Stunning Sourdough

In my last post, I mentioned sourdough. I love sourdough. The scent. The taste. The way it bubbles in the jar as those natural yeasts work. It has a kind of magic all its own.

From a bubbling starter to fluffy pancakes.

Sourdough can seem intimidating, especially to those who don’t bake much to begin with. All it really requires, though, is time and patience. If you’re self-quarantined or simply trying not to go out very much, this is the perfect time to experiment with this ancient leavening.

If you don’t want to bother with creating your own starter, there are lots of ways to obtain one. You can buy sourdough starter on the internet these days, and Cultures for Health is my go-to for all things fermented. However, I’m mostly a DIY girl. I rarely do things the easy way. So I didn’t buy a starter.

The first time I made sourdough, I went basic. I wanted it as old-school as possible, so I found this recipe on Cultures for Health. It really is as basic as it gets—flour, water, and warmth. The starter collects the wild yeast floating around in the air, producing a one-of-a-kind sourdough unique to your area. It just takes a little—you guessed it—time and patience.

I went with that starter for quite a while, but I finally gave it up when I had two in diapers at the same time. It wasn’t so much that I was too busy changing those diapers. It was more a fear that, while my back was turned, my littles would do something crazy like sneak out the back door, strip off their clothes, and turn on one of the irrigation risers in the pasture next to our house.

True story, actually.

Anyway, I went without a sourdough starter for a long time. This winter, my daughter’s wonderful 4-H leader, Rachel, had the inspiration to have the club members make Amish Friendship Bread starter at their first meeting. I was practically giddy. My daughter has long ago lost interest in anything except the tasty results, but I’m babying that starter along just fine on my own. In fact, it’s multiplying like rabbits.

Because I’m inundated with starter, I’ve moved beyond sourdough bread to explore other ways to use this wonderful stuff on a regular basis. It’s a sweet starter, containing milk and sugar, which makes it perfect for a variety of baked goods. First I went with an Amish cinnamon friendship bread from Tastes of Lizzy T. I wasn’t sure about the hype it received from Lizzy, but it quickly became a family favorite. (The recipe calls for instant vanilla pudding. While it does add something, you can easily leave it out. For my last batch, on Monday, I replaced it with a mashed banana. Worked perfectly.)

I never get to take a picture of the cinnamon bread before it's half gone.

My children love pancakes, so my next stop was sourdough pancakes. I tried the pancake recipe from the same site; the results were so good, I stopped looking. Monday morning pancakes? Easy peasy.

This week I also experimented way outside my comfort zone with these sourdough doughnuts from Baking Sense. (I usually try to support my husband’s attempts at maintaining a healthy and balanced diet. This week, I think he’s pretty sure I’m trying to give him diabetes.) I usually avoid anything that requires deep-frying, but some recipes make it worth dragging out my cast-iron kettle and candy thermometer. This is one of them. Unlike the other recipes I’ve mentioned, these are a true sourdough creation, with no additional leavening. Warm from the fryer, dusted with cinnamon and sugar, they became an instant addiction.

A cup of tea with a sourdough doughnut warm from the fryer. After reading Farmer Boy as a child, I couldn't resist forming some of them into twists to see if they really would flip on their own. Yeah, kind of.

I’ve gone a little longer than I intended (good thing there are doughnuts for breakfast), but I just wanted to show you that sourdough is totally doable for nearly everyone. These few recipes are only the beginning of what you can do with it. Why not take this opportunity to make a little magic in your kitchen?