Having Fun With Sourdough

Here I am again having more fun with sourdough, now I did think after the last post I wonder if you could brew beer with sourdough. I brew my own alcholic ginger beer with wine yeast normally, so I thought what if I were to use sourdough instead well I had a look to see if anyone else had tried it and sure enough there are a few and all of them use the hooch or tea as they like to call it.
I on the other hand had a healthy happy starter that would take some time to produce hooch so i decided To inoculate it with the flower rich starter.Well after a slow start and no sign of life I decided to place it on my propagator as I'm not using it for plants at this time of year and covered it with a blanket. So when I checked on it this morning it after about 36 hours the temperature was 27c that's 80.6f for anyone from America by the way best choice for president. I'll keep you informed about how I go on with my alcoholic ginger beer.
Ok this is friday the ninth of November and the boiler man is just about the start up the new boiler for the first time.
The beer has been burbling away since my last post it's been gasing off every 5 or so seconds, I am very pleased with the progress so far, I can hardly wait to taste the end product.
Wow I can feel the heat, the new boiler is working isn't life grand.Well thats all for now folks Just a short post to fill in the time while the boiler is fixed.

Let's Make Some Great Crumpets

Well here I am again with yet again another recipe that we have tried for our sourdough starter as with everybody else it would seem I don't like throwing away half the living starter when I feed it. It just seems such a waste to create something then to flush it away without anything good coming from it, so here is something else you can do with sourdough "Crumpets", there really are great I was never a big fan of the ones you can buy in the shops. They never sit well on my stomach always leaving my stomach feeling heavy and slightly uncomfortable not having that is the best reason for eating Sourdough produce I can think of.

Ingredients

1 Cup of Sourdough starter
1 teaspoon Granulated Sugar
A good pinch of salt
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
Oil For Crumpet rings

Method

Mix starter and sugar in a bowl.

Warm a heavy skillet but dont get it too hot ( we got a few with very dark bottoms at first)

Add Baking Powder just before use

Allow a couple of minutes then use straight away

Make In small batches to keep baking powder active


It's as simple as that we make them and put them straight in the Freezer as soon as they are cool, for anytime we fancy them "they don't last very long".
I'll have to take some pictures so you can see the great stuff we make.
My Sourdough is now Eight Month old and its still getting better all the time.
Well that's it for another Blog till the next time take care and enjoy your sourdough.

Try These Sourdough Pancakes their Great

OK well it's been too long since my last blog and I have been trying some different recipe's for pancakes and this is what I came up with as the best yet.

I have tried with baking powder and without and they were both great though with baking powder was lighter as you'd expect, but if you have problems with salt the flavour is still great without the salt that is left behind from the spent baking powder. And as usual most of the information about sourdough comes from America and Canada thanks folks keep posting.

I got the basic recipe for the pancakes from http://whatscookingamerica.net/BreadSourdoughPancakes.htm

Now there all basically the same within reason but in so much as they do differ so too does mine, Though I have only added vanilla up to now.

So here goes.

Yields: 4 servings
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 5 min  

Ingredients:

2 cups sourdough starter, room temperature*
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 egg

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
4 tablespoons olive oil
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon warm water


The night before using your sourdough starter, remove from refrigerator and let come to room temperature. Then feed the starter with flour and water. Let this sit eight (8) hours or preferably overnight. It is now ready to use in your sourdough pancakes.

Frothy Man

Preparation:

In a large bowl, add sourdough starter, sugar, egg, olive oil, and salt; mix well and add Vanilla Then set aside till required.

In a small bowl, dilute 1 teaspoon baking soda in 1 tablespoon of warm water. Important: Only add baking soda/water mixture to the pancake batter just before you are ready to cook the pancakes.

When ready to cook your sourdough pancakes, fold the baking soda/water mixture gently into the prepared pancake batter (do not beat). This will cause a gentle foaming and rising action in the batter. Let the mixture bubble and foam a minute or two before using.

Heat up a lightly-greased griddle until fairly hot; then pour the sourdough pancake batter onto the pan or griddle. For each pancake, pour 1/4 to 1/2 cup sourdough pancake batter onto hot griddle. I have found that using my soup ladle makes the perfect size pancakes.

Cook the pancakes 1 to 2 minutes on each side or until golden brown and bubbly. Remove from heat and serve.
Serve with your favourite toppings. Mine is golden syrup because maple syrup is quite expensive here in Britain and I can make my own in different flavours then there are jams and I haven't even tried my homemade marmalade yet, now there is an idea for breakfast.
We used to have crepe type traditional British pancakes and although we loved then and probably indulged to much they would leave you feeling heavy in the stomach department, these most definitely don't.

Lots of syrup or jam but be warned these soak up toppings certainly not diet but really great

Today I have tried something new, after  meaning to have a go for some time "Sourdough Bread" and it's really good.

Right this is a new blog and something I am quite keen that more people should get to know about and hopefully have a go at so I am joining the large number of blogs and websites giving space to this subject. A couple of months ago my wife Pat went to visit my son and his family in scotland for a fortnight, I take her up have a couple of days there and then come back to look after the allotment then repeat the exersize when she comes back. I usually have a go at something new while she is away (while the cats away the mice will play) because if she's home and it looks messy and smells then it will end up in the bin when I'm not looking,  and that will be an end to it. Maybe you know someone like that too. Anyway I got my starter going and the first loaves made, and took them for people to try on my return to scotland. I was quite suprised that so many people liked them and more over that all the kids loved them and came back for more. That boosted my confidence because although if grandad has made something then they will have a try, they are true critics and if they dont like it they let you know face pulling and spitting out to make their point, bless em.

But no hardly a word of criticism.