Sourdough Maple Pecan Twist Loaf

This beautiful sourdough maple pecan twist loaf is a sweet bread twisted with love and topped with a gorgeous buttery maple frosting. And better yet, it's naturally leavened using your sourdough starter!

Course Bread

Cuisine American

Keyword Flavored Sourdough, Sourdough Bread

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 45

Fermentation Time 12

Total Time 13 45

Servings people

Calories 275kcal

Author Kate Freebairn

Ingredients

Bread Dough

100 g Sourdough Starter (fed and bubbly)
500 g Bread Flour
8 g Salt
50 g Butter (melted - can be salted or unsalted)
200 g Milk (slightly warm, around 37C)
50 g Water (warm)
60 g Maple Syrup
50 g Pecans (roughly chopped)

Cinnamon Filling

50 g Maple Syrup
100 g Butter (melted)
100 g Brown Sugar
3 g Cinnamon
60 g Pecans (roughly chopped)
15 g Bread Flour (can use all purpose if you prefer)

Glaze

250 g Powdered Sugar
80 g Maple Syrup
40 g Butter (melted)
40 g Water
2 g Salt (just a pinch)

Toppings

50 g Pecans (roughly chopped)

Instructions

Add the water, milk and sourdough starter to the bowl of a stand mixer and mix until the sourdough starter is dissolved (it's ok if there's still a few chunks). I just use a spatula for this part.
Now add the bread flour, melted butter and salt to the liquid and bring together to form a shaggy dough. I use a dough hook attachment for this part. Cover and leave to sit for around an hour.
Now add the chopped pecans and then knead the dough until it's soft and supple. This takes around 5 minutes on a low speed. The dough will be tacky, but shouldn't be sticky.
Once the dough is soft and supple, cover and allow it to rise around 50%.
While the dough is rising, make the filling so that it is ready to go when you need it. Simply add all of the filling ingredients to a bowl and stir until well combined.
Set aside.
Once the dough has risen a bit, tip it out onto a clean surface and gently shape it into a rectangle with the long edge in front of you. You're looking for a rectangle of around 25" x 8" (64 x 20 cm). Don't be afraid of degassing the dough as it will puff up in the next stage.
Now spread the filling all over the dough, leaving a 1" strip at the top with no filling.
Roll the dough up into a big log - just like you would if you were making cinnamon rolls. Make sure it's rolled fairly tightly, but be gentle because the pecans can tear the dough quite easily. Seal the dough up along the seam and roll it over so that the seam is at the bottom.
Using a knife or dough scraper, cut the log through the middle all the way up, leaving just a small part of the dough attached so you have two strands. You will be able to see the swirls of cinnamon butter filling where you have sliced it (refer to step by step photos in the blog above for visual aids on how to do this).
Now, twist the two strands of dough together to form a "rope". Gently push the ends together so that both ends of the rope are sealed. My rope was around 30" (76 cm) long when I finished (the dough does stretch a bit).
Now form the rope into a letter "S" curling each end in towards the middle. This forms your twist. You can see how I've done this in the photos further up the page.
Place your sourdough maple pecan twist onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper, cover with a damp tea towel and allow to proof for a few hours. You want your dough to be nice a puffy before you bake it.
Once the dough has proofed, preheat the oven to 200ºC (390ºF) and bake for around 40 minutes or until golden. I recommend placing your twist on the lower shelf to avoid it burning. If your oven is fan forced or it runs hot, reduce this to temp to 180ºC (350ºF).
When the twist is cooked, remove it from the oven. Be careful if your baking tray has no sides as some of the butter may drip over the sides.
Brush the finished bake with butter, drizzle with glaze and serve warm.

Glaze

To create the glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar, water, maple syrup, melted butter and salt until smooth. Drizzle over the loaf and sprinkle with some chopped pecans.

Notes

Warm Water & Milk - I generally warm the milk and water slightly for this recipe because it does take longer to bulk ferment with the added fats of milk and butter. I find the warm liquids help the dough to rise more quickly.

Sourdough Starter - I've used active sourdough starter that was fed a few hours before baking and at peak. If you want to use sourdough discard, use 100g of discard with a teaspoon of commercial yeast.

Butter & Milk - you can use plant based alternatives if you prefer. Swap the butter for 50g of vegetable oil or vegan butter. Use the plant based milk of your choice.

Salted Butter - I've used salted butter in my dough and in the filling. I recommend using salted butter in the filling, but you can use any butter you like for the dough.

Egg Wash - you can use an egg wash on the dough before placing in the oven for a darker color when baked. I've chosen to keep this one egg free (mainly because my chickens didn't lay any eggs this week lol).

Loaf Tin - you can bake this sourdough maple pecan twist in a loaf pan if you prefer. Simply twist the dough and then place into a loaf tin to allow it to proof. You will need to twist it a little tighter and squish it a bit to get it in the pan, but it will puff up when it proofs.

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