I've made enough sourdough pancakes and waffles (as well as plain pancakes and waffles) to have a sense of how the recipes are constructed, and a few weeks ago I started working without a recipe, at least for recipes where the pancake is just starter plus other ingredients. First with small amounts -- a cup of lively starter, a single egg, a splash of milk, maybe a little honey, a pinch each of salt and soda. Yum. That's really a recipe I had been working from just scaled down, but I did it without referring to the recipe.
It's really fun to invent things with pancakes. My favorite so far has been sourdough zucchini fritters with a little onion in them and topped with cheese. I'll work with that one to make sure I have reliable and measurable directions, and post it.
There's a real sense of freedom in this. I'm not just throwing things together -- I'm working with knowledge and have a pretty good idea of how it will turn out -- but if I am struck by inspiration, I no longer have to turn to a cookbook or the internet to find someone who did it first. I can just work on my own.
Yesterday I took my starter out of the frig mid-morning intending to grind up some flour to feed it so I could bake bread today. But there were lots of other things going on, and by bedtime it still hadn't been fed. Rather than feed it all-purpose flour--yes, I still have a couple of pounds that I'm using up by using it to flour the kneading board -- I grabbed a bag of Bob's Red Mill Scotch Oats. These are oats that are not just cracked, but partially ground -- little nuggets of goodness that make a chewy porridge. I had over two cups of starter my jar -- I dumped a cup, stirred in water and oats, and put it back on the counter.
This morning the starter was still nice and bubbly. It liked the oats.
I decided on sourdough potato pancakes. I started with about a cup and a half of starter. I just spooned most of my starter jar out into the bowl without measuring.
I had a couple of boiled Yukon gold potatoes left over from last nights dinner, so I broke them up with a fork and mashed them into the starter. I added a big glug of raw milk, one egg, a shake of salt and a little soda poured out of the box into my hand.
I greased my cast-iron "spider" with coconut oil and cooked them up. They made a big plateful, and I dished up about a third of them for myself with butter, a spoonful of yogurt, a little grated pepper jack cheese (raw goat cheese from Steamboat Island), with two spoonfuls of ginger carrots on the side.
After a few bites, I grated a little pepper on top. This went a long way to persuade my palate that this dish really was supposed to be savory instead of sweet.
I'm trying out the theory that sour, tangy fermented foods can kill a sweet tooth. It seemed to work for this meal....the pancakes would have been equally good with maple syrup, maybe snuggled up to a couple of nice fat simmering breakfast sausages. But not today.
I'm out of syrup, both real and fake (the HFCS "maple flavor" syrup went in the garbage in a recent refrigerator purge).
And now that I have eaten, I no longer feel the desire to ransack the frig for a substitute (I think a jar of preserves made with cane sugar survived the corn syrup purge.) And I know there is sucanat in the pantry. But I think I can go along for a few hours now without digging it out.
I tried taking a photo, but still can't find good batteries. I may try again with the leftovers later today.
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This post is entered in Tuesday Twisters at GNOWFGLINS and Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop.
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