Sourdough
Nothing Better than Sourdough
http://www.dianthomas.com/a-nothingbettersourdough.htm
By Dian Thomas
As a young outdoor lover I can to remember anything better the biscuits, pancakes and sourdough my dad would make.
I remember as a ten-year-old going camping with our family. My dad would get up and fire up the fire to burn down the hot coal to go under the on top of the Dutch oven to cook sourdough biscuits. When he opened up that lid and I got a whiff of the sourdough that seemed like it was four inches high, I fell in love with outdoor cooking.
We would take those hot biscuits and spread a little butter and honey, and I assure you we thought we had gone to heaven. Here are the wonderful recipes just waiting for you to create a memorable experience with your family.
Dian's dad, who instilled in her a love for all things sourdough.
Mixing Bread and Biscuits
The night before or several hours prior to making bread or biscuits, add 1 cup of flour and ½ cup of warm water to the starter. (Click here to learn how to make sourdough starter.) Sourdough bread dough should be stiffer, left to rise longer, and baked longer than dough for biscuits.
The old-timers who were “packing” carried flour in a seamless or heavy flour sack and rolled the top down to the level of the flour, shaped the flour with their fingers into a bowl, poured starter into the bowl and mixed it. Today, the traditional method for making sourdough is to place flour in a deep kettle or mixing bowl and with the backs of the fingers, mold it into a bowl shape. Into this “well” pour the desired amount of activated sourdough “starter.”
Dian's father's sourdough recipe, which is a cherished memory
of her outdoor adventures with him.
Sourdough Breads and Biscuits
Sourdough biscuits were a mainstay for many sheepherders. They may well become a mainstay for you too. The smell and the taste are incredible.
All-purpose flour to cover the bottom of a kettle or bowl
2 cups sourdough starter
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup shortening or bacon drippings, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
Combine flour, sourdough starter, salt, baking powder, baking soda, shortening or drippings and sugar, using the “well” method described above.
Knead thoroughly by folding from the outside to the center, using your hands or a spoon. Make bread dough stiffer than biscuit dough. Shape into loaves, oblong or round, or biscuits. Ease dough for bread into a buttered loaf or round heat-proof bowl or an oiled 12-inch Dutch oven, or for biscuits, shape into small balls in your hand and place them side by side into a buttered or oiled 12-inch Dutch oven or cake pan. Brush the top with oil. Let them rise, covered with plastic wrap, until double in size.
Dutch Oven and At Home
Heat Dutch oven using 10 hot coals on the bottom. Cover with a Dutch oven lid and place 14 hot coals on top. Bake: Bread loaf about 1 hour (350ºF.) Biscuits 20 to 30 minutes (350ºF.)
According to Julia Child, the internal temperature of bread when completely cooked is 200 degrees F at the center.
Sourdough Pancakes
An essential to making good pancakes is cooking them on a hot griddle. The griddle should smoke when greased or oiled, and it should sizzle if water is dropped onto it. Make a small
sample cake to see if it turns golden brown instead of light brown or “whitish.” A griddle that is not hot enough will not make good cakes; if it is too hot, cakes will burn. A heavy aluminum or iron griddle, a Dutch oven, or a Dutch oven lid will give pleasing results.
1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup prepared dry pancake mix or all-purpose baking mix
2 eggs
3 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon sugar
In a medium mixing bowl, blend sourdough starter, dry pancake mix, eggs, oil and sugar. Do not over-stir. If batter is too thick, thin with milk. Add 1/4 teaspoon baking soda if the dough is too sour. Ladle onto a hot griddle. Turn over when light brown.
Serve pancakes warm from the griddle. The quality diminishes if they are stacked or allowed to rest and cool. Makes 10 to 12.
Pancakes plus — add berries, sliced peaches, pineapple, chopped apples, nuts, raisins and bits of ham to batter for extra nutritious pancakes.
***********************************Taken from Emergency Food Storage and Survival Handbook by Peggy Layton:
Sourdough Starter
2 cups white all-purpose flour
2 cups warm water
1 package (or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast)
Sourdough feeder
1 cup white all-purpose flour
1 cup milk (or 1 cup water and 1/3 cup powdered milk)
1/4 cup sugar
Combine the first three ingredients and store in a large plastic container or a crock. Let mixture sit for at least 24 hours in a warm place. Keep a lid on it or otherwise cover it. This mixture, called the "mother starter," will be "fed" with Sourdough Feeder on the second day, and thereafter each time you use some of it. To "feed," add the last three ingredients to the mother starter and let stand for another 24 hours, then it's ready to use.
Each time you use some of the starter, always save at least ½ cup to mix with your next feeder batch. Let your mixture of starter and feeder stand in a warm place for another 24-hour period before using or refrigerating.
Potato Water Sourdough Starter (Airborne Yeast Method)
2 cups unbleached white flour
2 cups cool potato water
1 tablespoon sugar or honey
Mix flour, potato water (what is left over after you boil potatoes), and sugar or honey together until mixture is spongy. Let it sit for 24 hours in a plastic or glass container. Starter is ready when the mixture bubbles, smells yeasty, and has doubled in size.
If the mixture molds or smells bad, then it has not captured the wild yeast form the air; throw it away and start over.
The sourdough gets better after a few days in the refrigerator. As you use it, and feed, it it will taste even better. Sourdough also can be frozen and thawed out before using.
Converting Recipes to Sourdough
Any recipe that calls for yeast can be converted to sourdough by adding ½ cup of sourdough starter in place of one tablespoon of yeast and decreasing the liquid by ½ cup and the flour by ½ cup in the recipe. The secret is to keep the consistency and moisture about the same. Mix the starter into the liquid called for in the recipe, add some of the flour, and stir. This conversion will work for any recipe that calls for 6 or more cups of flour.
When adding sourdough, first make the "sponge" by combining the starter, the water, and the flour form the recipe. Let this sponge sit in a blow at room temperature for at least 4 hours. If you want a more potent sour flavor, let it stand overnight (the longer it sits, the more sour the flavor). Next, combine the remaining ingredients and proceed with the recipe. Then knead, rise, and shape the dough as usual.
If you are making batter bread or cakes, it's a good idea to let your batter sit in the pan for awhile so it has time to bubble up and activate the sourdough.
Basic Sourdough Biscuits
1 ½ cups all purpose white flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup melted shortening
1 ½ cups sourdough starter
In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients together. Make a hole in the center of the flour mixture then add melted shortening and sourdough starter. Mix well. Knead on a floured surface until dough sticks together. Roll out to about ½ inch thick. Using the rim of a glass or cookie cutter, cut out round biscuits. Grease a 9x13 inch cookie sheet and place biscuits on it, turning them to coat both sides. Let rise for at least ½ hour. Bake at 425 degrees F for 15-20 minutes. Makes 15 biscuits.
Sourdough Whole Wheat Pancakes
1 cup sourdough starter
2 tablespoons honey
2 cups warm milk (or ½ cup powdered milk reconstituted with 2 cups warm water)
2 beaten eggs (or 5 tablespoons dried whole egg powder reconstituted with 5 tablespoons water)
2 to 21/2 cups whole wheat flour (freshly ground)
½ tsp. salt
1/4 cup melted butter or olive oil
½ tsp. Baking soda
Mix sourdough starter, honey, warm milk, and beaten eggs in a bowl. In another, bowl, mix flour and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Because this is a sourdough recipe, the mixture will need to stand in the refrigerator overnight to activate the sourdough. The next morning, add 1/4 cup melted butter or olive oil and ½ teaspoon baking soda. Mix batter well and fry pancakes on a lightly oiled skillet or frying pan. Makes 10 5-inch pancakes.
http://www.dianthomas.com/a-nothingbettersourdough.htm
By Dian Thomas
As a young outdoor lover I can to remember anything better the biscuits, pancakes and sourdough my dad would make.
I remember as a ten-year-old going camping with our family. My dad would get up and fire up the fire to burn down the hot coal to go under the on top of the Dutch oven to cook sourdough biscuits. When he opened up that lid and I got a whiff of the sourdough that seemed like it was four inches high, I fell in love with outdoor cooking.
We would take those hot biscuits and spread a little butter and honey, and I assure you we thought we had gone to heaven. Here are the wonderful recipes just waiting for you to create a memorable experience with your family.
Dian's dad, who instilled in her a love for all things sourdough.
Mixing Bread and Biscuits
The night before or several hours prior to making bread or biscuits, add 1 cup of flour and ½ cup of warm water to the starter. (Click here to learn how to make sourdough starter.) Sourdough bread dough should be stiffer, left to rise longer, and baked longer than dough for biscuits.
The old-timers who were “packing” carried flour in a seamless or heavy flour sack and rolled the top down to the level of the flour, shaped the flour with their fingers into a bowl, poured starter into the bowl and mixed it. Today, the traditional method for making sourdough is to place flour in a deep kettle or mixing bowl and with the backs of the fingers, mold it into a bowl shape. Into this “well” pour the desired amount of activated sourdough “starter.”
Dian's father's sourdough recipe, which is a cherished memory
of her outdoor adventures with him.
Sourdough Breads and Biscuits
Sourdough biscuits were a mainstay for many sheepherders. They may well become a mainstay for you too. The smell and the taste are incredible.
All-purpose flour to cover the bottom of a kettle or bowl
2 cups sourdough starter
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup shortening or bacon drippings, melted
2 tablespoons sugar
Combine flour, sourdough starter, salt, baking powder, baking soda, shortening or drippings and sugar, using the “well” method described above.
Knead thoroughly by folding from the outside to the center, using your hands or a spoon. Make bread dough stiffer than biscuit dough. Shape into loaves, oblong or round, or biscuits. Ease dough for bread into a buttered loaf or round heat-proof bowl or an oiled 12-inch Dutch oven, or for biscuits, shape into small balls in your hand and place them side by side into a buttered or oiled 12-inch Dutch oven or cake pan. Brush the top with oil. Let them rise, covered with plastic wrap, until double in size.
Dutch Oven and At Home
Heat Dutch oven using 10 hot coals on the bottom. Cover with a Dutch oven lid and place 14 hot coals on top. Bake: Bread loaf about 1 hour (350ºF.) Biscuits 20 to 30 minutes (350ºF.)
According to Julia Child, the internal temperature of bread when completely cooked is 200 degrees F at the center.
Sourdough Pancakes
An essential to making good pancakes is cooking them on a hot griddle. The griddle should smoke when greased or oiled, and it should sizzle if water is dropped onto it. Make a small
sample cake to see if it turns golden brown instead of light brown or “whitish.” A griddle that is not hot enough will not make good cakes; if it is too hot, cakes will burn. A heavy aluminum or iron griddle, a Dutch oven, or a Dutch oven lid will give pleasing results.
1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup prepared dry pancake mix or all-purpose baking mix
2 eggs
3 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon sugar
In a medium mixing bowl, blend sourdough starter, dry pancake mix, eggs, oil and sugar. Do not over-stir. If batter is too thick, thin with milk. Add 1/4 teaspoon baking soda if the dough is too sour. Ladle onto a hot griddle. Turn over when light brown.
Serve pancakes warm from the griddle. The quality diminishes if they are stacked or allowed to rest and cool. Makes 10 to 12.
Pancakes plus — add berries, sliced peaches, pineapple, chopped apples, nuts, raisins and bits of ham to batter for extra nutritious pancakes.
***********************************Taken from Emergency Food Storage and Survival Handbook by Peggy Layton:
Sourdough Starter
2 cups white all-purpose flour
2 cups warm water
1 package (or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast)
Sourdough feeder
1 cup white all-purpose flour
1 cup milk (or 1 cup water and 1/3 cup powdered milk)
1/4 cup sugar
Combine the first three ingredients and store in a large plastic container or a crock. Let mixture sit for at least 24 hours in a warm place. Keep a lid on it or otherwise cover it. This mixture, called the "mother starter," will be "fed" with Sourdough Feeder on the second day, and thereafter each time you use some of it. To "feed," add the last three ingredients to the mother starter and let stand for another 24 hours, then it's ready to use.
Each time you use some of the starter, always save at least ½ cup to mix with your next feeder batch. Let your mixture of starter and feeder stand in a warm place for another 24-hour period before using or refrigerating.
Potato Water Sourdough Starter (Airborne Yeast Method)
2 cups unbleached white flour
2 cups cool potato water
1 tablespoon sugar or honey
Mix flour, potato water (what is left over after you boil potatoes), and sugar or honey together until mixture is spongy. Let it sit for 24 hours in a plastic or glass container. Starter is ready when the mixture bubbles, smells yeasty, and has doubled in size.
If the mixture molds or smells bad, then it has not captured the wild yeast form the air; throw it away and start over.
The sourdough gets better after a few days in the refrigerator. As you use it, and feed, it it will taste even better. Sourdough also can be frozen and thawed out before using.
Converting Recipes to Sourdough
Any recipe that calls for yeast can be converted to sourdough by adding ½ cup of sourdough starter in place of one tablespoon of yeast and decreasing the liquid by ½ cup and the flour by ½ cup in the recipe. The secret is to keep the consistency and moisture about the same. Mix the starter into the liquid called for in the recipe, add some of the flour, and stir. This conversion will work for any recipe that calls for 6 or more cups of flour.
When adding sourdough, first make the "sponge" by combining the starter, the water, and the flour form the recipe. Let this sponge sit in a blow at room temperature for at least 4 hours. If you want a more potent sour flavor, let it stand overnight (the longer it sits, the more sour the flavor). Next, combine the remaining ingredients and proceed with the recipe. Then knead, rise, and shape the dough as usual.
If you are making batter bread or cakes, it's a good idea to let your batter sit in the pan for awhile so it has time to bubble up and activate the sourdough.
Basic Sourdough Biscuits
1 ½ cups all purpose white flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 cup melted shortening
1 ½ cups sourdough starter
In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients together. Make a hole in the center of the flour mixture then add melted shortening and sourdough starter. Mix well. Knead on a floured surface until dough sticks together. Roll out to about ½ inch thick. Using the rim of a glass or cookie cutter, cut out round biscuits. Grease a 9x13 inch cookie sheet and place biscuits on it, turning them to coat both sides. Let rise for at least ½ hour. Bake at 425 degrees F for 15-20 minutes. Makes 15 biscuits.
Sourdough Whole Wheat Pancakes
1 cup sourdough starter
2 tablespoons honey
2 cups warm milk (or ½ cup powdered milk reconstituted with 2 cups warm water)
2 beaten eggs (or 5 tablespoons dried whole egg powder reconstituted with 5 tablespoons water)
2 to 21/2 cups whole wheat flour (freshly ground)
½ tsp. salt
1/4 cup melted butter or olive oil
½ tsp. Baking soda
Mix sourdough starter, honey, warm milk, and beaten eggs in a bowl. In another, bowl, mix flour and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Because this is a sourdough recipe, the mixture will need to stand in the refrigerator overnight to activate the sourdough. The next morning, add 1/4 cup melted butter or olive oil and ½ teaspoon baking soda. Mix batter well and fry pancakes on a lightly oiled skillet or frying pan. Makes 10 5-inch pancakes.