Sourdough English Muffins

Introduction

Now that my starter is alive and active I have to feed it regularly to keep it happy. I really hate to waste food though, and you can only pass off so much on your friends and family (but if anyone out there needs some...let me know). So I have tried to keep the amount I discard to a minimum by feeding only once a day, and maintaining a pretty small amount (150g) when not in use. I also don't feed it on weekends when I am away, and it recovers well from these short visits to the fridge. Even mainaining it in this way I still end up with a couple cups (~500g) of leftover that I need to find a use for.

Lately we have been enjoying these Sourdough Pancakes on a pretty regular basis. They are great because they are made almost entirley of the spent sourdough & they keep well so you can have leftover pancakes for breakfast throughout the week. This weekend I wanted to try something different though so I gave this recipe for Sourdough English Muffins from the Wild Yeast Blog a try.

Materials & Methods 

• As usual I didn't quite follow the directions. I had some buttermilk and wheat germ in the fridge so I figured those would make nice additions.

AP Flour WW Flour Starter (100%) Milk Buttermilk Wheat Germ ---- AP Flour Salt Baking Soda Sugar

Mass 320 g 200 g 210 g 352 g 200 g 3 T ---- 150 g 1.5 t 2 t 2 T

Percentage 48% 30% 31% 52% 30% - ---- 22% - - -

Timeline:

8p 9a 10p

Mix the first portion of the ingredients and leave to ferment/rise overnight. Add the remaining flour, salt, sugar & baking soda and mix briefly until you have a smooth dough. It will be pretty wet and sticky. On a floured surface, pat down the dough to about 1/2 to 1" thick. Cut out muffin sized rounds, cover & leave them to rise for about 1 hour. Bake on a medium hot griddle for about 15-20 min flipping every few minutes to make sure they don't get too dark.

Results

I was pretty impressed with how well these came out. The first few were kind of massive and got a little too dark by the time they were cooked because they were so thick. I made the rest thinner and turned down the heat some and they were just right. The muffins split well with a fork and are full of little nooks &crannies just like they are supposed to be.

Conclusion

Considering all of the starter and the additional buttermilk I was surprised these weren't more tangy than they were. Not that they weren't tasty, I just expected more of a sour kick. Maybe that will develop with time. This recipe made 13 muffins so there are plenty leftover and I am definitely looking forward to having these for breakfast this week!