A simple swap from water to apple juice transforms this basic bread recipe into a subtly sweet loaf that is perfect to tear into at breakfast time with a smear of good butter on top, but it also takes a PB&J to the next level. The subtle, but unmistakable, undercurrent of apple sweetness struck me as a bit of a magic trick in a bread that, otherwise, to the eye and hand was just a soft white loaf.

I first encountered the idea at the small four-seat teppanyaki restaurant in the back of the Suiran Hotel in Kyoto, Japan, where chef Tsubasa Yamaguchi served it before my first course; it was a perfect way to start the meal. When I asked him what he did differently to prepare it, he said he just took the same rustic bread recipe he baked elsewhere and used apple juice in place of water. I was incredulous. That was it? The same amount? The same technique? Yes and yes, he said. I was hooked.…