Sourdough Camping

Note (9/3/10): This post is not to be confused with the "Sourdough Camping" video that Wardeh is offering for an incentive for her e-course members over on the GNOWFGLINS forums. The title is a coincidence.

I had fun over the weekend taking my sourdough along on an overnight church camp-out.  I planned ahead pretty carefully and took along my crockpot liner full of already mixed and refrigerated dough, plus a cup of starter. I fed my main starter jar and left it at home in the frig.

I made sourdough English muffins on Saturday night, and put a big pan of them with a jar of honey out to share. Only one was left when I went to bed.

I was pretty proud of those muffins -- I had made them before, at home, but it was the first time on a propane stove -- and the first time since my early 20s to cook on propane at all -- and the first time I ever set up and lit a new stove by myself.

I also took some bratwurst along -- I had my first batch of home-made sauerkraut, and I had a serious craving for bratwurst and kraut.

In bread.

So I took some of the English muffin dough, as I was cooking, and shaped it into long 8-inch rolls and pressed them flat and cooked them on my cast iron griddle just like the muffins...but longer and flatter. I used these as "buns" for eating my bratwurst and kraut. This meal was so satisfying -- just as good as my fantasy of it -- that I had no trouble at all passing up all the chips, candy, cookies, and roasted marshmallows that were being handed around the campfire, though I did sample the salmon and roast pork. I was surprised that I just didn't want the sugary stuff at all.

Before I went to bed...okay, before the sun went down... I took my cup of sourdough starter (fed before leaving home in the morning) mixed it with freshly ground flour (brought from home, not ground on the spot) and milk. I left it overnight to soak in one of those 2-quart pyrex mixing/measuring cups with a lid.

In the morning I added the rest of the ingredients and made sourdough pancakes to share, then made myself a cheese omelet and sliced avocado to go along with the pancakes for myself.

Most people had their own breakfast plans and breakfast foods, so the pancakes were harder to share than the muffins -- but I did find a few takers, and one big fan. Those that weren't eaten made me a good Monday morning breakfast at home.

The only sad part of the weekend -- I couldn't get my son to go with me. He stayed over with a friend instead. I suspect he thought a camping trip sounded too much like, well, like work. Guess who would have made all those trips downstairs laden with sourdough and flour and milk and propane if he had come along? Not me!

This post is entered in Tuesday Twister and Real Food Wednesday.