Tag Archives: sourdough

Sourdough Pancakes

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My sourdough starters weren’t fed for about two weeks. I was afraid they may have gone bad, so after feeding them last night, I left them out of the fridge to see if they are still active. This morning they were all bubbly and foamy and so I was assured they were alive.

I was going to make bread, but it would take a few hours and I needed some baked good for breakfast. I decided to make sourdough pancakes, which I was planning to try for some time. I checked some recipes online and then improvised a bit to come up with these thick, fluffy, Blini-like pancakes. The starter I used is my rye-fed starter. I was very pleased with the deeper taste it gave the pancakes.

Ingredients (makes about 5 pancakes)

1/2 cup sourdough starter at room temperature
1/2 cup lukewarm milk
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup plain flour
1 egg
1 tbsp sour cream
1 tbsp water
1 tsp baking soda

Mix all the ingredients except the water and baking soda, which should be mixed in a different bowl. Heat up a non-stick pan and when it’s ready, pour the soda mixture in the pancake batter and combine gently. Pour a ladle of batter on the heated pan (I got better results when the pan wasn’t buttered) and cook until bubbles appear. Flip over and cook for another 30-60 seconds on the other side.

Top pancakes with ANYTHING. This time I chose the pretty standard fake-maple syrup and sour cream.

Light Rye Bread

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After some failed attempts in the past, I finally managed to bake good rye bread. The key difference between making rye bread and regular bread, is the different consistency of the dough. Rye dough should be sticky, and doesn’t become smooth and elastic like regular dough. When I tried to make smooth non-sticky rye dough, I ended up with condensed bread which did not raise. My cousin Ran (who also bakes, and gave me my sourdough starter) was the one to tell me that rye dough should be sticky and contain around 60% water. I followed his advice and my rye bread turned out great.

I used my new kitchen scale to measure ingredients for keeping the water content around 60%. If you don’t have a scale (buy one, or) you can google conversion rates like “200gr flour to ml”.

Ingredients

  • 100gr sourdough starter
  • 240gr water
  • 200gr rye flour
  • 200gr plain wheat flour
  • 1tbsp honey
  • 2tsp salt
  • 1tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1tbsp caraway seeds (optional)

In a bowl, mix sourdough starter with water using a spoon. Add the rest of the ingredients and start kneading. If using an electric mixer just run it on low speed for a few minutes. Otherwise, knead using a wooden spoon, as the dough is too sticky to knead by hand. When the dough becomes consistent, leave it to rest for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes rest (for both you and the dough), knead again for a few minutes. The dough should be consistent, but sticky and tough. It reminded me of cupcake batter, but much tougher. At this point the dough should be left for proving overnight. I used an English cake tin:

Before
After

If you want round bread, you can let the dough prove in a bowl lined with a heavily floured towel – when ready to bake, take it out of the bowl and free-form your loaf, working the dough as little as possible.

Bake at 190°C. It took me 30 minutes, but it can vary. To check if your bread is done, take it out of the oven, and knock on its bottom – you should hear a hollow sound. When ready, remove from the oven and tin, and let it cool on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely before slicing.

Serve with herring or Brie :)