Experimenting With Sourdough | Masterpieces and Mishaps
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Let me just start out by saying, I am no professional sourdough expert by any stretch of the imagination. I only just began experimenting with sourdough about a month ago. It’s been a slow learning process because it’s just my husband and me, so our household doesn’t require too many things throughout the week. On top of that, I am on a low-carb diet thanks to insulin resistance and PCOS. So really, my sourdough efforts are nearly 100% enjoyed by Jon and Jon alone (which he never complains about lol).
Today, I just want to hit on some quick things that I’ve already been learning throughout this very recent sourdough journey of mine.
This post is about my successes and failures as a beginner experimenting with sourdough.
Why Sourdough?
Why did I start experimenting with sourdough to begin with? Great question! Aside from the fact that everyone where we live is baking playing the sourdough game, it turns out that there are a ton of health benefits when it comes to sourdough as well.
Sourdough is easy to digest. The natural bacteria in the fermentation process will break down starches and grains before it even hits your stomach. Therefore, it can be very easy on your gut.
Sourdough is full of good acid. The acid in sourdough breads help your body process food easier and absorb more minerals. This helps build a healthy immune system!
Sourdough is good for gluten sensitivities. Sourdough can often be tolerated better by those who are gluten intolerant. As sourdough ferments, that fermentation process breaks down gluten and turns it to amino acids. This often means that those with gluten sensitivities can tolerate sourdough a lot better.
Sourdough has less preservatives. Making our own sourdough breads means that we know exactly what is going into our food and what we are putting in our bodies. Love having that peace of mind!
Sourdough has amazing flavor. We love the bold and tangy flavor you get from many sourdough recipes. For some, it may be an acquired taste. But for us, it’s been love at first bite!
Keeping a Healthy Sourdough Starter
As I’ll explain later, I think a couple of my recipe flops were partially due to a starter that wasn’t thriving enough. Once I invested in some proper sourdough jars to storing my starter, maintaining it became so much easier.
I usually store my starter in the fridge. I only use it a couple of time a week, so I’ve found it easier to maintain as the cooler temperatures allow it to lay dormant until you’re ready to use it again. In order to strengthen my starter, I removed it from the fridge for 3-4 days and would discard and feed every 12 hours.
Every morning and every night I was discarding and feeding my starter. Sure enough, my sourdough starter became a lot more lively and responsive to feedings. Since then, I’ve been having a lot more success with trying new recipes.
If you feel like your recipes just aren’t turning out no matter how strictly you follow the steps, take a look at your starter. It may just be that your sourdough starter is losing its liveliness, and it may just need a good kickstart.
Easy Sourdough Recipes to Try First!
Because sourdough requires a fermentation process, the temperature inside your home will greatly affect how your sourdough starter will react. The time it takes for your sourdough starter to become active and bubbly will vary.
That also means that the temperature of your home will also determine how quickly your dough will double in size as you wait for it to ferment. This is why working with sourdough can be tricky. There’s definitely somewhat of a learning curve. But in my opinion, that’s what makes it so much fun.
On a happy note, let’s start off by talking about some of the recipes that have worked well for me so far since I started experimenting with sourdough.
Most of the recipes that I started out with require sourdough discard. Discard is just the portion of your sourdough that you set aside (or throw away. But I don’t recommend doing that, because there are so many recipes that call for using discard instead of active starter) before feeding your starter again with flour and water.
1. Sourdough Discard Belgian Waffles
This sourdough discard recipe has proven to be pretty fool-proof for me in comparison to other recipes I’ve tried so far. I decided to start making waffles that we could freeze and then reheat in the toaster.
My husband loves having morning waffles for breakfast. He is also gluten intolerant, so buying gluten-free waffles from the store is very expensive. Switching to making our own sourdough waffles is easily saving us nearly $100 a month in groceries just in waffles, alone.
Ingredients:
- 3/4 c sourdough discard
- 2 c milk
- 2 c flour
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 1/4 c butter, melted or coconut oil (add 1Tbsp if using coconut oil)
- 1-2 tsp vanilla extra (to taste)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking soda
Directions:
Step 1: Prepare the night before. Add sourdough discard, milk and flour to bowl and mix well. Let sit 8-12 hours overnight.
Step 2: The next morning, add remaining ingredients (except baking soda) to the bowl and mix. Add baking soda last and incorporate well.
Step 3: Add batter to a waffle maker. The size of your waffle maker will determine just how much batter. We have a Belgian waffle maker, and 1/2 cup of sourdough batter works perfectly for us. Cook according to the instructions for your waffle maker.
Tip: If freezing your waffles to pop into the toaster later (like we do), I recommend only cooking your waffles until they are light and fluffy with very little crisp to them. They’ll get crispy when you cook them again in the toaster.
2. Sourdough Discard Crackers
Because my husband is primarily gluten free, we tend to buy a lot of expensive gluten-free foods and snacks to supplement his big appetite from having a very active lifestyle. We go through a lot of food, y’all. Feeding a hard-working man is no joke. haha!
Why Sourdough Crackers?
As I began taking a look at other specialty foods we tend to buy a lot of, crackers was on that list. Sure enough, experimenting with sourdough discard crackers turned out to be a very easy way to replace the store-bought, gluten-free crackers that were also loaded with seed oils and preservatives. By making our own sourdough crackers, I know the exact ingredients that are going into my husband’s food.
This sourdough discard cracker recipe is as easy as it gets. I had success the very first go around (although I am tweaking here and there to experiment with different flavors and thicknesses).
Ingredients:
- 1 cup sourdough discard
- 3/4 cup flour or 1 cup einkorn flour (since the dough doesn’t ferment, using einkorn might be better tolerated by those with gluten sensitivities)
- 1/4 cup butter or coconut oil
- 1 Tbsp dried herbs of choice (oregano, basil, rosemary, garlic powder, onion powder, sesame seeds, etc)
- 1 tsp salt
Directions:
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350
Step 2: Mix ingredients and knead just until it comes together
Step 3: Place dough in between two sheets of parchment and roll very thin (I like to spray my parchment with olive oil first. It helps to roll out and remove top parchment easier.
Step 4: Remove top piece of parchment. Brush with melted butter and sprinkle with sea salt and additional seeds optional. Press into the dough to help it to stick once it’s baked.
Step 5: Place on baking sheet and bake for 15-25 minutes until crispy (time will depend on the thickness of your dough)
Step 6: Let cool. Break apart and store in airtight container for 1-2 weeks.
Okay, now it’s time to discuss what hasn’t worked as well for me so far. Like I said, working with sourdough has proven to be a lot of trial and error.
3. Sourdough Discard Garlic Knots
Although these sourdough discard garlic did turn out enough to make them edible, I definitely need to rework things and see if I can make it better.
Troubleshooting
One piece of advice that I received from a friend who is a seasoned pro when it comes to sourdough is that maybe I needed to revive my starter a bit. These garlic knots turned out very dense and heavy. She said it just might be that your sourdough starter is a little dead and needs kickstarted again.
So in order to revive my sourdough starter, I took my starter out of the fridge for 3-4 days and just fed it every 12 hours. Discard, feed. Discard, feed.
This seemed to do the trick. And although I haven’t yet made garlic knots yet again, I can already tell that my starter is responding so much better to feedings.
4. Sourdough Discard Sandwich Bread
Similar to the sourdough garlic knots, I made what looked to be a beautiful loaf of sourdough discard sandwich bread. And even thought it was perfectly golden brown on the outside, the inside was so dense and heavy that it didn’t properly cook through all the way. Some small sections of it were undercooked and needed to be cut out before eating.
Troubleshooting
I’m not certain if the issue was with how I handled the discard (not letting it come to room temperature before using straight from the fridge) or whether it has to do with my actual sourdough starter not being lively enough.
Regardless, I’m working my way through it. I’ve since created a perfectly baked active sourdough starter sandwich bread loaf. I spent 3-4 days reviving my sourdough starter before attempting that recipe, and it turned out wonderfully. Maybe I’ll stick to active sourdough starter recipes from now on that require long bulk rises and fermentations instead of relying on quicker recipes using sourdough discard. Who knows?
Moral of the story? Don’t give up on your sourdough journey. When I kept hearing that sourdough is a lot of trial and error, I thought to myself, “I’m gonna be the exception to that rule. I’m going to watch a ton of videos and read a ton of blog posts all about sourdough before even asking a friend to share their starter with me. That way, once I do snag a sourdough starter, I’ll be ready and won’t need to make so many mistakes.”
Boy, I could not have been more wrong. For some of you, sourdough may not be your cup of tea. You may try it, hate it, and toss it all. For others, you may find it to be a really fantastic challenge. Some may even describe it as therapeutic.
I hope you choose to stick with it, though. Let me know in the comment box below if your sourdough journey has looked at all like mine so far.
