I made my first (and only) sourdough starter in June 2013 and Bertha is still going strong today! Sourdough has become a staple in our house, and we absolutely LOVE it! In fact, I rarely, if ever, buy store-bought bread. I allot one day a …
Sourdough Rye Bread is a wonderful recipe that our youngest daughter took to the county fair and won Best Bread with. It’s a hearty bread full of flavor from molasses, caraway seeds, anise seed, and cardamom. I love serving this bread with corned beef or …
This past spring I made Sourdough Bread Bowls for the first time. They turned out so delicious, I have big plans to make them a lot this fall to serve with soup.
To make them, I adjusted my Tangy Sourdough Bread recipe to make 8 soup bowls. After they’ve baked and cooled, you can use them, store them in a bread box, or freeze for later.
To begin, gather all the ingredients and have them close by on the counter or table, ready to use. In a large mixing bowl, combine the active sourdough starter, (See my Recipe for Sourdough Starter Here) water, and 3 cups of flour. Beat vigorously with wooden spoon for 1 minute. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 2-3 hours. Refrigerate overnight.
The next day, remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature, about an hour.
Using instant yeast will ensure a faster rise, if time is a factor for your baking routine.
In a large mixing bowl using a kneading hook attachment, combine the starter mixture with the remaining 2 cups flour, sugar, salt, and optional instant yeast. Begin mixing at a low speed, adding up to 1/4 cup of water as needed to make a smooth dough. Adding water may, or may not be necessary.
Continue kneading for 5-7 minutes. Transfer dough to a large greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise until it has doubled. (This may take 2-3 hours).
If you have opted not to use the instant yeast, you may remove the dough at each hour interval to stretch and fold, envelope-style to work the gluten in the dough. The dough will most likely be sticky. Use a stainless bench scraper to lift the dough from the work space more easily.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees, along with a baking stone. Spray two sheets of parchment paper with baking spray and set out on a workspace. (If you don’t have a baking stone, you may use two baking sheets lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.)
Once the dough has doubled, stretch and fold the dough, envelope-style, again using the bench scraper as needed.
Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, forming each into a ball. Place four balls on each sheet of parchment paper and cover with greased plastic wrap or a clean cotton tea towel. Make sure to allow space for the dough to rise without the balls touching each other. Allow the dough to rise for 40-60 minutes until puffy.
In a small bowl, prepare your egg wash by whisking together the egg white with 2 tablespoons water.
Uncover the dough. Using a pastry brush, brush each ball with egg wash. Then sprinkle each with sesame seeds or Everything Bagel Topping.
To make the transfer easier, use kitchen shears to cut the parchment paper into squares for each of the dough balls. With a pizza peel, transfer each square to the baking stone to cook. Bake four bowls at a time until rolls are nicely browned on top, approximately 20-24 minutes.
Transfer bread bowls to wire racks to cool completely. This recipe will make 8 bread loaves.
To use the bowls, when ready to serve, cut tops off and remove inside bread filling. You may use this on top of your bowls, or for later as Homemade Croutons. I like to put Country Potato Soup or Shrimp Chowder with Bacon inside the bread bowls. Really any creamy soup would work well.
See more Sourdough Recipes Here. See Ideas for Soup Here.
These Sourdough Artisan Crackers are simply amazing. Simple, thin and crackly, lightly salted with major sourdough flavor. I’ve been making sourdough projects for over seven years now and have never tried crackers until just recently! I cannot believe how easy they are to make and …
If you’ve followed this recipe blog for very long, you know how much we enjoy sourdough bread. Here’s an easy recipe to make your own Sourdough Whole Wheat Bagels. Warm, chewy, tangy sourdough bagels slathered with cream cheese. Oh My! (Recipe modified on 3/9/22.) The …
Sourdough Banana Bread is a delicious way to use your “unfed” sourdough starter. I have tried a lot of banana bread recipes through the years, and this is one of the best, in my opinion. It has a crisp sweet crust and is moist on the inside.
Plus, this bread will keep for several days without drying out. And it’s perfect for sharing!
DID YOU KNOW? – Sourdough will keep fresher for longer than store-bought bread, thanks to the natural acidity which deters the growth of mold, and it’s bacterial compounds that slow hardening and loss of moisture. A typical loaf of sourdough will easily keep for 5-7 days at normal room temperatures.
What is “unfed” sourdough starter?
Lets start at the beginning. A sourdough starter is a fermented dough that has natural yeast in it that feeds bread dough and makes it rise. You use it in place of yeast.
I keep my sourdough starter in a little crock with a lid and refrigerate it until ready to use. I will bake bread with it once or twice a week. “Unfed” starter is what some people call the “discard”. It has been sitting in the fridge unused and has not been fed.
To feed the starter, I will add a cup of flour and 1/2 cup warm water to it. This “feeds” it and after a few hours makes it rise and bubble. At that point, it’s ready to use. However, if you don’t “discard” some of the dough before you feed it, there won’t be enough room in the crock for the dough to rise or grow. Because it will grow a lot! Ask me how I know!
So, rather than “discard” the “unfed” starter, you can use it in what I call quick bread recipes, such as biscuits, muffins, pancakes, or recipes like this banana bread. Recipes that don’t require yeast, but need some type of leaven such as baking powder. The “unfed” starter is used for imparting its flavor, rather than its leavening power.
Does that make sense? Okay, enough from the school of sourdough. Let’s move on to our recipe instructions.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Gather all your ingredients so that you have everything close at hand on the counter or table. Prepare 4 small loaf pans by coating the sides and bottoms with baking spray.
Mash the bananas in a small bowl. Using a nut chopper, chop the pecans or English walnuts. Set both aside until ready to use.
In a large mixing bowl bowl, cream together the softened butter and granulated sugar. Add the large egg, vanilla extract, and Princess Flavoring. Mix until well blended.
Princess Cake Flavoring is what I call my Secret Ingredient. Trust me, you’ll want to purchase some of this emulsion to have on hand when you need it. See Recipes that use Princes Flavoring Here.
Stir in bananas and unfed sourdough discard.
In a small bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Stir into batter until just blended. Fold in chopped nuts.
Spoon into prepared small loaf pans. If desired, you may use 2 regular-sized loaf pans to make two loaves. If you do this, however, may may need to increase the baking time by 10-15 minutes.
Bake in preheated oven for 40-45 minutes until bread is golden brown and set in the center.
You may use the toothpick method to check if the loaves are done. Simply insert a toothpick into the center of one or more of the loaves. If it comes out clean, it is fully baked. If the toothpick comes out with sticky dough, it needs a few more minutes to bake.
Remove from pan after 10 minutes. Allow to cool on wire racks.
This recipe will make four small loaves. I like to give this bread to friends and family. Plus, this bread freezes well. Just wrap the loaves in aluminum foil and place in quart-sized freezer bags. Freeze up to 3 months.
See more Sourdough Recipes Here. Browse Quick Bread Recipes Here. View recipes that use Princess Flavoring Emulsion.
Sourdough Dinner Rolls are so light and delicious. You’ll want to make them every week! Sourdough is such a wonderful thing. You can make all sorts of things with it. Pretzels, English Muffins, Hamburger Buns, Flatbread, Bagels, Biscuits. And this delicious recipe for dinner rolls. …
In June 2013, My Adventures with Sourdough began. After nearly eight years of baking some sort of sourdough bread each week, I can still say that we dearly love it. How My Adventures with Sourdough Began There is much to learn on the Internet …
