You don't have to understand the the science of sourdough yeasts and bacteria to bake great sourdough bread, but it sure can help.
A new study that sheds light on how microbes in sourdough starters influence both aroma and how the dough rises may surprise sourdough enthusiasts.
If you plan on surprising your family with something yummy, these super tender Red Lobster inspired cheddar biscuits are another great way to utilize your sourdough discard.
This simple recipe makes the world's most versatile dough! Use it to make bread, pretzels, pizza, and more!
A collection of sourdough croissant recipes.
This month’s Sourdough Surprises is all about griddle cakes. I am over a week late posting because I just kept getting distracted from making my choice. I chose to make Welsh cakes. Welsh cakes are described as a little biscuit-like They remind me of scones actually. Typically they have currants. But I used white chocolate along with raisins. I really enjoyed them and these are definitely going to be made again soon. The sourdough starter is only used to add a little tang to the cakes as I used baking powder as the main leavening. Next time I will try with only the starter added. I’ll probably do a cold ferment then - who knows? But the current version is definitely an option is you have discard starter that you don’t want to actually discard Sourdough Welsh Cakes with White Chocolate and Raisins Adapted from BBC Ingredients 200 grams flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder ¾ teaspoon mixed spice ½ teaspoon salt 100 grams butter 85 grams sugar 50 grams raisins 50 grams white chocolate chips 1 egg, beaten 50 grams 100% hydration sourdough starter Directions Heat a griddle or large pan over medium heat. Lightly grease. Mix flour, baking powder, mixed spice and salt together. Cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar, raisins, and white chocolate chips. Add the beaten egg and the sourdough starter. Mix to form a firm dough. It shouldn’t be sticky. Roll out to a ¼ inch then cut out 2.5 to 3 inch rounds. Cook over medium heat about 4 minutes per side or until cooked through. The edges should be dry. Sprinkle with sugar before serving. Notes The original recipe said 3 minutes per side over low heat. I wasn’t successful with that but it could just be that my pan wasn’t hot enough. Start with one Welsh cake and figure out the best timing for you. Welsh cakes are sometimes dusted with powdered sugar. However, with raisins and white chocolate, I found this to be already plenty sweet. It didn’t need additional sugar.
When I accidentally came across Sourdough Surprises looking for recipes, I was intrigued by the sourdough pasta that started it all. Intrigued enough, in fact, I found myself actually looking at a pasta maker that happened to be on the clearance table, and wondering if I'd make sourdough pasta often enough to justify spending $50 on it. Of course, for its first anniversary, the girls of Sourdough Surprises have chosen to make sourdough pasta again. Of course, I also didn't buy that pasta maker. So my choices were either sit out this month, or hand roll it. Because I love a challenge, I decided to hand roll it. There's not a lot in the way of pasta recipes – fortunately, the basic recipe doesn't vary much, so I went ahead and used the suggested recipe – although now that we are finally getting hot and humid weather, I did have to add another quarter cup of flour. I also used the dough hooks on my hand mixer, lacking a stand mixer. I rolled them out and used a pizza roller to cut into fettucini: Trying to highlight the pasta, and having just made spaghetti with marinara last week, I chose another tried and true (though admittedly, highly processed) sauce: Philadelphia Creamy Pesto Cooking Cream. Some cubed chicken, a tomato, and a green pepper... Yum. And I mean that, and not just my beloved cooking cream. I was having a hard time not eating multiple noodles to “test” them – no butter, no sauce, just plain noodles. They remind me of the noodles in a good bowl of chicken noodle soup crossed with the dough part of a perogi. Was it worth the effort? While I enjoyed it, I'm not sure I can make a regular habit of it. But for a special occasion (we do have lasagna as our “traditional” Christmas dinner), I probably will make it again. Or maybe I'll just end up buying that pasta maker. Check out our other delicious pastas!
This is a streamlined recipe for making an all sourdough starter, no added yeast loaf. It's as easy as can be and needs no banneton and no dutch oven. The way of shaping the loaf is completely new, unique, and requires no particular skill. It rises high, with a very open crumb and wonderful flavor.The benefit of this method is the ease of just scraping the dough from the bowl onto parchment paper on a cookie sheet. It won’t stick to anything. You won’t have to wait for the dough to regain its volume and can bake it right away. And it tends to have more of those appealing air holes that people like to see in sourdough bread because you won't be compressing it to form into a ball for placement in a banneton. It will have a more irregular shape, but we can help the shape by confining the dough on the cookie sheet with the aid of three oblong boxes, like the kind that plastic and foil wraps come in that keep the dough bounded in a high shape.
Beautiful tender pancakes with an earthy sweet potato flavor. Traditionally fermented for easy digestion.
I love cornbread. With chili. With butter or jam for breakfast or snack. As a quick treat. It's just delicious. So when Sourdough Surprises chose cornbread as the September challenge, I was super excited. I first thought I'd make a somewhat traditional cornbread, since, well, it's so delicious. But then I saw a really fun looking alternative called a Johnnycake. Johnnycakes are kind of like cornmeal pancakes, cooked on a griddle, and they look like a super fun treat. I decided to take it one step further and turn my Johnnycakes into... Johnny-waffles. The batter comes together super easily. And, of course, it all starts with the sourdough starter. The starter is quickly refreshed with flour... and, in this case, cornmeal! I used more cornmeal than flour, to really kick up the cornbread inspiration. I was a bit worried that the cornmeal would inhibit or slow the starter's ability to do its job, but it didn't seem to at all! The rest of the ingredients are mixed in, and then, just to really ramp up the corn flavor, I added... corn kernels! Then onto the pre-heated waffle iron... ...to produce golden delicious corn-filled goodness! We actually made these for dinner, and I couldn't resist adding a bit of Mexican flare to these, so I sprinkled mine with shredded cheddar, then added a healthy scoop of sour cream, salsa and a some fresh avocado on top. The results were colorful, fun, and, best of all, delicious! So how was your sourdough cornbread experience this month?? Link up and share! An InLinkz Link-up Sourdough Johnnycake Waffles (inspired by King Arthur Flour's Corn and Scallion Sourdough Pancakes) 1/2 cup sourdough starter, fed or unfed 3/4 cup cornmeal 1/2 cup all purpose flour 1 cup milk 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 large egg 1 cup fresh/cooked or frozen/thawed corn kernels Combine starter, flour, cornmeal and milk. Cover and allow to rest for 30 minutes. To the starter mixture, add the oil, baking soda, salt and egg, stirring to combine. Preheat waffle iron according to manufacturer's instructions. Fold in corn kernels. Cook the batter in your waffle iron according to manufacturer's suggestions (regarding amount of batter and time). You can keep these warm on a baking sheet in a low oven if you would like to serve them all at once. The batter can hold in the fridge for a day or two, as well. Enjoy! Tweet Pin It
This recipe has a surprise ingredient which makes it protein-rich!
I am so excited for this post - it is the inaugural post for the Sourdough Surprises! Every month, we hope that you will join us in baking something new, featuring your sourdough starter. This month we chose donuts, and what a tasty choice it was! We found this delicious looking recipe, which was the inspiration behind this month's theme, and decided to jump right in. Making sourdough donuts is actually not all that difficult. Rather than create a new, yeast-based starter, as the recipe above indicates, I just made sure that my starter was well fed to be at full strength. The dough comes together super quickly. The dry ingredients are mixed together: And then there's the star of the show, our starter: Which is combined with the other wet ingredients - an egg, some oil and some sour milk: And then the two are combined: The best way to bring the dough together is by hand. While it starts out a bit messy, within a minute or so, you have a nice ball of dough. Then it's time to shape the donuts! On a floured surface, roll out the dough, but not too thin. And cut! I don't have a donut cutter (since I am not a big one for single-purpose kitchen tools...), so I used a cookie cutter. To cut the holes, I used a round apple corer. While I was preparing the dough and cutting the donuts, I was also heating my oil for frying. Once the oil hit 360 degrees (that handy "donut" marking on my thermometer!), it was time to fry! These fried up pretty quickly, so I had to keep an eye on them. Once they came out of the oil (and drained for a minute... I didn't want them too oily!), I dropped them right into a bowl of cinnamon sugar. And don't forget those little donut holes! And pretty soon we had a whole plate full of these: YUM. We even left a few with no holes in them, so that we could try filled donuts, too. A little cream filling and my little frosting squeezie bottle did the trick... I need to work on making sure that I get enough filling in all of my donuts, but these were definitely a fun change of pace. We all loved these donuts - they were delicious. They reminded us very much of apple cider donuts that we have eaten from our local orchard. Which gave me an idea... Could I replace the sour milk in this recipe with apple cider? Would that work with the sourdough? Combine that thought with the fact that I wanted to try baking these donuts, rather than frying them, and I knew I'd be making a second batch. I not only replaced the sour milk with apple cider, but substituted one tablespoon of apple sauce for one of the two tablespoons of oil. I baked the donuts at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, and sprinkled the unbaked donuts with cinnamon sugar (rather than rolling them later), and the results were pretty good. We all agreed that the fried donuts were better - they had a crisper crust and a better crumb, but that didn't stop little hands from grabbing the baked version... This was a delicious introduction for the Sourdough Surprises, and I will definitely be saving this recipe for future use. I think I'll try the apple cider version again, but will try frying them next time, so they'll be saved for a special occasion. I can't wait to see the sourdough donuts all of you came up with, and I hope you'll sourdough with the Sourdough Surprises next month! Sourdough Donuts (from Under the High Chair) 1/2 cup sourdough starter 2 tablespoons oil 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1 egg 2 cups flour 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup sour milk (soured with vinegar or lemon juice) Prepare a wok or deep fryer for frying. Prepare a tray with paper towel for draining doughnuts. Heat oil to 360 degrees (use a deep fry thermometer). Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together remaining ingredients and add them to the dry ingredients. Bring dough together gently with you hands. Sprinkle some flour onto a work surface and turn dough on to it. Knead it gently about 3 times to help bring the dough together. Roll out to a thickness of 2 centimeters and cut with a doughnut cutter. In place of a donut cutter, I used the combination of a circle cookie cutter for the donut shape and an apple corer for the donut hole. Fry cut dough until golden brown. Test the first one for doneness by breaking it in two and checking to see if the middle is doughy. Drain fried donuts on paper town. Toss donuts in cinnamon sugar (or vanilla sugar) to coat. Enjoy! And be sure to check out the new Sourdough Surprises blog for future announcements, challenges and reveals! I have submitted these donuts to Yeastspotting! Tweet Pin It
Sourdough grissini twists are lovely crunchy, twisty breadsticks!
It’s the 20th of the month, Sourdough Surprises’s challenges day. This month Jenni and Shelley dropped a proper ace: the croissant! Indeed, the dreaded croissant! I still remember the o…
These Baklava Sourdough Cinnamon Roll are filled with all the flavors found in baklava, and they will become your new favorite breakfast treat!
Happy April!! Spring has finally started to... well... spring, and I, for one, am super excited about it. The warmer weather makes me so happy!! This month's Sourdough Surprises challenge also made me happy! This month we were challenged to use our sourdough starters to make biscotti. YUM! I was so excited that I made my biscotti right away. Which almost never happens these days. There are tons of recipes out there, combining all kinds of flavors and mix ins. I knew I wanted to try something a bit simpler for my first go-round, so I chose this recipe. The trick to biscotti, even the sourdough variety, is not in the dough preparation. It comes together similarly to other cookie type doughs. The difference is that they're not done after being baked. Nope. After they're baked and out of the oven, you keep the oven hot and prepare them to be baked again. Allowed to cool just briefly, the loafs cookie "loaves" are sliced, and the slices are laid out on a baking sheet... ...to be baked yet again, toasting them to a beautiful, golden, delicious treat. These were so delicious and made the perfect afternoon treat. Especially delicious with a cup of tea. Even better when enjoyed outside in the gorgeous Spring weather. So what kind of biscotti did you make? Link up and share! An InLinkz Link-up Sourdough Biscotti (only slightly adapted from Friendship Bread Kitchen) 1 cup 100% hydration sourdough starter 2/3 cup granulated sugar 1/2 cup butter, softened 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 egg 3 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 cup almonds or walnuts, coarsely chopped (I used sunflower seeds to keep them nut-free) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In medium bowl (I used my KitchenAid mixer), cream together starter, sugar and butter. Stir in vanilla extract and egg. In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Stir the dry mixture into creamed mixture. Fold in nuts (seeds). Divide dough into 2 pieces. Roll each piece out into a log about 10 inches long. Place them on an ungreased cookie sheet and flatten until they are about 3 inches wide. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until firm. Cool on baking sheet for 10-15 minutes. Slice logs crosswise into 1/2 inch wide slices. Place slices cut side down on baking sheet. Return to oven for additional 15 minutes, until crisp and light brown. Cool and store in airtight container. Enjoy! Tweet Pin It
A collection of sourdough beignet recipes.
My classic sourdough shortbread cookies are buttery and flavorful and very versatile. They have soft crumbly centers with crisp golden edges and a beautiful rim of crunchy granulated sugar as the final touch.
The perfect multipurpose rich dough for challah, rolls, buns, pastry, brioche, and more!
Recipe: Cinnamon-Apple Flatbread
A chewy and fluffy texture with a delicious sourdough taste.
A collection of sourdough gozleme recipes!
There's no better pizza than one made with a sourdough pizza crust. You will be surprised at how easy it is to create a quality, flavorful sourdough pizza crust! With just flour, salt, water, and a sourdough starter, this crust comes together in just a few simple steps.
This not-too-dense sourdough bagels recipe is chewy and delicious with a flexible baking schedule. If you haven't had a homemade bagel, you'll have to treat yourself to one of these fresh out of the oven.
Chewy, tender with rich notes of toffee and butterscotch these Sourdough Discard Blondies are the ultimate dessert.
Join me as I teach you all about maintaining and feeding a sourdough starter. Every week I receive hundreds of questions about how to care for a sourdough starter.
I just shake my head when I think of these muffins. They are truly one of our favorites, and I look forward to hearing how you make them one of your own! What are you your favorite muffin add-ins? Makes 12 regular sized muffins.
I never make fried food. It stinks up your kitchen and it's always a waste of a quart or two of oil. If I deep fry something at h...
Crock-pot Bread
It is time for the reveal of sourdough surprises , after making sourdough brownies in May, this month we made crepes. My kids love crepes but I don’t make them enough because the recipe I usu…
3 easy sourdough recipes for beginners
While I have been keeping my sourdough starter pretty busy baking with Sourdough Surprises every month, it occurred to me that I haven’t actually used it to make a lot of bread, especially co…
There's no better pizza than one made with a sourdough pizza crust. You will be surprised at how easy it is to create a quality, flavorful sourdough pizza crust! With just flour, salt, water, and a sourdough starter, this crust comes together in just a few simple steps.
Nothing better than homemade sourdough bread.
Lots of steps to this bread but each one is very short as far the cook is concerned. Worth the time and effort
Learn how to start a sourdough starter, step-by-step. Then use any of the recipes provided to fill your pantry with healthy, freshly baked sourdough bread.
Let's whip up a batch of tender, fluffy, and oh-so-delicious buttermilk sourdough freezer biscuits that the whole family will love.
There's no better pizza than one made with a sourdough pizza crust. You will be surprised at how easy it is to create a quality, flavorful sourdough pizza crust! With just flour, salt, water, and a sourdough starter, this crust comes together in just a few simple steps.
