It has been very cold here.
So baking bread in a wood-fire-heated house seemed to fit. So yesterday I made some more sourdough things. I had too much starter, so I found a recipe for a Dutch Baby (also called a German pancake, something like a combination of omelette and pancake). As stipulated by the recipe, I used the prepared starter without any rising time. I didn’t get a picture, but it was lovely and tasty, with butter and maple syrup. By the end of the day, when the bread recipe I was using said to put the dough over night in the refrigerator for 12 hours, the dough had already risen so nicely in the warm room, that I decided to bake it. So we had a sourdough breakfast bread this morning. It has a touch of honey in it, a whiff of vanilla, a handful each of dried fruits and walnuts. (And not enough salt. Recipe needs to be adjusted for our taste.)
It is very tasty with butter, with or without honey. It has a nice subtle yeasty flavor. (And that after smelling very much like alcohol after I was away five days and the starter critters were starving. But when fed, they got happy again, and bubbled and grew.)
Yup. We ate more.
Still a lot to learn, but the experiments are edible.
I never have leftover starter anymore and it’s something I take issue with the internet recipes- they had to come up with “discard” recipes because the method is so wasteful.
ReplyDeleteIt’s helpful to understand the science and reasons for why each stage of sourdough is necessary. The reason sourdough is more healthy to eat than other yeasted breads is that the wheat is easier to digest because the enzymes are broken down by the fermentation. The twelve hour bulk fermentation is when that action happens.
That looks lovely and delicious! I will have to try making a dutch baby sometime, too.
ReplyDeletePam, in hindsight, I should have done the overnight rise. Agreed. But it’s a learning process. And my fridge was full. 😁 As to not having too much starter or wasting it with no-rise recipes, I don’t see how someone in my situation could not have too much starter, and want to use it on things like Dutch Babies or pancakes with out rising. The starter needs to be fed, so it accumulates, and some of us simply do not need much bread and don’t bake often any more. I guess I could supply my family with bread, but I don’t want to put the time into it right now.
ReplyDeleteThat above comment is from Sarah B.
ReplyDeleteHi, Thalia. I hear you are working with sourdough, too. Best wishes. Let us know how it goes. 🤗 And blessings with your new baby. Aunt Sarah
ReplyDelete