Pear Walnut Sourdough Coffee Cake

Chopped pears and walnuts flavor this simple sourdough coffee cake.

Follow me | Pinterest | Instagram | Facebook

My sourdough starter is a toddler now, and moving into a big kid bed back onto the kitchen counter. When the starter lives on the counter, I feed it every few days and take out a cup or so with each feeding.


In the past year I've used that cup of starter to make countless loaves of Multigrain Sourdough Bread, monthly batches of sourdough waffles using this King Arthur Flour recipe, and the occasional treat:  this sourdough coffee cake.

During the summer, though, my kitchen is too warm to leave the starter out--it gets funky fast--so it lives in the fridge.  Out of sight, out of mind. I can't tell you how many times I realized we would need bread ready to eat before I'd have time to wake up the starter and bake a loaf--so off to the store we'd go--walking, for exercise but still. Blerg. I'm glad the weather is turning so the kitchen is cooling down. It's great for the Strategic Winter Squash Reserve, great for canning tomatoes, and great for the sourdough starter. Remind me of this fabulousness when there's frost on the inside of the kitchen windows, please?

While the recipe title says pear, I've also made this with chopped apples. Apparently the type of fruit doesn't even matter, because my son looked over my shoulder at the post title as I sat writing in the orthodontist's office--the free samples at Costco resulted in a lost retainer--and remarked "there was fruit in the coffee cake?" I try and try to nourish the family with wholesome food, and while it does get shoveled in the pie holes perhaps the subtle nuances in flavor get missed.


Note: here's the inspiring recipe for this coffee cake. I added fruit, used no sugar in the batter, changed up the spices, and pumped up the topping with oats because I love throwing my oats around. I also tried the method of starting it the night before--using unfed starter straight out of the fridge. This works fine in my kitchen. I've also let it rise in my oven on the bread proof setting until the top is gently puffed.


For more recipes using pears, please see my Pear Recipes Collection. It's part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store.

I'm sharing more recipes on my Pinterest boards, follow me there. If you like a good peek behind the scenes like I do, follow me on Instagram. Need a good read? I'm sharing articles of interest on my Facebook page, follow me there. Want to know How to Use This Blog?

Pillowtop mattress-like, to me.

letting a batch rise in the oven on Bread Proof setting

Overnight Pear (or Apple) Walnut Sourdough Coffee Cake (serves 9)

Ingredients for coffee cake

• 1 cup sourdough starter
• ⅓ cup vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup finely chopped pear (or apple)
• 4 ¼ ounces by weight (1 cup) unbleached all purpose flour
• optional, ¼ to ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• about ⅛ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Ingredients for topping

• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup oats
• ½ cup chopped walnuts
• 2 Tablespoons (1 ounce) butter
• optional: ½ teaspoon cardamom, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, and ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Instructions

1. The night before: in a large bowl, mix coffee cake ingredients until blended. 
2. Pour into buttered 9 inch square pan (I used my PC ceramic baker but suspect a metal pan will bake faster).  
3. Let rise on the counter until it looks like a pillow top mattress (see Note above).  
4. In the morning, or when you're ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 
5. In a small bowl, combine topping ingredients and sprinkle over top of coffee cake. 
6. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. 
7. Serve warm with a bit of butter. Reheats fine in the microwave.

This post is shared on Fresh Foods Wednesday, What's Cookin' Wednesday, Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Motivation Mondays, Tasty Tuesdays