In a large bowl, stir together the ingredients for the bread. The dough will be wet and sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise for 12-18 hours at room temperature. The surface will have a few bubbles on it when the dough is done rising. A rise time anywhere between 12 and 18 hours will work fine as long as it's at a comfortable room temperature of 68 to 72 degrees.

After the dough rises, flour a work surface and quickly form two evenly-sized balls of dough.

Place the dough on a floured dish towel that isn't fuzzy and cover with a second similar dish towel. Let the dough rise for about 2 hours, until nearly double in size.

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and place a large covered baking dish (e.g. ceramic, Le Creuset) in the oven while it preheats.

In a medium bowl, stir together the filling ingredients.

After the two-hour rise mentioned in step 3, carefully place one ball of dough in the hot baking dish. Put the apple filling on top of the ball, leaving a 1/2-inch circumference of dough without any apple filling. Then stretch out the second ball of dough a bit and place it on top of the first, lightly pinching around the edges to seal in the apple filling.

Bake the bread in the covered pan for 25-30 minutes, then uncover and continue baking for an additional 10-15 minutes. The bread is done when it is nicely browned and it sounds hollow when you tap it.

Cool completely before cutting.