so can I do a longer proof in the fridge instead?
Hi, there is lots of help and guidance about making sourdough in hot temps here on my site for you 👍🏻