Cakes & Bakes: Sourdough waffles

Just a couple of weeks ago, we featured a round up of waffle irons on Price Points. This week, I’ve made my first ever batch of sourdough waffles; the miracle of internet shopping!

I wanted a cast iron, stove-top waffle iron that I could store away in a drawer when not in use – and this is the one I finally decided to purchase.

As with all new cast iron pans, it needed to be seasoned well before its maiden voyage. With all the snow and freezing temperatures we’ve had recently, our wood-burner has been chuffing away almost constantly – so that was the ideal place to do it.

This sourdough waffle recipe – as with most that use a starter – needs some forward planning. Ideally, you’d get your starter/flour/sugar/salt combined the night before if you want waffles for breakfast.

The iron produced delicious crispy waffles. Justin and I both fancied maple syrup with them, but then we diverged slightly.

He went for the sweet/salty thing and opted to serve with crispy bacon. I chose sliced bananas. The possibilities are endless of course. The caramelised bananas I made for this series a couple of weeks ago would work a treat. Also, any other fresh fruit, compotes or preserves, yoghurt, honey and cream would be perfect. They’re going to be a regular breakfast/brunch from this day forth!

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Sourdough waffles

2018-03-20 14:38:23

Ingredients

115g/4oz butter
225ml/8 fl oz milk
275g/9¾oz sourdough starter (100% hydration)
1tsp salt
1tbsp soft brown sugar
170g/6oz plain flour
2 eggs
½tsp bicarbonate of soda

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Instructions

Combine the starter, salt, sugar and flour so it forms a thick batter
Cover the bowl with cling film and set aside at room temperature for 8-12 hours. If you do this before going to bed, you can time the batter to be ready for breakfast the following day
In a small saucepan over a low flame, heat the butter and milk until the butter has melted. Put the mixture aside and allow it to cool to room temperature
Preheat your waffle iron for 10-15 minutes.
Uncover the batter and whisk in the eggs
When the waffle iron is ready, add ½tsp bicarbonate of soda to the batter. Do not over mix or you'll beat the air out of it
Carefully pour enough batter onto the hot waffle iron to cover the base. Place the lid of the waffle iron on top
Cook on one side for about 3 minutes before flipping the waffle iron over and cooking the other side

Notes

You can store any uneaten waffles in zip-lock bags in the freezer for up to 3 months.

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Sourdough pancakes

Sourdough pancakes are a quick, tasty and useful way of using up discard before refreshing your jar of sourdough starter.

I made some this morning because my starter has been sitting in the fridge half forgotten over the run up to Christmas. It’s now happily topped up and getting ready for one of my 24-hour loaves that I’ll begin making tomorrow.

Sourdough pancakes make a fantastic meal topped with a couple of rashers of crispy smoked bacon and a splash of maple syrup – or so Justin tells me. As a veggie, I have mine with a generous pouring of the syrup or runny honey. The sourness of the pancakes, the smokiness of the bacon and the sweetness of the syrup are a winning combo!

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Sourdough pancakes

2017-12-27 12:08:38

Serves 4

Ingredients

500 ml/17½ fl oz sourdough starter
1 egg
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2-4 tbsp milk
A little butter or vegetable oil for frying

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Instructions

Pre-heat a griddle or large heavy-bottomed/cast iron frying pan over medium heat
In a large measuring jug, combine the sourdough starter, egg, sugar, oil and bicarbonate of soda
Depending on the consistency of your sourdough starter, stir in a couple of tablespoons of milk
Melt a knob of butter or brush a little vegetable oil on the griddle/frying pan
Once the griddle/frying pan is hot, slowly pour circles of batter to the size of pancake you desire
Cook until the bubbles begin to look a bit dry
Flip and cook the other side
Repeat until all the batter has been used up

Notes

If you're cooking up a large batch at a time, set your oven to the lowest temperature, place a couple of plates on the shelves and put the cooked pancakes on them as you go along

Adapted from Cultures for Health

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: 24-hour sourdough loaf

Someone over on our Instagram feed asked when I was going to share the recipe for the 24-hour sourdough loaf that I’d photographed. I forgot that I’d never actually blogged about it, so here it is!

It’s my new favourite sourdough bread recipe because it helps me plan my baking time to a tee. No more hanging around at bedtime for my bread to be ready to take out of the oven. You start at “zero hour” with a refresh of the starter and end with taking it out of the oven.

The 24-hour duration is a fairly loose timing. You can stretch or shorten the timeline to suit by warming or cooling the environment of the starter and the rising dough. I like to time it so that my final proof takes place overnight. The recipe suggests refrigerating the dough for this 8-12 hour stage however, our downstairs cloakroom gets really cold at night – and the banneton takes up a lot of space – so I do the rise in there.

It means I can get up in the morning, pre-heat the oven and La Cloche and enjoy lovely, fresh sourdough for breakfast!

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24-hour sourdough loaf

Vanessa Kimbell

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Course Bread

Cuisine British

Equipment

Reusable food cover
1.5kg round banneton
Grignette/lame for slashing dough
La Cloche baking dome

Ingredients

585 ml/20½fl oz water at 27ºC
180 g/6⅓oz 1:1 100% hydrated, fresh sourdough starter that's been refreshed the night before and again in the morning (Hour 0)
900 g/31¾oz strong white bread flour
9 g/⅓oz fine sea salt
a little rice flour for dusting your banneton I can't recommend this enough!!

Instructions

Hour 6

In a bowl, whisk the warm water and starter and mix well
Add the flour and salt (combined well) and mix until all the ingredients come together into a large ball
Cover with a reusable food cover / cling film and let the dough rest in a cool environment for 1½ hours

Hour 8½

Lift and fold your dough over, do a quarter turn of your bowl and repeat three more times. Repeat hourly 3 more times

Hour 12½

Shape your dough lightly and place into a dusted banneton
Cover with the reusable food cover or damp tea-towel and leave to prove on the side until the dough has risen by about 50%. This normally takes about 2 hours in a kitchen that is about 18-20 degrees, then transfer to the fridge for 8-12 hours

Hour 24

In the morning, preheat the oven to 220ºC for 30 minutes to 1 hour before you are ready to bake with your La Cloche in the oven. The dish or La Cloche must be very hot
Take the dish out of the oven and sprinkle a little flour over the bottom
Put your dough into the La Cloche and slash the top of your bread using a grignette (or lame) then place the lid back on top and return to the oven as quickly as possible. Bake for 45 minutes
Turn the heat down to 190ºC, remove the lid and bake for another 15-20 minutes

Keyword bread, loaf, sourdough

Cakes & Bakes: Sourdough coffee chocolate cake

This will be my final recipe celebrating Sourdough September – fitting really, that it’s a recipe for a dessert – sourdough coffee chocolate cake. I’ve lifted the instructions from one of my new favourite websites – King Arthur Flour. Their recipes quick-convert between Imperial, metric and US cups – a really useful feature!

As well as Sourdough September, this cake also honours International Coffee Day which happens each year on 1st October… and while I’m at it, why not honour Chocolate Week which runs from 9th-15th October. There… I’ve covered all the bases and no one was left out!

Another good thing about this recipe is that it calls for ripe sourdough or discard. I love using up leftovers! It also lists espresso powder as an ingredient; I ground some espresso beans on the finest setting and that worked perfectly.

The resulting sourdough coffee chocolate cake is HUGE – almost a kilo of icing alone! You may want to halve the recipe. The two of us will be eating a slice every day for a week… not that I’m complaining. It’s soft, moist, sweet and gorgeous!

There are three separate parts to the process; the cake, the icing and the drizzle. If you don’t think you’ll have enough time in a single day to do all three, you can break it up into stages across two or even three days.

This would be a great one to make as a celebration cake. You could even divide the batter into two tins and make a layer cake if you prefer.

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Sourdough coffee chocolate cake

King Arthur Flour

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Cook Time 40

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 15 slices

Ingredients

For the cake

240 g/8½oz sourdough starter ripe or discard
225 g/8oz whole or evaporated milk
240 g/8½oz organic plain white flour
300 g/10½oz granulated sugar
200 g/7oz vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
1½ tsp baking soda
65 g/2⅓oz unsweetened cocoa
1 tsp espresso powder optional
2 large eggs

For the icing

680 g/24oz icing sugar
170 g/6oz butter
115 g/4oz plain yoghurt or buttermilk
1 tbsp + 1½tsp espresso powder
15 g/½oz hot water

For the drizzle

50 g/1¾oz dark chocolate broken into pieces
15 g/½oz milk
20 g/¾oz golden syrup

Instructions

For the cake

Combine the starter, milk and flour in a large mixing bowl
Cover and rest at room temperature for 2-3 hours
Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350°F/Gas mark 4
Lightly grease a 23 x 33cm (9 x 13-inch) cake tin
In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar, oil, vanilla, salt, baking soda, cocoa and espresso powder - the mixture will be grainy
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition
Gently combine the chocolate mixture with the starter/flour/milk mixture, stirring until smooth. It will be gloopy at first; however, the batter will become smoother as you continue to beat gently
Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin
Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes away clean
Remove the cake from the oven and set it on a wire rack to cool while you make the icing

For the icing

Sift the icing sugar into a large mixing bowl. Set it aside
In a small saucepan set over medium heat, melt the butter and add the buttermilk/yoghurt
Dissolve the espresso powder in the hot water, add to the pan, and bring the mixture just to a boil
Immediately pour the simmering liquid over the icing sugar in the bowl, and beat until smooth
Pour the warm icing over the cake. If you wait too long and the icing stiffens up, just spread it over the cake with an offset spatula

For the drizzle

Combine the chocolate pieces, milk and golden syrup in a microwave-safe container. Microwave until the chocolate softens, then stir until smooth (a couple of 10-second bursts)
Drizzle the chocolate sauce over the icing

Sourdough coffee chocolate cake ingredients

Keyword cake, chocolate, chocolate cake, coffee, coffee cake, sourdough