The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

waste starter

tel's picture
tel

waste starter

when it says "discard" it doesn't have to mean "throw away" ;)

OldWoodenSpoon's picture
OldWoodenSpoon

It never means "throw away"  and those sourdough pancakes and their near cousin the waffle are the most popular use.   I have even been known to expand my seed size to create more discard in order to have enough for expected guests. 

OldWoodenSpoon 

tel's picture
tel

I'd love this thread to attract all the ideas of things we all do with the excess starter ... I'm currently trying to gauge the batter required for toad-in-the-hole - anyone tried it?

 

MisterTT's picture
MisterTT

never tried waffles. I like to make my sourdough pancakes with about 20% whole rye and not sweeten them at all - the flavor is wonderful and goes well with some savory dishes, especially ones that have sour cream. It's just a magic combination.

However, whenever I make any pancakes or some such, I whip up a new batch of starter. Storing starter in the fridge means that there is not waste if you use a system that allows for it to happen ;)

trailrunner's picture
trailrunner

Sourdough Surprises blog. You will get a wealth of info about uses for starter . Amazing variety of recipes ! Also use it in your pasta dough...1/4c per 3 egg batch. You will never make pasta without it again. Have fun looking at the blog...c

tel's picture
tel

I'm very new to this MisterTT - still trying to gauge the timetable that gives me max production for those things I'd like to try ;)

 

tel's picture
tel

Hi trailrunner - can you post a link?

 

trailrunner's picture
trailrunner

I don't know how to post a clickable but this can be cut/pasted.I keep my starter in 1 qt size Dannon Yogurt containers. Works great. I simply take out the container and scoop equal amounts of the starter into new clean containers and add equal parts water/flour. I then have multiple containers of 100% hydration starter for my projects. No discard at all. If I need a different levain formula or hydration I just make that in another container. Very easy to get many cups of starter this way. Good Luck ! c

 

http://sourdoughsurprises.blogspot.com

saradippity's picture
saradippity

So far I've used "waste" for pancakes, crepes, aebelskievers (which, really, all those could just say "pancakes"), and pizza dough. I have recipes for flatbread, crackers, muffins, and chocolate cake but I haven't gotten around to trying those yet. I don't really have waste though, I have jars that I try to maintain a "pure" culture in just for baking bread with predictable flavor and rise, and then I have a cookie jar that I dump waste from those feedings into for pancake batter. I use whatever flour is on hand for that one too, so the flavor of it can be unpredictable but I've never had something I thought was nasty (yet). If I don't really feel like making something from my big batter, I put  it in the refrigerator for a bit but I still dump waste from other feedings into it without worrying about adjusting it's feeding schedule, no problems with that (so far).

Incidentally, to avoid waste of a poor loaf if I don't need breadcrumbs, if I have a bread that doesn't rise well, instead of baking it that becomes pizza dough too. I've even had sloppy doughs that were a little funny on the shaping but made great pizzas. I suppose some recipes wouldn't be appropriate for that, but it hasn't been an issue yet.

saradippity's picture
saradippity

Also, one thing I like about branching into crepes is the possibility of savory crepes. Last night I made omelets filled with bell peppers, mushrooms, and cheese rolled up into a sugarless crepe. Fantastic. I like pizza dough too because I'm actually far more into savory than I am sweet, pancakes are more of an occasional treat for the kid.

cranbo's picture
cranbo

i enjoy pancakes, crepes and crackers with these leftovers :)

saradippity's picture
saradippity

I just found a new use yesterday: dumpling wrappers. I have a cookbook for Asian dumplings, steamed breads, eggrolls, wontons, potstickers, all that. I added flour to my starter to make a 45% hydration dough (based on one of the general use recipes in the book) with all purpose wheat flour. I then let it sit six hours (because I'm one of the people who uses sourdough to trigger the enzyme action in wheat for health purposes) and rolled up my wrappers with a pork filling and steamed them. They were so good that my neighbor offered me a dollar a dumpling if I sold her what I had left, but all I had were the two I brought her to try, my son and I gobbled up the rest.

From what I understand, lower gluten yields a more delicate wrapper, more gluten can give  a chewy texture. Usually AP flour is used, though I've seen some people recommend pastry flour for some recipes. There are other things you can put in the flour to change the texture, like rice flour, cornstarch, and tapioca flour, but I haven't played with those so I don't know if I like them. I have this woman's book, and she's provided a lot of video tips (wait a minute... I have the enhanced eBook with embedded videos but her videos look more in depth on the website. I cry foul.) There's tons of recipes online for fillings. If you don't have a bamboo steamer, you can use a metal one if the dumplings don't touch the sides (condensation). If you don't have a metal steamer, you might try frying or boiling them to cook and see if you like it.

Since I decided that I will avoid flour if it's not sourdough (health) then I'm happy to have found a way to renew an old cooking interest and use some starter.... Does anyone know what happens if you try to add flour to starter to roll it out and then try to laminate it to make pastries or a pseudo pie crust? Or am I going to have to want it enough to try it myself when I get around to it?