Versatile Sourdough – Bread, Cake and Pretzels
One of my latest kitchen experiments has been baking with a sourdough starter. I have been baking all our breads, pizza doughs, pastries, cookies, cakes, etc from scratch now for over 2 years. One of the many ways in which I vote for better food with my money daily. Not only is baking from scratch cheaper than buying, but most recipes whether bread, cake, or pretzels, three of the recipes I am going to share with you today, have under 10, and more often, under 5 ingredients, no preservatives, corn syrup, or weird chemicals. I challenge you to find that at your grocery store!
I had also heard that many people with gluten sensitivity (not Celiac) did better eating baked goods made from true fermented sourdough than baked goods leavened more commonly with yeast. I waited until our big move to experiment with sourdough, as once you have a starter, you have to feed and maintain it to keep it healthy and alive. So now, besides 2 dogs, a cat, 10 chickens, kefir – both dairy and water, kombucha, and yogurt, I have added sourdough culture to my feeding schedule! I can’t say with certainty if it is the sourdough or the spelt flour I have switched to that allows me to enjoy breads and the like without feeling like I have a hangover the next day. I still eat all of these things sparingly, although my dear husband, who is a major carb addict, seems to be enjoying his daily bread without any side affects. It took eating this kind of bread, for him to realize that he was having a bit of a problem with the other kinds.
Anyway, sourdough is extremely versatile, and not all sourdough starters are created equal. You can try to capture your own, or you can purchase one. I decided to start by purchasing one from Cultures for Health. Several weeks later, I got another one from Erik a friend who sells hand roasted coffee at our local farmers market. He traded me sourdough starter from Ischia, Italy and kombucha for some Viili culture. I think I got the better deal.
I started experimenting by baking bread from the book Baking with Sourdough by Sara Pitzer, from Storey Publishing and then tweaked it a bit, to make it more to our liking. After I figured that out, I started playing around with various herbed breads, which is how I came up with the Za’atar Spice Bread Ring.
After I had that under my belt, or better yet, in my stomach, I wanted to try something I had never heard of – Sourdough Chocolate Cake, from the same book, which I also tweaked. This cake was really fantastic and probably one of the best chocolate cakes I have ever had. We are not big cake eaters in this house, so I can affirm that it froze well, and also lasted in the fridge for about 2 weeks. I am sure you could have a lot of fun with this recipe, including making various kinds of icing. Roberto liked spreading nutella on his, and I enjoyed mine plain or sometimes with a schmear of almond butter.
Most recently I tried making Sourdough Pretzels, all the same ingredients (except honey in place of sugar) but tweaked the method a little bit to allow all the flour to ferment. The pretzels turned out being more like pretzel shaped bread, than actual pretzels. I got a lot of helpful suggestions on facebook like adding sparkling water or lemon juice for better rising. So I think I will have to try again. Although Roberto likes them, since he can grab one, kind of like a roll to have with meals, without needing to slice anything.
I have continued on experimenting with making sourdough spelt pizza dough, buckwheat pancakes and crepes, as well as muffins. The pizza dough, pancakes and crepes have become staples in our house (look for these recipes soon), while the muffins still need some work. But the wonderful thing is, each week I have to feed my starter, which means at least once a week I should bake something and so I am trying to keep creative. I have been yeast baking free for almost 3 months! I definitely encourage you
to try your hand at it too. If you would like to try and catch your own starter, my blogging buddy Michelle over at Big Black Dog has a great post about it!
I am going to share THREE recipes with you today. For one, I want to show you just how diverse sourdough is – it is not just for bread! And also because my mom is coming to visit for a few weeks, and my posting rate may be a bit slower these next few weeks – so I wanted to keep you busy while I on vacation! 🙂
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Za’atar Spiced Bread Ring
INGREDIENTS:
½ cup starter
6 cups whole wheat white flour
2 TBS olive oil
1 TBS honey
2 cups warm water
1 TBS salt
2 -3 cups sprouted whole wheat flour
Za’atar spice, sesame seeds, salt and fresh thyme for topping (If you don’t have Za’atar spice you can combine thyme and sumac).
METHOD:
Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl, cover loosely and let stand on kitchen counter for 12 to 24 hours. Usually I prepare this after dinner and then let it sit until the next morning.
When you are ready to make the bread, add the salt and stir. Then gradually work in the sprouted flour, creating a dough you can handle easily. If you do not have sprouted flour, you can use regular, but there are many benefits to sprouted flour, especially for those who have trouble digesting grains.
Form the dough into a ball, place back into the bowl and cover with a cloth for about 15-20 minutes. Knead until smooth and elastic, place back into the bowl, and cover until it has doubled in size – usually ½ an hour. But it could take longer depending in the temperature. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400F. One the bread had doubled, take out 2 lemon sized chunks, roll into ropes and then intertwine and attach two ends together, making a ring. Do this again and again until you have used all the dough. Should make 3 rings. Using a pastry brush, brush the loaves with water. Then sprinkle with the topping. Bake for about 20-25 minutes. When bread is finished, it should sound hollow when you tap it.
Sourdough Chocolate Cake
INGREDIENTS:
½ cup sourdough starter
1 ½ cups whole wheat white flour
¾ cup date sugar
¾ cup fair trade cocoa powder
1 tsp each – aluminum free baking powder and baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup whole milk
½ cup coconut oil
¾ cup cold coffee
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
METHOD:
Mix starter and flour in a bowl, and let stand over night. The next day preheat the oven to 350F. Then add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl, in the order given, beating well after each addition.
Grease two 9 inch round or square cake pans. Pour in the batter – it will be thin. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes, and then remove from the pans. Allow to cool completely before icing the cake, or serve warm with whipped cream or ice cream! Lovely!
Sourdough Pretzels
INGREDIENTS:
¾ cup sourdough starter
5 cups whole wheat white flour
½ cup water
2 TBS butter
3 TBS honey
1 cup hot water
2 tsp salt
1- 2 cups sprouted whole wheat flour
1 egg yolk
2 TBS heavy cream
Coarse salt
METHOD:
Combine first 6 ingredients, cover with a towel and allow to stand for 12- 24 hours. When ready to make the pretzels, melt butter, honey and salt together in a small pan on your cooktop, stirring constantly until melted. When cool, add to the mixture. Then add the 1-2 cups of sprouted flour, until the dough is stiff. Then turn it out onto a floured surface and knead until you have a very stiff dough. Add more sprouted flour if necessary. Place the dough in a greased bowl, turn once in the bowl to grease the dough and then cover with a damp cloth. Place bowl in a warm place and allow it to rise for about 2 hours.
Shape dough into long ropes and then twist into pretzel shapes. I made “mini” pretzels, and used golf ball sized pieces of dough for each pretzel. Lay the pretzels on a cookie sheet and brush them with a mixture of egg yolk and heavy cream. Preheat oven to 425F, then cover with the damp cloth for about half an hour. Brush with the egg/cream mixture again, sprinkle with salt and bake for 15 minutes. Cool pretzels before serving.
Jessica @ How Sweet - June 28, 2010 at 5:20 pm
Sourdough cake?! That is amazing!
Rosa - June 28, 2010 at 5:37 pm
Very interesting and surely delicious! I have only used sourdough in bread…. I’ll have to try making cakes and cookies with it.
Cheers,
Rosa
Juliana - June 28, 2010 at 6:29 pm
Oh! Sourdough cake, never had it…I sure would like to try 🙂
lo - June 28, 2010 at 6:41 pm
We love our sourdough starter, though I’ve never used it for making cake. Will definitely have to try that one out! And Peef will love that it’s chocolate!
Still perfecting our sourdough pizza crust. We’ve got good flavor with the recipe we use, but I think I need to give it a bit more rising time. Ah, well — that’s what experimenting is for!
Sarah - June 28, 2010 at 6:54 pm
That’s so great. I’m big into baking, but have just recently started transitioning from pastry-type things to more bread type things. Thanks for the like to Michelle’s page – and thanks for the chocolate cake recipe. Sounds awesome.
Peter G @ Souvlaki For The Soul - June 28, 2010 at 7:22 pm
Having a sourdough starter would be handy but as you know I’m nver around long enough to maintain it. I’m very impressed with the chocolate cake…who would have thought? I’m certainly enjoying reading all your new found baking adventures with sourdough.
lk - June 28, 2010 at 8:49 pm
The chocolate cake sounds amazing! I’ve never had sourdough in a sweet item before! The za’atar bread also looks great- I’ve been loving za’atar lately and actually just finished eating some on the wrap I had for dinner. 🙂
peter - June 29, 2010 at 5:29 am
Isn’t making your own bread so therapeutic, with bread being the reward? On the table, a miracle from bread, water, yeast and salt.
Arlene (MOM) - June 29, 2010 at 8:39 am
Oh, Dude-tte hee hee. I’m a comin’ . Looks like we are going to have some fun!!!!!!!!!! This is an awesome post.
Stella - June 29, 2010 at 9:04 am
Hey Jenn, I heard that too about gluten sensitivity and proper aging of yeasts and glutens, etc. That aging happens with sourdough, so I would imagine it’s probably so much better than regular bread for people who notice gluten has some not so positive effects on them.
I’ve been meaning to make a sourdough starter for a while, so maybe I’ll try this week!
Stella - June 29, 2010 at 9:05 am
Oops, have fun with your Mom. I bet she’s going to love your new place…
bellini valli - June 29, 2010 at 10:50 am
I have had a sour dough starter at home at diferent times. There was a time when Friendship bread was passed around from work place to work place. I think this is the solution for you both to really enjoy bread again!!!Dinner is naked without a crusty roll:D
lisaiscooking - June 29, 2010 at 12:21 pm
I love baking with sourdough. Susan had a great post about health benefits of sourdough awhile back: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2010/05/06/sourdough-for-health/
So far, I haven’t had good luck with sourdough muffins either. Hope one of us finds a good recipe one of these days! Your chocolate cake looks delicious.
Kare - June 29, 2010 at 4:15 pm
The Za’atar Spiced Bread Ring looks amazing!
Thanks for helping to demystify sourdough starter for me. I’ve just started making most of our bread at home a’la Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. Maybe it’s time for me to take the next step!
D. @ Outside Oslo - June 30, 2010 at 1:42 am
That’s impressive. I admire people who manage to make their own bread regularly. Having been introduced to bread-baking through Jim Lahey’s no-knead bread, I now know that it can be doable–and incredibly rewarding–but it just takes a little more planning than the average recipe.
Thanks for the inspiration!
kat - June 30, 2010 at 11:51 am
I really want to try sourdough again, this is so inspiring. We tried to grow our own in San Francisco & really failed. I also love spelt flour, the flavor is amazing.
Heather - June 30, 2010 at 12:35 pm
The trick with pretzels is that you need to dunk them in a boiling solution of either lye (uh, nah, I’ll save that for soap making) or baking soda and water. Use 1 tbsp of baking soda per 1 cup of water, and dunk the dough in the boiling solution for about ten seconds, then salt and bake like normal. From personal experience (using store-bought pizza dough), this method yields the perfect pretzel texture and flavor!
Jacqueline - June 30, 2010 at 6:21 pm
The cake and the pretzels for me please 🙂
Sylvia - July 1, 2010 at 8:29 am
Long time no visit your blog. I really admire you for the energy you put into everything you do. I loved the pretzels
ValleyWriter - July 1, 2010 at 10:52 am
I can attest to the fact that your sourdough starter also makes great crepes! I definitely want to try to get a starter going – just a matter of time (arg!).
Michelle - July 1, 2010 at 4:54 pm
Ahhhh….thanks so much for linking up to my blog!
So happy your sourdough starter worked out so well. Sourdough makes everything taste so darn good!
Michelle
crankycheryl - July 2, 2010 at 10:42 pm
I just don’t know where to begin. Oh: resuscitating that sad looking starter in the fridge. Right. Then cake & pretzels here I come!
Maggie - July 3, 2010 at 10:59 pm
I’m always killing my sourdough starters but I REALLY want to try that cake! I love the use of date sugar and coconut oil in it. I’m betting those are your changes.
Melissa @ For the Love of Health - July 4, 2010 at 7:36 pm
Wow- that looks really good!! I bet it tastes fantastic!
Great blog name! I adore leftovers as well!
Swing by my blog to check out my giveaway! 🙂
Johanna GGG - July 6, 2010 at 8:55 am
this looks fantastic – I have dreams of a little sourdough starter to play with – especially when I see that photo of chocolate cake – enjoy your visit with your mum
Pam - July 6, 2010 at 10:28 am
Nom! Nom! Nom!….pass me the fork will ya Jenn! Enjoy!
Amy @ Simply Sugar & Gluten-Free - July 6, 2010 at 1:32 pm
I love the cake recipe and date sugar…I don’t use it often enough. I’d love to try a gluten-free version of that cake. I actually have a gluten-free sourdough starter going but I’ve never used it and haven’t had time to spend learning how. Maybe I’ll squeeze it in somewhere.
Deborah Dowd - July 18, 2010 at 11:05 am
I haven’t tried sourdough starter in years, but these recipes are so tempting, especially the chocolate cake!
chau - July 18, 2010 at 5:17 pm
can i ask you a dumb question? How does one obtain sourdough starter? Is there a recipe for it, or do you buy it in a store?
The Leftover Queen - July 20, 2010 at 4:43 pm
Hi Chau,
Not a dumb question at all! 🙂 Although I did answer both of your questions in the text of the post – I gave a link for where I got my culture and how you can catch your own !
Stevie - July 21, 2010 at 8:34 am
I have a sour dough starter that I use for waffles, but how can I determine if it is actually viable and alive enough for bread? Is there a simple test to see if it is good?
The Leftover Queen - July 21, 2010 at 10:27 am
Hi Stevie,
Sourdough starters are very robust, they can be dormant for a long time, but with a good feeding can become viable again! Just take yours out of the fridge and let it sit out on the counter for a few hours, then add equal amounts of flour and water, mix and let it sit out overnight. It should be bubbly in the morning. If not feed it again and let it sit out for a couple of more hours.