Before summer ended this year, I wanted to test three different summer sourdough recipes that featured summer flavors (mainly mid-to-late summer produce). So, I found three recipes that were each a little bit unique – they either used summer ingredients that I wouldn’t normally use in bread, or they used familiar ingredients in ways that I wouldn’t normally use them.
The Recipes
The first recipe was a sourdough peach pull-apart bread.
The second was a sourdough focaccia with fresh cherry tomatoes and dried seasonings inside of the dough.
The third was a fun sourdough flatbread with ricotta, peaches, roasted sweet corn, and other marinated vegetables on top. I tested these three summer sourdough recipes and rated them on my YouTube channel to find a winner.
In this post, I’ll share the results of my summer sourdough taste test, and I’ll also share five more summer sourdough recipes that you might want to try making.
The Summer Sourdough Recipe Face-Off
My Rating Criteria
After the official taste test, each of these summer sourdough recipes was given a score from 1-10 in the following five categories:
- Appearance
- Texture
- Flavor
- Creativity
- Would I Make It Again?
These categories seemed like a balanced way to rate the recipes, not just on flavor or “wow factor,” but on how good the recipes were overall.
The Three Summer Sourdough Recipes
Here are the three recipes that I tested in my at-home trial, along with a rating, and an explanation of why they received the score that they did.
1. Sourdough Peach Pull-Apart Bread
This recipe first caught my eye because it is essentially made from soft and fluffy cinnamon roll dough, stuffed with fresh peaches, baked in a loaf pan with crunchy streusel topping, and then topped with a powdered sugar glaze. What’s not to love about a summer sourdough recipe like this? Summer peaches and cinnamon rolls all in one package – sign me up.
Initially I was excited about this recipe because I love cinnamon rolls and sweet breads. I was also interested to see how fresh peaches would taste as a part of a pull-apart bread – peaches are something I don’t see in bread recipes too often. On the other hand, I was worried that this bread would be difficult and messy to make with so many sticky ingredients, and that the peaches wouldn’t quite fit with the flavor profile of cinnamon-sugar as well as apples or raisins.
After the official taste test, here’s how I rated the first summer sourdough recipe:
Sourdough Peach Pull-Apart Bread – Final Score
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Appearance | 8/10 |
| Texture | 9/10 |
| Flavor | 9/10 |
| Creativity | 10/10 |
| Would I Make It Again? | 6/10 |
| Total Score | 42/50 |
While this recipe didn’t look too crazy unique, I thought the cinnamon swirls on the sides of the pull-apart bread looked attractive, and the crunchy streusel topping looked very appetizing to me, so I gave this recipe an 8/10 for appearance.
As for texture, I loved the crunchy cinnamon streusel topping so much that I gave this bread a 9/10 for texture. I wanted some of the topping in every bite! And to be honest, that was the only thing keeping this back from a 10/10 – I enjoyed the streusel bites a lot more than the rest of the pull-apart bread that didn’t have any streusel.
Regarding flavor, this bread is right up my alley. I loved the combination of peaches baked into a sweet brioche dough with cinnamon and brown sugar filling. The fact that this was so similar to a cinnamon roll in flavor made it hard to beat, so I gave it a 9/10 on flavor.
This recipe shined in the creativity category. Folding fresh peaches into a sourdough bread dough is quite unique, and the method for folding, cutting, and stacking the layers of dough into the bread pan was sort of genius. I gave it a full 10/10 for creativity.
If I do make this bread again, I’ll probably change up quite a few things. First off, this recipe was kind of messy to make. It’s hard to avoid that with all recipes, but it might hold me back from wanting to make this recipe again. Secondly, I loved the flavor and texture of this bread, but I really wanted there to be some crunchy streusel in every bite. While making the recipe, I kept thinking about how I could alter the process to turn the bread into sourdough peach cinnamon rolls instead. If I made it into cinnamon rolls, each cinnamon roll would have more surface area, so in theory, you could cover each roll with streusel and get some of it into each bite. I might try that in the future. I gave this recipe at 6/10 for if I would make it again.
Overall, this summer sourdough recipe received total score of 42/100 in my rating system.
You can find the original recipe for this summery sourdough peach pull-apart bread on the Country Roads Sourdough blog.
2. Sourdough Focaccia with Cherry Tomatoes and Rosemary
I’m no stranger to making sourdough focaccia. In fact I have made sea salt and rosemary sourdough focaccia many times and it’s one of my go-to recipes. However, this recipe caught my eye with the addition of fresh cherry tomatoes and the fact that it calls for garlic powder and black pepper in the dough.
I’ve heard of using herbs and spices to season pizza dough from the inside out, but I’ve never tried it before with focaccia, so I was interested to see how that would turn out. What worried me was the tomatoes – would these fresh cherry tomatoes leak out too much water during the bake creating a soggy bread? I’d have to make it to find out.
Following the taste test, here’s how I scored the summer sourdough focaccia recipe:
Sourdough Focaccia with Cherry Tomatoes and Rosemary – Final Score
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Appearance | 9/10 |
| Texture | 6/10 |
| Flavor | 10/10 |
| Creativity | 7/10 |
| Would I Make It Again? | 8/10 |
| Total Score | 40/50 |
I loved the look of this focaccia – the cherry tomatoes and fresh rosemary sprigs gave the top bright pops of color – so I gave the recipe a 9/10 for appearance.
I was initially worried about the cherry tomatoes releasing too much water while the bread was baking, but my worries were completely unfounded. The cherry tomatoes had a wonderful texture on top of the focaccia and didn’t create any sogginess; the top was as crunchy as I wanted it to be. Unfortunately, this focaccia was a little bit too thick for my liking. Generally I like a thinner focaccia so that there’s more crunchy surface area to enjoy. Because of the thickness, I gave this recipe a 6 /10 for texture.
The flavor of this focaccia earned the recipe a 10/10 for me. The fresh rosemary paired perfectly with the cherry tomatoes. It’s a real winning flavor combination.
Regarding creativity, tomatoes and rosemary are pretty standard focaccia toppings – nothing too unique there. But the garlic and pepper in the dough itself worked out well and that was a little more unique. I gave the recipe a 7/10 for creativity.
Would I make this recipe again? Yes, but I would change it a little bit. I will probably make my standard sourdough focaccia recipe next time, which is a little thinner, and then top it with cherry tomatoes and fresh rosemary as this recipe does. This would give me a crunchier focaccia with the amazing combo of tomatoes and rosemary. This recipe got an 8/10 in the category of “would I make it again?”
Overall, I rated this recipe a 40/50 in my rating system. So, it comes in just behind the peach pull-apart bread in total score.
You can find the original recipe for this focaccia at the website This Jess Cooks.
Now, onto the last recipe that I tested. This one was the biggest wildcard.
3. Sourdough Flatbread with Roasted Sweet Corn and Peaches
This creative flatbread recipe came across my feed when I was searching for summer-themed bread and pizza recipes. Ultimately, it’s a simple flatbread with a ricotta base and topped with marinated tomatoes, onions, peaches, and roasted sweet corn. Cooking it over a charcoal grill brings everything together for the ultimate summer flatbread.
I was excited and curious about putting fresh peaches on top of a flatbread, but hey, I’ve had pineapple on pizza before, so maybe this could be a hidden winner!
After making my own sourdough flatbreads on the grill and following the recipe to a T, I performed the final taste test, and here’s how I rated this summer flatbread:
Sourdough Flatbread with Roasted Sweet Corn and Peaches – Final Score
| Category | Score |
|---|---|
| Appearance | 8/10 |
| Texture | 1010 |
| Flavor | 9/10 |
| Creativity | 10/10 |
| Would I Make It Again? | 8/10 |
| Total Score | 45/50 |
The appearance of the flatbread was a 8/10 for me. This flatbread had a lot going on on top of it, but the marinated summer vegetables looked colorful and appetizing.
Texture wise, this was probably the most balanced of the three dishes. The grilled flatbread was perfectly crunchy, the ricotta cheese was cool and creamy, and the marinated vegetables had a delicately firm bite. Everything worked well together, so the texture earned a 10/10.
I absolutely loved the flavors of this summer flatbread. The use of champagne vinegar in the marinated vegetables brought a deliciously tangy kick. The tanginess of the toppings was balanced well with the creamy fattiness from the ricotta cheese and the charred flavor from the flatbread. And while I loved the fresh marinated peaches, I can see how some people would rather them be omitted, so I gave this recipe a 9/10 for flavor.
This flatbread earned a 10/10 for creativity. Using peaches on what is essentially a white pizza is something I’ve never seen before, but it works. The topping combination is unique, it’s delicious, and everything worked well together. Perfect score for creativity.
I can see myself making this flatbread again, or something extremely close to it. The only thing holding me back would be just how involved it was to make. Marinating the vegetables, charring the corn, and grilling the flatbreads each took a good amount of time to pull off, so it’s a 8/10 for if I’d make this recipe again.
Overall, this recipe got a total score of 45/50, making it the winner of my informal summer sourdough face-off.
If you’d like to follow the original recipe for this flatbread, you can find it on Sunny Gandara’s website.
5 More Summer Sourdough Recipes to Try
Here are five more summer sourdough recipes that you might be convinced to try. Three recipes are my own and two recipes caught my attention online.
- Strawberry Sourdough Scones from Foragers of Happiness
- Sourdough Strawberry Shortcake from Grant Bakes
- Blueberry Lemon Sourdough Bread from Grant Bakes
- Sourdough Panzanella (Bread Salad with Tomatoes) from Grant Bakes
- Sourdough Zucchini Bread from The Clever Carrot
I hope this has convinced you to make a summer-inspired sourdough bread recipe before the season ends.