A Jersey Girl in Portland

Easy, Fancy & Frugal #sourdoughcrumpets

Sourdough starter discard is the bane of a frugal baker’s existence.  When cultivating a starter (a combination of equal parts flour and water that, over time, develops a wild yeast strain), there is a lot of good quasi-dough that gets tossed (hopefully not down the drain).

With flour so hard to find, it’s criminal to throw away the starter that’s left over when you make a loaf of bread.

I have a few things I like to make with discard like a simple (but doughy) pancake or Whole wheat sourdough crackers (which are amazing - thank you King Arthur Flour)

But the simplest and tastiest discard recipe is for the humble crumpet. The crumpet is basically a molded pancake.  They’ve been described as a cross between a pancake and an English Muffin.*. (crumpets with strawberry jam)—->

Just add a teaspoon of sugar and a half-teaspoon of salt to a cup (give or take) of starter and mix.  Add 1/2 teaspoon of magic, AKA baking soda and mix again. That’s it.  

While the mixture gets fluffy and pillowy, (it will increase one half it’s volume) heat a griddle or pan to 350 degrees (three or medium on my flat top or stove griddle) and grease up round crumpet molds.  What? No crumpet molds? Use large cookie cutters or do what I did; I used Ateco round cutters. They were different sizes, but who cares?

Place the cutters on the griddle and fill one third of the mold with batter.  This takes a little practice. Especially when the molds are different sizes. So, 1/3 full no matter if you use cookie cutters, crumpet molds or Ateco cutters.

In the photo, the top cutter is too full and the bottom not full enough but the center crumpet is just right.

Pull the cutters off when the edges set, and flip the crumpets over.  Crumpets sound easy — and they are — except when they aren’t. If you pull the forms off too early, the batter will run out.  It’s a simple matter to trim it with a scissors before serving, but the point is to USE the starter, not trim it.

Cut the griddle down to medium low and wait.  Give them a good two minutes.  The centers should be fluffy and moist, not gooey or dry.

Slather with butter, jam, cream cheese or lox. It’s as good a reason as any to have a snack at tea time, 4 pm. 

Thanks for lending me your eyeballs for a minute.

Be well

Much love

Nancy

 

*Note to self. If I can’t afford to make bacon for friends for the holidays, I could make a brunch pack of 4 English muffins, cultured butter and home made jam!

Making Cultured Butter, is it worth the effort?

Oh My Yes it’s worth it!

Anyone who cooks or bakes bread should try it.

Since the pandemic and resulting furlough, I’ve had time on my hands and I’ve been cooking a lot.  (Doh! Everyone is...)

Cooking is what I love anyway, and now I have had time to pursue Big Projects.  Projects like curing bresaola, making good sourdough bread (with a home made starter) (of course), cooking as much from the yard as possible.... things like that.

Truth be told, I haven’t made bresaola yet, and though the Oregon Grape jam was da b0mb yard food, the dandelion experiments were not. 

But the #coronabaking #sourdough bread is fantastic. I’ve been making a half AP, quarter rye and quarter whole wheat (Einkorn wheat* when I can get it) loaf about every five days. I love the process—from starter to scoring to bake—and the way the dough changes with each ‘stretch and fold’.

Naturally I want something Really Great to augment the beautiful sourdough bread. 

So I made cultured butter.  It’s not difficult and it is delicious. Pro tip: you don’t have to culture the cream to make butter, it just makes a better product and if you’re going to make butter, you may as well make cultured butter. 

I snerched the recipe and process from thekitchn.com a great cooking site/rabbit hole. Reading some of the content makes me want to get back to food writing full time, and forget this crazy restaurant work.

Frankly, I don’t have a lot to add to the terrific process piece Dana Velden wrote for The Kitchn.  So read it!

To make this amazing butter, you’ll need a mixer, cheese cloth or butter muslin, strainer, fresh organic Greek style yogurt, good whipping (or heavy) cream that is NOT ultra pasteurized. Also a medium sized bowl. 

The process is simple.  Culture two cups of heavy cream by adding two tablespoons of yogurt.  Mix well, cover with a towel and allow to sit at room temp (about 70-75 degrees) until frothy.  I let it go 24 hours, but it may be ready in 12 hours. 

The cultured cream should be about 60 degrees when you start the buttering process so chill it for an hour or two after culturing (if it’s warm outside) or let it warm up for an hour if it’s been refrigerated after culturing.

Then the fun begins.  IT IS MESSY.  Hopefully you have a stand mixer that you can drape in towels and/or plastic wrap. 

Place a 6” or larger sieve over a medium sized bowl.  Line with cheesecloth or butter muslin.

Start whipping.  Beat the cream with the whip attachment.  First it will whip like whipped cream.  Then it will begin to throw off buttermilk as the fat solids begin to glom on to the whip. IT’S MESSY. 

When you have a solid mass of fat, stop the mixer, wipe the buttermilk off your face, and pour the remaining liquid through the cheesecloth and sieve.  Put the butter in the sieve and gently squeeze it. You want to get out all the buttermilk.

Side note: I had an AhHa!/I’m so dumb moment when I figured out why you can only find fat-free buttermilk. The fat is now butter. Mind blown.

Now the butter needs to be cleaned.  Get an ice bath in a bowl large enough to fit the ice, water and butter.  

Massage it under water until it releases of all the buttermilk. 

The butter itself is rich and slightly 

Yield was about eight oz butter, eight oz buttermilk. Fresh buttermilk is delicious! I almost drank it all but saved some to make buttermilk biscuits. So good.

Will I make it all the time? Hell no. But I will make it for my slut-for-butter husband and probably make a batch or two for gifts.

Be well

Eat well

& Love big

xoxo 

Nancy

*Einkorn is considered an original grain — un messed around with. Look for it, it’s a great grain to grind for flour.