Simple Sourdough Apple Fritters | Baked Donuts for Kids

Apple fritter donuts are a favorite treat to pick up from any of our local bakery or Donut shops. The sweet apple with and now I can make them any time for my kids with simple, sourdough, healthier ingredients.

Sourdough desserts are my new favorite things! Sourdough bread can be hard to get right sometimes and a lot of people give up on baking sourdough when they can’t get the right rise in their bread. I personally don’t make the fancy Instagram loafs that you picture when you hear the term sourdough. Mostly I make sourdough desserts, pancakes, apple fritters, flat bread, cookies, banana breads, muffins the non-rising baked goods.

The idea of sourdough is to use a ferment dough/batter in your baking for added health benefits. When our dough is fermented it brakes down the grains making them easier to digest as well as making it easier to absorb the nutrition from the grains. Fermented dough also have prebiotics that the bacteria in our gut feed off of also helping us digest not just the bread but everything we eat.

When we make non-rising sourdough baked goods we mix our sourdough starter, flour and liquids. Let sit on our counter for about 4 hours or in the fridge for overnight. Then we add the rest of our ingredients and bake. The longer you let if ferment (sit on the counter) the healthier the benefits but also the more sough flavor it will get. I don’t mind the sour flavor but some people don’t want to taste that in their desserts.

Many sourdough recipes for baked goods like these will are considered sourdough discard recipes. The problem with these is that they mix 1/2 or 1 cup of discard to the recipes but don’t let the batter ferment. This will add only a very little amount of the benefits that true fermented sourdough brings.

Ingredients for Baked Sourdough Apple Fritters

Ferment the following ingredients

• Sourdough Starter. If you don’t have a sourdough starter you can buy a starter off of Amazon or learn to make your own.
• Milk. I you don’t like the idea of having milk in your batter sitting on the counter for 4 hours you can use water and add 1/3 cup dry powdered milk to it later.
• Flour. I use all purpose for these apple fritter donuts. You can use a combination of whole wheat and all purpose but I wouldn’t go all whole wheat for this recipe. We want a light and airy texture and that can be hard to accomplish with whole wheat flour.
• Brown Sugar or Honey. The flavor changes a little depending on if you use brown sugar or honey. Both bring great flavors to our apples fritters donuts so its up to you and what you choose.
• Eggs. I don’t add the eggs at this stage unless I’m letting them ferment in the fridge. If I fermenting on the counter I will add the eggs later, right before I bake them.
• Coconut Oil. If you don’t have coconut oil around you can substitute with another oil, apple sauce or butter.

Add after fermented

• Apples. Granny Smith apples are best for this recipe but often I just use what ever apples I have on hand and they all seem to work out. Dice your apples in to small pieces, about the size of a fingernail. The larger the apple chunks the more crumbly you donuts will be. Keeping them small will help them cook faster and provide the best texture.
• Baking Soda. Baking soda is our rising agent that will help keep our apple fritters light and airy. the baking soda will react to the fermented dough and create little gas bubbles giving us the desired texture.
• Cinnamon & Nutmeg. My two favorite spices, especially with apples. the cinnamon and nutmeg will give us a warm flavor that pairs perfectly with our apples.
• Salt. Enhance the flavor with good salt like Redmond Real Salt. If you are looking for a unrefined natural salt with multiple minerals and electrolytes harvested in the United States of America, then look no further. Redmond Real Salt is full of flavor and nutrients and harvested out of the ancient seabed deep beneath Central Utah.
• Vanilla or Almond Extract. I love almond extract, but its expensive and not many house holds keep it around. Vanilla extract is just as good. If using vanilla use 1/2 a teaspoon. Almond extract can be a bit stronger so only use 1/4 a teaspoon for the apple fritter donuts.

How To Make Baked Apple Fritters

Ferment The Batter

In a bowl, mix together the sourdough starter, flour, sugar, milk, coconut oil and eggs together. Cover with a lid, wet cloth or plastic wrap and let sit on a the counter for 4 hours or in the fridge overnight.

Add The Rest of Ingredients

When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350.
Add the rest of the ingredients, diced apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, vanilla extract, and baking soda.

Pour Into Donut Molds

Pour you apple fritter batter into silicone donut molds. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Glaze Baked Donuts

Let cool for a couple minutes before taking the donuts out of the molds. Mix together 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 1-2 tablespoons milk and 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract. Glaze the donuts and let cool completely.