I tried my first sourdough project with my new starter, Sourdough Sam. It was a success in that the muffins were incredible. They had a great taste and texture but I did coward out and used a touch of yeast and will do some things differently next time.
I started by putting 1 1/2 cups of my starter in a bowl and adding
- 1 cup of water
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup white flour.
I let this sit for 24 hours to get a good active starter. This
is the first place I will change things. The starter was a little liquid for my liking. Next time, I will add 3/4 cup each of the flours.
I took out 1 cup of this fed starter and added the rest back to Sourdough Sam, my base starter, to feed him.
So the ingredients for the muffins are:
- 1 cup fed sourdough starter
- 1/2 cup skim milk powder
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 2/3 cup hot water
- 1/2 cup white flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon quick rising yeast
- 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda
If you prefer, you can use all white flour. Also, as I will explain later, I would not use the yeast next time. I mixed the milk powder, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, oil and hot water together. I added the flours and stirred to mix. I then stirred the starter into that mixture. I covered it with a towel and put it in a warm place for 3 hours. Here is where I cowarded out. It just didn’t look that active to me. So, I stirred in a teaspoon of quick rising yeast and let it sit for 30 minutes more.
Next time, I will leave the mixture overnight to make sure it is active and leave out the yeast.
I beat the dough down and added a teaspoon of baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and gave it a good stir to mix.
I had preheated my skillet to 300 F. I put in my muffin rings and sprayed with vegetable oil. I scooped the dough out among the six rings. This is where I knew I had been over cautious. The muffins rose very well and overflowed the rings. They cooked fine but needed some cleaning up after cooking. I gave them 10 minutes on one side and 8 on the other in the covered skillet.
This is another lesson learned. The muffins browned a touch faster than the non-sourdough versions. I will watch them and cut the time marginally next time. Not much though. I really liked the colour.
The Verdict
These are incredible. They have more of the traditional English muffin texture than the yeast English muffins I make. Lots of bubbles to take the butter and a nice chew. The flavour is rich with a nice mild sourdough aftertaste. These are great just the way I did them but I still think I need to adjust a couple of things.
Stay tuned for the next version!
The Old Fat Guy
