#sourdough sesame spelt boule

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Maple sugary goodness: week of 2/22/21

A lot of maple sugar this week as it’s hardening into lumps.

Sourdough sesame spelt boule

Grade: B+

This was my first sourdough bread ever but at the time I didn’t realize that I baked a pancake, and even bragged to Reddit about it. Then I realized how far I was from mastering sourdough bread, from dough mixing to shaping to proofing.

This time I followed the recipe almost exactly, including the salt which was a bit too salty for me. The dough was less wet than a lot of sourdough doughs that I handled, which I think helped a lot with the baking, plus the tighter shaping. I also used whole instead of ground seeds in the dough which might’ve soaked up the moisture.

The result: the best looking sourdough that I had produced to date. Not the best tasting, but very photogenic and looks almost professional. I even got a like from Flora Shedden herself on Instagram.

Recipe: sesame spelt loaf from Flora Shedden’s Aran

Birthday gingerbread cake

Grade: B+

This cake was made over two weeks: first the sponge last weekend, and then the frosting and cookie crumbles this week.

The sponge was close to what I want from a layered cake, but the taste wasn’t great - I think the vegetable oil was starting to go rancid. I used baking powder to help with the rise. One of the cakes rose evenly and the other collapsed a bit, but the first cake made for neat layers.

The icing was made of coconut cream and mascarpone cheese because I didn’t get heavy cream, which worked out fine. I added gingerbread spice to overwhelm the weird oily taste from the sponge layers and also brushed the layers with leftover coconut milk. I think the taste of the frosting was quite nice.

Finally I added some cookie crumbles from sourdough gingerbread cookies to help with the taste and texture. And then added freeze dried raspberries on top, which actually tasted like raspberries rather than tasteless powder.

I still would’ve preferred more icing, and I still wish that my cake were neater, but overall my cakes are improving.

Recipes:

Cake from recipe - lychee cake from Miss Tam Chiak

Frosting: mix coconut cream from chilled can of coconut milk with mascarpone and flavor

Cookie crunch from sourdough gingerbread cookies (see below)

Sourdough gingerbread cookies

Grade: B+

I made this to test out the recipe as another way to use up sourdough discard. Too oily due to the usage of duck fat instead of butter. But it made for pretty tasty cookies on their own and nice crumbles for the cakes and pudding.

Recipe: sourdough discard chewy spice cookies from Make it Dough

Modification: gingerbread spice for the spices; less white sugar; 54g duck fat + 32g Greek yogurt for 84.5g butter

Homemade banana pudding

Grade: A-

This was done on a whim as I had an empty Vermont Creamery mascarpone cheese container from the cake, as well as a ripe banana and leftover cream cheese. So I thought, why not make my own banana pudding with cake layers, cookie crumbles, and banana cream cheese frosting?

It actually tasted pretty nice, although I gave most of it to my parents.

Recipe: inspired by banana cream cheese roll from King Arthur Baking Company

Maple sugar nian gao

Grade: C+

My maple sugar from last summer was starting to clump so I wanted to use it up, thinking it would taste good in a nian gao recipe. As it turns out, maple sugar is sweeter than white sugar, so the result is too sweet. Tastes okay pan fried with salt and eggs, but not what I wanted. Sprinkling lemon juice on top did not help tone down the sweetness.

On the other hand, I learned that the usage of rice flour in this recipe meant that I didn’t have to steam the nain gao for hours as it lent the nian gao more structure. So learned something new from the experiment.

Recipe: nian gao from the Woks of Life

Modification: maple sugar and maple syrup in place of brown sugar and molasses; no spices

Sourdough coconut macaroons

Grade: D

Wanted to use macaroons to decorate the cake and use up the last of the shredded coconuts. Way too sour, might’ve worked if I added more sugar. Poor Puffy and the other ingredients.

Recipe: coconut macaroons from Just One Cookbook

Modification: 30g of sourdough discard and 30g of maple syrup in place of egg whites and granulated sugar

Coconut flour maple shortbread

Grade: C

Too dry. Boo coconut flour. A nice subtle maple flavor though and used up the rest of Miyoko’s vegan butter.

Recipe: keto coconut flour shortbread cookies recipe from Wholesome Yum

Modification: maple sugar instead of white sugar at a lesser amount; last of Miyoko’s vegan butter

Coconut rice pudding

Grade: A-

Made with leftover coconut water and some rice. Surprisingly had a subtle sweetness despite not adding any sugar.

Sourdough pumpkin spice bread

Grade: B+

Mom gave me some pumpkins and I wanted to use up some Puffy discard and coconut flour, so made this Frankenstein recipe. There is a bit too much liquid (probably could’ve used another 5g coconut flour in place of 20g all-purpose flour) so after over an hour it was still kind of gooey. But it tasted pretty nice and is theoretically healthy. And I’m glad I know that applesauce can be used as a sugar substitute now.

Recipe: sourdough pumpkin spice bread from King Arthur Baking Company

Modification: for 1/3 recipe, 4oz recipe in place of some pumpkin, all of the sugar and oil; 10g coconut flour for 40g all-purpose flour; 1 instead of 2/3 egg

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Traditional Sourdough Pancakes

With a wonderfully soft and tender crumb, these sourdough pancakes make a lovely companion to lazy Saturday mornings, especially when you pair them with pats of salted butter, a drizzle of maple syrup and a mug of strong tea.

Since I started baking sourdough bread nearly a decade ago, I’ve always needed a use for my leftover, discarded starter. And these pancakes, sweetened by the slightest trace of honey, are such a perfect use for it.  I’ve meddled and toiled with this recipe over the years, making small adjustments here or there: leaving out the honey, beating in whole eggs, soaking the batter overnight.

And I finally have a version I’m really happy with: Marvelously rich with the flavor of whole grain flour, but tender, too, with a soft light texture.

Pancakes Are Great for Spent Starter

To maintain lively and active starter for sourdough bread baking, you must feed it a slurry of water and flour.  This carbohydrate-rich slurry nourishes and provides food for the bacteria that give good bread its characteristic tartness and it also feeds the yeast that give bread a lofty rise. Bread needs lively and active yeast to give it a wonderful rise an airy crumb. And recently fed, bubbly starter does just that.

But, maintaining sourdough is all about timing. Once you feed your starter, and it bubbles up and doubles, those lively yeast will exhaust their food source and the starter will fall. This spent starter won’t make for good bread, but it’s perfect for making sourdough pancakes.

How to Make Tender Sourdough Pancakes

Tender pancakes achieve their loft through leavening.  When you make pancakes the leavening comes from the natural chemical reaction between acidic and alkaline ingredients.

Thanks to all its friendly lactobacillus bacteria, spent sourdough starter is very acidic (that’s what makes it wonderfully tart!). When you combine sourdough starter with baking soda, which is very alkaline, the pancake batter will bubble up beautifully – and a bubbly batter makes for airier pancakes with a tender crumb.

But that’s not all you need to make fluffy pancakes. Whipped egg whites will lighten your pancakes when you gently fold them into the batter, and also give the batter enough structure to hold the air that will make your pancakes light and fluffy instead of dense or chewy.

Use a Whole Grain Flour

When baking and cooking for my family, I like to keep our grains (mostly!) whole. Not only do whole grains offer the clear benefit of higher dietary fiber, vitamins and minerals (when properly prepared), but they also offer incredible, complex and rich flavor.

The problem is that many whole wheat flours are very high in protein and are flecked with dark bits of bran. That makes for great bread, but not so great pancakes.

So, instead of opting for plain whole wheat flour; make your pancakes from white or ivory wheat. These flours are still 100% whole grain, but they’re made from a softer wheat with a lower protein and a much lighter color. That means lighter, softer pancakes that are still whole grain.

Where to Buy Whole White Wheat Flour

I partnered with Bob’s Red Mill in developing this recipe.  They make a fantastic 100% whole grain flour from Ivory Wheat with a quality that is consistently good. Not only does it give these pancakes the flavor and consistency of a good pastry flour, but with all the minerals, fiber and richness of whole grain. Plus they’re an employee-owned company, and always non-gmo.

You can find their flours at your local natural market or online here.

Recipe type: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Author: Jenny McGruther

Prep time: 8 hours

Cook time: 40 mins

Total time: 8 hours 40 mins

Serves: 1 dozen pancakes

Wonderfully fluffy and delicious with their rich whole grain flavor and mild tartness, these sourdough pancakes are a great way to use up leftover sourdough starter.

Instructions

Toss the flour, milk, sourdough starter and sea salt together in a blender, and blend until they form a smooth batter. Pour the batter into a mixing bowl, and cover it with cling film or with a tight-fitting lid (this bowl set works well).

Let the batter sit, covered, at room temperature overnight, or 8 to 12 hours.

Beat the egg yolks together with honey and melted butter. When they're uniformly combined, beat the egg yolk mixture into the pancake batter you made the night before.

In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites with the baking soda until they hold stiff peaks.

Gently fold one third of the whipped egg whites into the pancake batter. Continue folding the remaining egg whites, one third at a time, until you’ve added them all. Incorporate the egg whites into the bowl slowly, carefully and gently, leaving some streaks of unbroken whites, until the batter is light and fluffy. The key to a light sourdough pancake is to avoid deflating the whites.

Set your oven to warm, and place a baking sheet in the oven on the middle rack.

Heat a cast iron skillet or pancake griddle over medium heat, and melt a touch of butter in the pan. When the butter foams, pour a ladleful (approximately ¼ to ⅓ cup) of pancake batter into the pan. Let it cook without disturbance until you see bubbles forming in the center of the pancake. Flip the pancake and continue cooking it 1 to 2 minutes further until cooked through. Transfer the pancake to the baking sheet in the oven to keep it warm.

Continue cooking pancakes, one at a time, and adding more butter to the pan as needed until you’ve exhausted the batter.

Serve with additional butter, maple syrup or homemade blueberry syrup.

3.5.3240

How to Get Your Sourdough Starter Going

Sourdough pancakes are a great use of discarded sourdough starter. That’s the starter that’s removed from your jar before you feed it to make bread.

To get your starter going you’ll need flour, water and time. Adding a bit of an already established starter (from a friend or purchased online) can help, too. Here’s an easy tutorial on getting started.

I use unbleached, artisan bread flour from Bob’s Red Mill to feed my sourdough starter because it produces particularly reliable results, and you can purchase it at most natural food stores as well as online here.  While I keep the starter on bread flour, I bake with a variety of whole grains including ancient and heritage wheats, white wheat, spelt, einkorn and rye.

Our Other Sourdough Recipes

Once your sourdough starter is established, bubbling and doubling with each feeding, you’re ready to use it. You can use it to bake bread (of course!), but you can also use the discarded starter not only to make these pancakes, but also noodles, dumplings, crumpets and a lot more.

There’s loads of sourdough recipes in The Nourished Kitchen, so get your hands on a copy if you haven’t already.

In the mean time, here’s some of our favorite sourdough recipes:

No-Knead Bread is a pretty simple, hands-off, easy bread to make for sourdough newcomers.

Rye Sourdough Boule is also fairly easy to make, and has a pleasant, mild flavor.

Sourdough Rye Crêpes are a great way to use up sourdough starter, just like these pancakes.

Whole Wheat Sourdough Challah is always fun, and it’s gorgeous topped with poppy seeds or sesame seeds.

Sourdough Noodles can be made from discarded starter and they have a delightful tartness that blends beautifully with butter, cream and fresh herbs.

Sourdough Pelmeni are traditional meat-filled Russian dumplings served with browned butter. While they’re a little more involved, they’re certainly worth your time.

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Source: https://nourishedkitchen.com/sourdough-pancakes/