The "Discard" Imperative
16 06, 21 17:21 Filed in: Baking
A pattern has emerged in my baking. Early on I would select a "project" (e.g., bagels, milk and honey bread) and give it a go. But now what I bake is based increasingly on the "discard logic" applied in maintaining sourdough starter.
It's actually more an imperative than a logic. You end up with "discard" each time you dutifully feed those hungry bacterial thingies that keep the starter going. With sourdough, the need to feed my starter is constantly popping up on my calendar, but I typically ignore or forget to do the deed in time, and so I end up with more "discard" to deal with than the freshly fed stuff many of the best bread recipes call for.
Obviously I could toss the discard (after all, that is its function -- to be discarded), but given the problems with disposing of the gooey mess, it is way easier to find some recipe that calls for unfed/discard starter. These are mostly muffins, pancake and waffle batter, chocolate cake (a favorite), pizza crust and calzones, buns of all sorts, and even bagels and bialys. And so my sourdough baking repertoire expands.
Now I find myself applying the discard logic to other ingredients as well. This morning, for example, after preparing some sourdough pizza crust, I noticed the remains of some buttermilk in the fridge, right beside a half brick or sharp cheddar cheese. A little google search at the King Arthur's site, and voila, a recipe to "Cabot cheese soda bread" that would save me from discarding the buttermilk and make good use of a good portion of the cheese. It was quick an easy to make (in time for Randi's breakfast), and came out well enough to become a "keeper" in my slowly expanding recipe collection.
The learning continues....
It's actually more an imperative than a logic. You end up with "discard" each time you dutifully feed those hungry bacterial thingies that keep the starter going. With sourdough, the need to feed my starter is constantly popping up on my calendar, but I typically ignore or forget to do the deed in time, and so I end up with more "discard" to deal with than the freshly fed stuff many of the best bread recipes call for.
Obviously I could toss the discard (after all, that is its function -- to be discarded), but given the problems with disposing of the gooey mess, it is way easier to find some recipe that calls for unfed/discard starter. These are mostly muffins, pancake and waffle batter, chocolate cake (a favorite), pizza crust and calzones, buns of all sorts, and even bagels and bialys. And so my sourdough baking repertoire expands.
Now I find myself applying the discard logic to other ingredients as well. This morning, for example, after preparing some sourdough pizza crust, I noticed the remains of some buttermilk in the fridge, right beside a half brick or sharp cheddar cheese. A little google search at the King Arthur's site, and voila, a recipe to "Cabot cheese soda bread" that would save me from discarding the buttermilk and make good use of a good portion of the cheese. It was quick an easy to make (in time for Randi's breakfast), and came out well enough to become a "keeper" in my slowly expanding recipe collection.
The learning continues....
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