I try to manage the amount of sourdough starter by slowing it down in the fridge and baking about every third day. Don’t like to throw any out so I’ve used my starter for the best pancakes I’ve ever had and also some tastey English muffins. What else do you all make? Going to try some kolaches as soon as my peaches are ripe.
@Brewcat, I haven’t tried English muffins yet but according to my sister, they’re AWESOME and I should give them a try. I just might sometime. I’d have to buy the rings first to bake them properly. I tend to use my extra sourdough to make delicious pancakes that are a favorite of the middle daughter of my very good friend and pastor. I’ll cook up a whole batch of those pancakes and freeze them individually. Then I’ll put the frozen pancakes into a freezer zipper bag and give them to my friend. Her daughter loves them so much. Honestly, I’ve been baking so much bread lately I rarely have enough sourdough “left over” to make those pancakes, to which my friend’s daughter did ask me just the other day to make her some more now that school’s out for the summer. I was telling my husband about having to feed my sourdough, D.J. Cyril, much more often just to have the amount on hand that I need for baking. He suggested getting a much larger mason jar so that I could have enough of Cyril to go around. Laughingly I told him I’d need a half-gallon jar and Cyril would be taking over my refrigerator! I honestly had NO idea when I first was gifted my batch of sourdough that I would be SO smitten with him and want to use him all the time. I’ve got yeast in the house but haven’t touched it since I discovered sourdough. My D.J. Cyril is a happy little starter. I just need him to be a happy BIGGER starter, LOL!
@Leah1 I just cut my English muffins with a 3" cutter and cook them in a cast iron pan. A griddle works better. I freeze them in bags of 2 and thaw and toast. Way better than store bought. Have you ever frozen the pancake batter ?
I find that by adding a tablespoon of fresh flour and water, I can keep my starter healthy in the fridge for much more than a week. When you add the new flour, work out all the gas bubbles so that the starter does not suffocate in its own waste. Put it right back into the fridge. The little bit of added flour will not noticeably change the acidity and flavor of the starter for your next bake.
Pizza dough!
Eric’s recipe calls for a ton of starter, and works well.
Crackers! 1 cup exhausted starter, 1/3 cup oil (I use melted butter flavored coconut), and add new flour until just before it won’t hold together any more. Maybe a tiny bit of water, but not much. Add various flavorings (chipotle powder, or garlic, or sesame seeds, or any of a zillion herbs and or seeds). Roll it out very thin on a silicone sheet or parchment paper, brush on oil, sprinkle with salt, use a pizza cutter to score into crackers. Bake at 300-350 or so, till they start to brown. I remove the edge crackers first and then watch carefully as the inner ones left on the sheet become slightly brown. They become too well done quickly, so be careful. Cool briefly on the counter, then store in air tight Tupperware or similar.