Foray into Sourdough

A friend recently gifted me a small portion of einkorn sourdough starter.  

When my baking-savvy daughter came to visit for a week, I

t seemed like the perfect time to wake up the starter and experiment!

To build up the starter strength, it is necessary to feed it well, then wait, then parse off a small amount and feed it again, and again.

Each time you feed the starter, you end up with a lot of extra starter "discard."  

Those who know me know that I hate to discard just about everything 

(though I'm getting better about this!)

Though the "discard" is not optimal for bread making, it can be used to enhance other recipes.  King Arthur has a good set of suggestions. 

We tried:

Sourdough Crackers

Sourdough pancakes

Sourdough Chocolate Cake (delicious!)

Sourdough pizza crust (No photo of the pizza, but it was yummy!)

Sourdough Biscuits (really, really, really yummy!)

Eventually, we had starter (technically:  levain) at the proper strength for bread....

the dough was super elastic and sticky

Not a spectacular rise, but a moist loaf with excellent flavor.

The sourdough requires lots of maintenance and can be a demanding pet.  

I think I'll stick to cheesemaking!