Sourdough Waffles

I know, I know a great many posts lately have the title sourdough in them. I did warn you this spring that I was going to concentrate on a few subjects to better understand them and not be trying so many new things.

I did spy a recipe for laundry soap and I've decided to use up my old bars of hand soap in the creation. Yes, I will be tweaking the recipe a bit to conform to what I have but I always do.  

It was getting hard to buy plain old powdered laundry soap -unscented especially in a big box, of course on sale too. Now I can't find any at all. The Internet has it but by the time I pay shipping it is no longer a good deal. When this shortage occurred I'm not sure since I buy in bulk six or so boxes at a time and it is months before I need more. Why not buy liquid detergent? To me it doesn't make sense.

I did a blog a year or so ago on powdered versus liquid laundry soap price wise and in my research was surprised to find out that powdered is formulated for dirt and grime, liquid is not. And even if it wasn't cheaper I'd of bought it if it wasn't exorbitantly price. Dirt and grime is the stuff I seem to be made of. So since I'm not buying water with a little detergent thrown in that isn't formulated for dirt. Now what?

Home-made of course. Any more it seems like if you want it done right you have to do it yourself. I'm going to try fitting in home-made laundry detergent once more into my schedule. Yes, once more since I used home-made when our kids were little and I was doing a cazillion loads. I had a top load machine then though and put in the soap and let is swoosh around before adding the clothes. I have a front loading washing machine now. It isn't going to work the way I use to do my soap. Still, the original plan was to return this year to home-made as I was having a time finding my store bought soap in powdered and I just now have a greater push.

That was one of the reasons for buying Waltzing Matilda, the hog that was suppose to be a fat hog according to the breeder but never made it though she grew and grew. So no fat, no soap making. It was alright until now, I had enough store detergent in storage and postponed the adventure for another year. But now I'm nearly out and none in sight at the stores. The new recipe I spied on the Internet has me gun hoe to barrel ahead and make my old soap into laundry soap. Maybe I can find someone butchering a hog and they will have extra fat and I can make some more hand soap for storage. I asked the butcher and he saves all of the extra he gets to make wild game sausage in the fall.

Just like our food storage since the garden failed, I guess our soap storage is going to get used up also this year. By next summer Mother Hubbard here will have bare cupboards. It has me motivated more than ever to put extra away.

So keep in touch because I am starting a batch of cream culture tomorrow to make cultured butter (Hopefully it works out) And I plan on tackling laundry soap sometime this week too. I promise, not all my posts will be about sourdough.

 This recipe I found for sourdough waffles is awesome. First we tried it with white flour and loved it and then spelt. The recipe calls for half white and half wheat but we were only making a half recipe so the second batch was all spelt flour. After all it is just Kirk and I, and so we just counting on the sourdough, which is made from white flour, to be the white part. The grand kids are coming tomorrow night to sleep over so I plan on a nice big batch come Friday morning and get there opinion. I'll do the half spelt and half white for them. They don't get wheat at all except here.

And I've got to say that despite the large selection of wonderful waffle recipes that I have. This is the one I want to eat over and over again lately. The texture is a bit different. It is very light and slightly spongy. Not quite like an angel food cake but none the less a different texture than traditional recipes. We love it! And of course we had to throw in some nice plump blueberries each time too. But enough talk. You need a recipe so you too can begin enjoying sourdough waffles too.

KING ARTHER'S SOURDOUGH WAFFLES

Sponge:
1 cup  (4 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 cup (4 1/2 ounces) white whole wheat flour
2 Tablespoons ( 7/8 ounce) sugar
2 cups ( 16 ounces) buttermilk
1 cup (8 to 8 1/2 ounces sourdough starter

Batter:
2 large eggs
1/4 cup ( 2 ounces) melted butter
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda

To Make The Sponge:
Mix together the flours and sugar in a medium sized bowl. Stir in the buttermilk. Add the starter and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature overnight, or for whatever shorter time span is practical.

To Make The Batter:
Beat together the eggs, butter, salt, and baking soda until light. Blend this mixture into the sponge.

Spray your waffle iron with oil. Pour batter onto the iron and cook.

What I found out with these waffles is for us overnight was perfect.
Anything to help get the next morning off to an easier start. Also the waffles more challenging to get off the waffle iron  if they aren't done enough. That doesn't mean over done just to the color of the photo I showed. And I used oil instead of butter one time and they worked out the same so don't be afraid to do some substituting with this recipe.

 I'd like to tell you how stiff or liquid my sourdough start I begin with is but I don't measure when I feed.  I just adjust my recipes according to how the start is. I know there is a formula for feeding but really, I find feeding sourdough like feeding bum lambs. Each one is unique and there care also. When sourdough has sat and not been fed often it needs to have more liquid to help the natural yeasts multiply. Older and it bubbles over the top of the jar like a volcano so I make the solution stiffer. 

And the buttermilk I used in the recipe of course was cultured from good ole goat's milk courtesy of our Meagan and Mercedes, our lovely does. I know this adds a richness that store bought can't compete with but do your best with what you've got.

Two of our children want a sourdough start for part of their Christmas present and a recipe book of all the wonderful recipes I've discovered. Yes, home-made makes a very nice gift indeed and what I need to do for Christmas has been nawing at the back of my mind.

Keep in mind that sourdough breaks down the phytic acid in wheat and releases the nutrients for your body to absorb. It is also anti-cancer so go ahead give whole wheat sourdough waffles a try. Or try using spelt instead. It just happened to be what I had ground up.

Sourdough Rolls

Sourdough Rolls
1 teaspoon dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (110F.)
2 cups Sourdough Starter
2 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup vegetable oil,
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoon salt
31/2  cup - 4 cups all-purpose flour

I mixed the above in the general way of making bread but I used only 3 cups of flour, not 3 1/2 - 4 and had to add a little more liquid because it was too dry so I'd go easy on the flour. Our weather has been brutally dry so I'm sure that was a factor.

Keep in mind too stiff a dough and it doesn't raise very well and is dry. I ended up using another egg and a little flour to compensate for too much fluid. Making dough isn't an exact science. More a feel and a skill acquired.

 I mixed at first in the Kitchen Aid mixer and threw a towel over it letting it raise in the bowl. The recipe calls for 2 - 1 /2 hour time laps but I just watch the dough knowing the temperature of the room makes a large difference along with the stiffness of the dough. I prefer leaving the dough rather sticky at this stage. The bread dough clinging to the hook but still has a very moist look to it. This takes some time and I don't rush putting in all the flour at once but slowly allow the gluten to develop in the flour.  

When raised I turned on the mixer and then turned the bowl out onto a flour coated counter top for a bit of hand kneading. This is a good time to add more flour if needed. When the dough feels nice and smooth and elastic I pinched off pieces of dough and rolled into balls, placed them in a well greased large cast iron skillet to rise. Once again I threw the kitchen towel over the top. I just can't make myself use plastic wrap. It is so disposable and a nice white cotton towel is much for fitting.

The recipe says 1 to 1 1/2 hours later it will have risen but I just know it was after chores were done that I heated the oven to 375 F. and then placed in the rolls. They always call for brushing butter or egg whites on top and this recipe calls for butter but I never do. Sometimes afterwards if the tops seem a bit dry but this recipe needed neither this time.

Then when the tops just start to turn a light-light brown, I turn down the oven  to 350. This increased heat at the beginning causes the dough to raise extra high. Then turning it down insures the insides get done all the way through before turning the outsides to crisp. Don't crowd your rolls. Leave lots of room to raise or they turn out heavy.

This is a Cuisine magazine recipe and it gives a sourdough starter recipe using dry yeast. I've not liked those. They are bitter to my palette. My sourdough imparts of well over a hundred years of history and I love its mellow tones.

Warm from the oven Kirk and I took our first bite. I wasn't impressed. There was a distinct tangy sourdough flavor and a bit bland flavor. I wondered with the speed this dough came together if it might lack the developed character we've grown to love in doughs that sit and age.

Time means flavor. The texture of the rolls was wonderful though, light, airy. And we both looked at each other and talked of how much better the rolls might be in the morning when they had cooled and the flavors melded. Indeed they were better the next morning. A sweeter taste appeared. Kirk loved the tanginess, I preferred the sourdough baguettes we had left over from a few days before. They too need just a little tweaking for my taste. Nothing wrong with them but I miss the European texture I mentally associate with this type of bread. Ridiculous really since I've never had baguettes before making them myself. But don't burst my romantic bubble. I've got a fantasy going on here about this foreign to our household style of bread and I intend on fiddling until reality meets up with fantasy. 

Still on a sourdough roll, get the pun, I made two batches of sourdough waffles. One with white flour and one with spelt. Oh my, home-made buttermilk and either white flour or spelt are awesome in these waffles. They are so.... light and slightly spongy in texture and a wonderful flavor. I'm not done yet for I've still a stash of sourdough recipes to try. I'm really liking sourdough. I've an article that talks about a scientific study on sourdough since they have found anti-cancer properties in it. Go figure, and they think they are so smart today. I'm thinking our ancestors without all their sophistication are looking pretty smart to me. 

I'll be sharing this recipe with you also but for now I've got to shower and be off with Kirk to the neurosurgeon to see what he has to say about hubby and all those tests the neurologist ran on Tuesday. I know none of those were normal. Like I said life is wa...y to exciting.   

Sourdough Baguettes

How in the world do you say baguettes? I say it like it has a q instead of a g. I had to go search on the Internet even though I'm not giving this class in person. http://www.howjsay.com/index.php?word=baguette&submit=Submit I found this fascinating site. It actually says it out loud instead of those confusing little squiggles above the letters. No big surprise, I have been saying it completely wrong. I'm not exactly from a culinary family. Meat and potatoes is all my father ever wanted, after all his family is from Idaho.

I've always loved to cook though I wasn't particularly good at it. With Mom seldom home and a girlfriend who's parent's gave us free rein in their kitchen, she had six younger brothers to eat the results, I cooked my way through childhood. But it wasn't until I was married to Kirk that I really discovered my love for food. For real food that had fresh wonderful natural flavors. This love has been spurred on as Kirk travels a few times a year to large cities with their wonderful selection of eats and he comes home with tales of tongue tickling delights.

We have learned to savor food. Something you just don't do with tator tot casserole or tuna fish casserole, staples when I was a kid. It is no wonder I put ketchup on everything including corn.

My parents still don't see what I see in food but that is okay. My husband LOVES to come home after a long and I mean long 14 hour day at work to a home cooked meal. Last night it was cube steaks dipped in egg and a mixture of dried bread crumbs, flour and salt and pepper fried up nice and crisp with a spicy Alfredo sauce on top. One where I used fresh cream, home bottled half dried tomatoes in olive oil and spices, a little butter, black pepper, basil, parsley, and lots of Romano and Parmesan cheese. A side dish of rice and another of green beans and yum, we were set for mouth watering fun.

This morning it was home-made cinnamon raisin bread and a fruit smoothy with home-made yogurt swirled inside. Yes, my family loves it when I live in the kitchen. Unfortunately at times it is feast or famine. It has been feast lately.


New excites mea and catalogues for cooking supplies that also give recipes are high on my list of good things. Two of the several new sourdough discoveries have come from them.  This makes my sourdough start especially happy with all the use.




Baguettes
1/2 cup (4 ounces) fed sourdough starter
3/4 cup ( 6 ounces) lukewarm water
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups ( 10 1/2 ounces unbleached all-purpose flour

Being as this is a recipe from King Arthur Flour, they are recommending using their flour. I do love their bread pans and order their cake flour since it doesn't have those nasty extras in it, but I use Montana Wheat instead of their flour. I believe when possible and affordable to use local. Local may be a state a way since we aren't a big crop state but I want to encourage something so... basic as close as possible. Montana wheat all purpose comes in unbromeated and unbleached. I love how the cold harsh white is replaced with a warm light yellow without all the refining. I'm not a lover of white. Probably a hold over from childhood when I would scream whenever I saw someone in white, fearful that they were another doctor to poke and prod me.

Now for the instructions. These are from King Arthur Flour.
Combine all of the dough ingredients, kneading to form a smooth dough. (This takes only a few minutes)

Allow the dough to rise for 1 hour. Refrigerate, covered, for 12 to 18 hours.

This is where I left the recipe behind. Instead of making a baguette, I rolled the dough out into pizza circle on to parchment paper and let the dough rise for well over an hour. Wish I had timed it but the whole point of using this recipe as a pizza dough was the flexibility of it. Make the dough the day before and let the dough rise for an extended time while the busy evening routine took me away.

 I put all the toppings on knowing that livestock chores had been kept waiting and when I got home Kirk would have arrived. I called Kirk as he was traveling home and asked him to put the pizza stone in the oven to heat while I finished chores. I wasn't too sure how this all would turn out as I don't normally put tomato sauce on too soon as it makes the dough rather soggy.

I should not have worried because it came out nice and crisp on the bottom and not a bit soggy. The dough had a bit of chew just the reason why we love artisan bread. This is definitely a keeper as a pizza dough.

Now for what I was suppose to do.

Divide the dough in half. Shape each piece into a 15" to 16" baguette, and place on a lightly greased or parchment-linved baking sheet, or into a baguette pan. cover and let rise until very puffy, about 3 hours. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the overn to 425 F.

Spray the baguettes with water and make three fairly deep diagonal slashes in each. ( I did not spray mine with water.)

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until baguettes are a deep golden brown. Remove from oven, and cool on a rack.

I went back and make the dough as baguettes too but still love it as pizza dough more. Definitely a keeper recipe. Give it a try and see what you think.

The roll you see next to the baguette is sourdough too but an entirely different recipe. I'll be sharing that one too. It is from the Cuisine magazine. As it has 2 cups of sourdough start in the recipe, it has a distinct sourdough flavor unlike the baguettes which is just a yummy bread. I liked the baguettes better and Kirk the sourdough rolls. To each their own so these two are going in my separate sourdough file for sure.  

Now to try sourdough overnight waffles and sourdough Ciabatta. Two new recipes awaiting my trial.