More About Sourdough

I made that classic no-knead bread from the NY Times yesterday. Well, I started it the day before. Anyway, I used about 1 cup of starter instead of the yeast. The dough took at least another cup of flour, and I think it could have used at least another 1/2 cup. I wasn’t real thrilled with the results, but I guess that’s part of using sourdough. Getting consistently good results takes a lot of work and practice and documentation and…well, consistency.

I’m certainly not giving up. I’m feeling more of a challenge. And I have some good recipes designed specifically for this starter, so I’m going to have to keep at them, one by one. I’ve had to learn that what one person calls “a lovely crust” can mean unchewable by other people, including my mom. So, I may have to forgo some of the extra steps, like spraying the oven. Gee, maybe I won’t have to work quite as hard at it!

After reading the comments here, I’ll have to mix up another batch of pancakes. I was holding back because I wanted to limit the sugar in our diet. (I cook for 3 here, one currently having blood sugar problems.)

But now I’m craving another big cake rolled around fried eggs, and that doesn’t have to be sweet. I just have to expand my definition of pancakes to include savory. That shouldn’t be so hard! Actually, it redefines pancakes as bread, more like roti or pita, and now I’m thinking of all kinds of things that could get rolled up in them! Ooh, I have some lovely creamed corn, I wonder how it would be mixed into a pancake batter…

Damn, I have to go run errands, but I’ll cook when I get home. “Pancakes for dinner!”, she shouted!

I’m in Love With my Sourdough Starter

Just an update on my Carl’s starter.  I’ve baked countless loaves of bread in the last couple of months, some better than others, but all good enough that my family whine when they have to eat store bread.

I just got done splitting and feeding it, with an eye to sourdough pancakes for lunch.  I generally try to keep a container of pancake batter going in the fridge, with the addition of an egg, soy milk, flour, oil and a bit of soda when the volume gets low.  I eat pancakes for every meal, if’n I’m of a mood.

This starter is just marvelous, and it makes me feel connected to my mom’s family, who were loggers and ranchers in northern California in the late 1800’s.  My mom’s 83, and she says the pancakes are very much like the ones she grew up eating in her Uncle Gene’s kitchen.  (Gene also cooked for logging camps during the summer logging season.)

I prefer mine with homemade pomegranate jelly.  I imagine any jelly with a sweet/tart profile would work well.  Mom thinks hers were usually served with wild plum jam because that’s what was readily available.  No offense to the good people at Welch’s, but I don’t think grape jelly would quite do it.  Lingonberries would probably be great, but we don’t grow a lot of those in California.  I AM going to try marmalade one of these days.  Maple syrup would be wonderful, but I can’t bring myself to put the artificial stuff on these cakes, and the real stuff is just too pricey right now.  I’ll try to grab some at Trader Joe’s next time I’m “down the hill.”

Actually, I rolled one around a couple of fried eggs one day and ate it like that.  It was killer!  Of course, it was a BIG pancake.  I’ve taken to making one big pancake instead of messing with several small ones.  Call me lazy, and you’ll be right.  But heck, call me busy and you’ll be right too.  The big one is just simpler, and I’ve never been good at flipping pancakes, so this lessens my chances of disaster.  Besides, there’s just something sensuous and seductive, not to mention self indulgent, about attacking a pancake that’s almost as big as the plate it’s served on!