Sourdough Apple Fritters
Homemade sourdough apple fritters made with yeast-risen dough folded together with juicy cinnamon apples, and finished with a maple glaze are the ultimate fall treat!
This recipe is sponsored by Red Star Yeast.
Apple fritters are one of my favorite treats from the doughnut shop, especially during the fall. They’re soft and tender on the inside, slightly crisp on the outside, with lots of nooks and crannies for the glaze to hide, and plenty of cinnamon-spiced apples throughout.
These delicious apple fritters are a little extra special because they’re made with Platinum Instant Sourdough Yeast from Red Star, a yeast combined with real sourdough cultures and authentic flavor. No sourdough starter required!
What is Platinum Instant Sourdough?
I first heard about this product over a year ago while I was in Kansas with Red Star Yeast, and I have been practically on the edge of my seat waiting for its release ever since.
I mean, how amazing is this? You can give any traditional yeast-risen recipe a sourdough twist simply by using Platinum Instant Sourdough instead of traditional yeast. There’s no need to learn the ins and outs of how to make and maintain a sourdough starter at home, and no guess work. It’s sourdough without all the fuss! And that’s something I can get behind.
How to make these Sourdough Apple Fritters
These sourdough apple fritters do require some time and effort, but they aren’t difficult to make and are 100% worth the effort. Think you love fritters already? Just you wait till you fry a batch in your own kitchen. They’re so fresh and delicious you might shed a tear (I did, really).
So let’s get started already!
1. Make the dough— I used my favorite yeast-raised doughnut recipe as a base. It’s an enriched yeast dough, which means it includes milk, eggs, butter, and sugar for richness and flavor. And of course, I swapped my trusty Red Star Platinum Yeast for the Platinum Instant Sourdough.
2. Let the dough rise in a warm place— I’ve got a list of tips and suggestions here.
3. Cook the apples— While the dough is rising, cook the apples in a little butter, sugar, and cinnamon.
4. Roll out the dough and top with apples— Roll the dough out into a large rectangle and cover half of it with the cooked apples.
5. Fold and cut— Fold the other half of the dough over the apples. Use a bench scraper to cut it into strips about 1 inch apart. Then make another cut at a perpendicular or slanted angle. It’s going to be messy, and that’s okay. The goal is lots of sticky bits of uneven dough and apples.
6. Shape into fritters— Bring all the pieces back into a row and divide into 15 equal(ish) portions. Gently squish apples and dough together so they stick (otherwise they’ll fall apart during frying), then flatten slightly into a disk.
7. Let fritters rise again—Place the shaped fritters on a sheet pan lined with parchment and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for another 30 minutes.
8. Preheat oil—While the fritters are resting, add vegetable oil to a heavy-bottomed pot so oil is at least 3 inches deep. Insert a candy/deep fry thermometer and preheat to 375°F.
9. Fry the apple fritters— Add fritters to the oil 2-3 at a time and cook for a few minutes on each side until browned. Remove with a slotted spoon or spider strainer and place on paper towels to drain.
10. Make the maple glaze— While the fritters are frying, whisk together the ingredients for the glaze. This glaze is thin and sets to a nice shiny finish.
11. Dip fritters into the glaze— Once fritters are done, let them sit for a few minutes so they’re not too hot to touch. Then, drop into the glaze and flip them over so that every part of the fritter is covered.
12. Let the fritters set— Put the fritters on a wire rack set over a sheet pan to catch drips. The glaze needs just a few minutes to set up, if you can stand the wait.
And then, enjoy! I’m sure you will. This is kind of a large batch, so they’re perfect for sharing!
Other Recipes to Try
I’m excited to add Platinum Instant Sourdough to other recipes from the archives, such as:
- My favorite pizza dough
- Honey whole wheat and oat sandwich bread
- Classic white dinner rolls
- Soft pretzels
Red Star Yeast also has hundreds of amazing recipes if you need more inspiration!
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Sourdough Apple Fritters
Ingredients
Sourdough batter:
- 1 cup milk (250 ml)
- 1/3 cup butter (68 grams)
- Approximately 4 cups all-purpose flour (480 grams)
- 1 packet Red Star Yeast Platinum Instant Sourdough (or 1 packet active-dry yeast)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
- 2 large eggs
- Vegetable oil , for frying
Cinnamon apples:
- 3 tablespoons butter (42 grams)
- 4 cups apples , peeled, cored, and chopped small (about 4 medium apples)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Maple glaze:
- 4 cups powdered sugar (640 grams)
- 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup boiling water (125 ml)
Instructions
Prepare sourdough:
- Heat milk and butter in a small saucepan over medium low heat until butter is melted. Let cool about 5 minutes (if mixture is steaming, it's too hot) until 120-130°F.
- In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine 2 cups flour, Red Star Yeast Platinum Instant Sourdough, salt, and sugar.
- Add warm milk mixture and eggs and mix until it forms a wet dough.
- Add remaining flour 1/4 cup at a time while kneading on medium low speed until dough clears the sides of the bowl but still sticks slightly at the bottom. It should feel tacky to the touch. You may not need all 4 cups of the flour.
- Continue to knead as needed until dough is smooth and elastic, and when pulled it should stretch for several inches before breaking. If it breaks sooner, keep kneading.
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place somewhere warm to rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Gently punch down the dough and reshape into a ball. Let rest for about 10 minutes
Prepare cinnamon apples:
- While dough is resting, melt butter in a medium skillet over medium heat.
- Add apples, sugar and cinnamon and stir until sugar is dissolved.
- Cook for 5-7 minutes until apples are softened and juices are thickened. Set aside to cool slightly.
Assemble fritters
- On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to a large rectangle (roughly 12x15 inches but no need to be exact.
- Spread cinnamon apples over one half of the dough lengthwise, leaving a one inch border.
- Fold the other half of the dough over the apples. Use a bench scraper (or a pizza wheel) to cut the dough and apples in strips about 1 inch wide.
- Cut the dough and apples again at a perpendicular or slanted angle. The goal is lots of uneven chunks of dough.
- Gather the dough chunks and apples back into a row.
- Use the bench scraper to divide the row into 15 even portions. Use your hands to smash the dough and apples of each portion together so that it will all stick and hold (if they aren't stuck together, they'll come apart during frying). Flatten and shape into a disk. Place on sheet pans lined with parchment paper.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for another 30 minutes.
Fry fritters:
- While prepped fritters are rising, add vegetable oil to a heavy bottom pot to at least 3 inches deep. Insert candy/deep fry thermometer.
- Set pot over medium high heat and heat to 375°F. This may take 15-20 minutes.
- Once oil is hot, fry 2-3 fritters at a time (depending on size of pot) for a few minutes on each side until golden brown.
- Remove fritters from oil with a slotted spoon and transfer to a sheet pan lined with paper towels.
Dip in glaze:
- While oil is heating, prepare glaze.
- Combine powdered sugar, maple syrup, salt, vanilla and boiling water in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth.
- Dip warm fritters in glaze, flipping them over to make sure they are completely covered.
- Transfer to a wire rack set over a sheet pan to set up.
- Enjoy apple fritters while they are warm! And they are best the day they're made, but will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for several days.
Nutrition
Disclosure: this recipe was developed in partnership with Red Star Yeast. Thank you for supporting collaborations with brands I love, which allows me to continue to bring you fresh new content. All opinions are always my own.
Keep in touch with Red Star Yeast on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. Be sure to also visit their website where you can find recipes, excellent bread baking tips, and more!
19 Comments on “Sourdough Apple Fritters”
Would this work with traditional yeast as well? No where locally sells this sourdough yeast and amazon won’t deliver until next week. I’d love to do it this weekend!
Yes, traditional active-dry yeast will work just fine!
After Seeing this, i am feeling hungry, great recipe, will surely going to try it.
Thank you for sharing such a wonderful recipe.
Same question as the first: can I make with regular yeast? Def can’t find sourdough yeast in small town Spain.
Yes, you can definitely use traditional active-dry yeast in this recipe!
After a request from family to make apple fritters I found your recipe. I looked at MANY. I am a seasoned baker and I found yours to be the right combination of everything.
I bake my own sourdough bread. So i added 50 grams of starter. I don’t think it made much difference. Except that it made the dough a little bit more wet.
It was a HUGE hit. My whole family were Oohing and awing over them. And they do that over my baking. BUT, they were a little extra this time. ;D They said it was the BEST fritter they EVER had.
If you put in the time you will not regret it! I wish I doubled the batch.
Thank you so much Annalise!!!!
EM, did you use any instant yeast or only sourdough starter? I was hoping to use my sourdough discard… 🤔
Yes I have the same question! I’d love to use only my starter and no instant yeast?
Made this for the desert last night and must say the whole family was surprised looking at the final result. No one believed it was homemade and was made by me, all thanks to you for sharing the recipe for this gem of an item. Keep up the good work.
Yay! Thanks for the feedback Peter, I’m so happy you and your family enjoyed this recipe!
For the Sourdough Apple Fritter recipe, what kind and how many apples do you use? Thanks!
Could you bake these?
I haven’t tried so I can’t advise on that, sorry!
Hey, Thanks for writing this kinda content. i loved to reading your content. it’s smooth content.
I’d like to use sourdough starter, if I were to do that how much would I use?
I haven’t tested this with a sourdough starter so I couldn’t say. You could try a similar ratio to bread recipes you have tried.
Someone commented they used 50g of sourdough starter.
Title misleading, this isn’t true sourdough , there’s commercial yeast in it.
This is a great recipe must try it at home.