I am not a huge pancake fan, but I have made more pancakes in the last fortnight than in the last two years combined. These are tasty enough to make me crave them again and again. You can use any sort of sweet sourdough starter in this recipe be it Herman or Amish Friendship bread.
1 cup flour
1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
2/3 cup milk
2/3 cup Figgins or other sweet sourdough starter
2 Tbsp oil
Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. Mix moist ingredients well and add to dry, mixing just until moistened. Pour onto heated griddle using a 1/4 cup measure, flip when bubbles aren't reabsorbed. Should make 12 fluffy pancakes.
Monday, September 29, 2014
Monday, September 15, 2014
Master Figgins
I believe the sweet sourdough experiment is going rather well. I have christened the starter Figgins for some reason I cannot fathom but so it is. I have used it in everything from bread to coffee cake to muffins to pancakes. Substituting it for buttermilk in certain recipes has had good results (obviously you'll need to adjust the other ingredients to get the right consistency). It especially makes good bread and pancakes. I tried a recipe over at allrecipes.com that was supposed to be a herman sourdough biscuit. They were okay but were a weird cross between a biscuit and a yeast bread. With the time it took you might as well make buns! Best of all, people don't run when they see me coming in fear that I want to foist some extra starter off on them. I think I may keep Master Figgins around indefinitely!
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Realistic Amish Friendship Bread Starter
I think my 'amish friendship bread' experiment is going to be a success. Apart from the container overflow disaster, it has turned out quite tasty and rather easy to maintain. No longer will it be multiplying to the point where all your friends will move away and I will not need to schedule my life around 'feeding' it. I haven't actually made 'amish friendship bread' with it (I am not a huge fan of quick breads), but I have used it in pancakes, cinnamon rolls, and sourdough bread and have been very happy with the results, especially the bread and the pancakes, the rolls were good but nothing extraordinary whereas the bread and pancakes were possibly some of the best I have ever made. This is a 'sweet' starter in that it uses far more sugar than some sourdough starters, but I happen to like that. It is comparable to the 'Herman' sourdough starters and can be used in almost any bread recipe where a little sweetness is a good thing (rolls, quick breads, white yeast bread, pancakes, muffins…); pumpernickel and rye breads likely would not benefit or if you truly like a 'sour' sourdough (I think that is an oxymoron). So here is my recipe for sensible amish friendship bread starter:
Mix 1 cup white flour with 1 cup white sugar.
Mix in 1 tsp instant or bread machine yeast*
Slowly stir in 1 cup lukewarm milk until smooth.
Cover loosely and let ferment at room temperature for 4-5 days, until vigorous bubbling drops off, stirring several times a day. It is now ready to use.
*You can use regular yeast, but follow label directions for proofing (mix it with a little warm water and let it sit for a few minutes before adding to mixture, also increase the amount used).
If you are going to use it every few days, leave it at room temperature and add equal parts flour, milk, and sugar as needed to replace what is used. If you are only going to use it on occasion, throw it in the fridge and stir in a tablespoon each of milk, flour, and sugar every 7-10 days and stir, otherwise ignore it. If you know you are going to use it soon, pull it out of the fridge the night before, stir in 3/4 as much flour, sugar, and milk as you are going to remove starter (if using one cup starter, replace with 3/4 cup each flour, sugar, and milk) and let it sit out overnight. Use it the next day and return to the fridge afterwards. You only need to add as much flour, sugar, and milk as you routinely use, unless you want to multiply it and give it away. Store it in any glass or plastic container with a loose fitting lid or cheese cloth, a ziplock bag works fine. Sourdough purists don't use any sort of metal container or utensil, but stirring it with a fork on occasion will not kill it. It may have a slightly 'vinegary' smell, as this is a fermented product. If it grows mold, smells rancid, or turns a strange color, discard it and start over. As for recipes, experiment and search the internet. I like to add 1/4 tsp baking soda per 1 cup starter to any recipe, to neutralize a bit of the 'sour' taste. For pancakes I just used a buttermilk pancake recipe and used starter in place of the buttermilk, though you will have to add a little extra milk to thin out the batter, but the pancakes were soft, fluffy, and tasty. For sourdough bread, use it with your favorite sourdough recipe or add 2/3 cup starter and 1/4 tsp baking soda to your favorite white bread recipe (adjust flour as necessary).
Don't forget to name it, that is the most important part!
Mix 1 cup white flour with 1 cup white sugar.
Mix in 1 tsp instant or bread machine yeast*
Slowly stir in 1 cup lukewarm milk until smooth.
Cover loosely and let ferment at room temperature for 4-5 days, until vigorous bubbling drops off, stirring several times a day. It is now ready to use.
*You can use regular yeast, but follow label directions for proofing (mix it with a little warm water and let it sit for a few minutes before adding to mixture, also increase the amount used).
If you are going to use it every few days, leave it at room temperature and add equal parts flour, milk, and sugar as needed to replace what is used. If you are only going to use it on occasion, throw it in the fridge and stir in a tablespoon each of milk, flour, and sugar every 7-10 days and stir, otherwise ignore it. If you know you are going to use it soon, pull it out of the fridge the night before, stir in 3/4 as much flour, sugar, and milk as you are going to remove starter (if using one cup starter, replace with 3/4 cup each flour, sugar, and milk) and let it sit out overnight. Use it the next day and return to the fridge afterwards. You only need to add as much flour, sugar, and milk as you routinely use, unless you want to multiply it and give it away. Store it in any glass or plastic container with a loose fitting lid or cheese cloth, a ziplock bag works fine. Sourdough purists don't use any sort of metal container or utensil, but stirring it with a fork on occasion will not kill it. It may have a slightly 'vinegary' smell, as this is a fermented product. If it grows mold, smells rancid, or turns a strange color, discard it and start over. As for recipes, experiment and search the internet. I like to add 1/4 tsp baking soda per 1 cup starter to any recipe, to neutralize a bit of the 'sour' taste. For pancakes I just used a buttermilk pancake recipe and used starter in place of the buttermilk, though you will have to add a little extra milk to thin out the batter, but the pancakes were soft, fluffy, and tasty. For sourdough bread, use it with your favorite sourdough recipe or add 2/3 cup starter and 1/4 tsp baking soda to your favorite white bread recipe (adjust flour as necessary).
Don't forget to name it, that is the most important part!
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Child of another sun?
It is the zucchini of baked goods and so inappropriately named that one wonders how the original nomenclaturist came up with it. Whether it is fad, fetish, addiction, obsession, plague, or parasitic invader from another sun, I have yet to determine. But I should know better, I should! My mother inherited one such specimen back in the 90's and the results were predictable, so much so that I had absolutely no interest in attempting such a feat myself at any time in the last twenty years, though I thought the finished product was rather tasty. What is it? If you have not yet figured it out, you have never been the victim of 'Amish Friendship Bread.'
Apparently the stuff never originated with the Old Order Amish and it is the best possible way to lose all your friends. Following the instructions makes the stuff quite prolific and you must find about 100 people a year to foist the stuff off on, which means people start avoiding eye contact, never return your calls, and go to a different grocery store if they see your car in the parking lot. You become a slave to the stuff, feeding it and aiding it in its vile plot to reproduce and take over the western world. So why on earth would anyone want to intentionally start their own culture?
I am a little wiser (I hope) and a little more experienced in breadish lore in recent years, and the bread is very good so why not? And this would not be my first attempt at sourdough, that is exactly what the stuff is: a sweet sourdough culture. So if I feed it less it will not multiply and be fruitful, thus maintaining the sacred bond of friendship. I thought I would give it a try…I might live to regret this yet. I found the recipe over at allrecipes.com and mixed it up last night. Already it has overflowed the container and tried to take over the kitchen (probably because I used instant yeast instead of regular, I knew I should have cut it back!). I stirred it with a wire whisk (a big no no for sourdough purists) and used tap water (another vile sin), but that did not hinder the thing at all, it most definitely has a life of its own! I will further break tradition and probably use some on day 5 rather than feed and stir until day ten, at least if the fermentation process is complete. After that, it will live in the fridge and get fed occasionally but not enough to make 3 extra 'give away' cultures each week. I hope this effectively neuters the stuff and makes it useful without letting it take over my life. And of course it needs a name, being its own unique entity! Hey, if you can't have fun with it, why do it?
Apparently the stuff never originated with the Old Order Amish and it is the best possible way to lose all your friends. Following the instructions makes the stuff quite prolific and you must find about 100 people a year to foist the stuff off on, which means people start avoiding eye contact, never return your calls, and go to a different grocery store if they see your car in the parking lot. You become a slave to the stuff, feeding it and aiding it in its vile plot to reproduce and take over the western world. So why on earth would anyone want to intentionally start their own culture?
I am a little wiser (I hope) and a little more experienced in breadish lore in recent years, and the bread is very good so why not? And this would not be my first attempt at sourdough, that is exactly what the stuff is: a sweet sourdough culture. So if I feed it less it will not multiply and be fruitful, thus maintaining the sacred bond of friendship. I thought I would give it a try…I might live to regret this yet. I found the recipe over at allrecipes.com and mixed it up last night. Already it has overflowed the container and tried to take over the kitchen (probably because I used instant yeast instead of regular, I knew I should have cut it back!). I stirred it with a wire whisk (a big no no for sourdough purists) and used tap water (another vile sin), but that did not hinder the thing at all, it most definitely has a life of its own! I will further break tradition and probably use some on day 5 rather than feed and stir until day ten, at least if the fermentation process is complete. After that, it will live in the fridge and get fed occasionally but not enough to make 3 extra 'give away' cultures each week. I hope this effectively neuters the stuff and makes it useful without letting it take over my life. And of course it needs a name, being its own unique entity! Hey, if you can't have fun with it, why do it?
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