It's time for another lesson in Sourdough 101! If you're playing along at home, you already learned in my first post how to make your own starter and my second post, which includes what it should look like in the first three days and how to "feed" it. Now it's time to get baking!

There are tons, I mean, TONS of sourdough recipes on the web and most of them can be easily veganized. For my first loaf, I chose to adapt a recipe that includes two of my favorite things: almonds and apricots. Although you could easily change up which nuts and dried fruit you use, or leave them out entirely, I think the combination of these two gentle, slightly sweet flavors is a big winner.

Almond Apricot Sourdough
Yield: 1 1/2 lb loaf

1 cup sourdough starter
3/4 cup warm water -- not hot!
2 T vegan cane sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
3 cups bread flour
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
2/3 cups chopped dried apricots (unsulphured)
1/2 cups chopped whole raw almonds

Combine starter, warm water, sugar, salt, extracts, flour and yeast in the bowl of your bread maker. Use the "sweet" setting or the "rain/nut" setting if your machine has one, and add the apricots and almonds when the machine beeps (or whatever it does; check the instruction manual of your maker).

If you don't have a bread machine or simply prefer to use your oven (especially handy for warming up the house this time of the year!), check out the for converting bread machines recipes to oven baked methods.