Home Made Sour Dough English Muffins {How to make sour dough starter}

I'm pretty sure I can not get any lazier at this point. It's only a couple of weeks into summer (unofficially summer begins in March here in Phoenix IMHO) and the triple digits are making me tired and cranky. Even a trip to the store gives my such a bad headache I have to lay down for 20 minutes when I get back. Crazy. You'd think I would have gotten accustomed to the heat after living here for 30 some odd years. Nope and nope.

I did manage to make a quick batch of sour dough English muffins the other day for breakfast and decided they are my new favorite thing. The smell of sour dough baking is almost as good as that first bite into the warm bread. Almost.

Making my own English muffins has been on my bucket baking list for way too long. I've heard how easy they are to make but buying the at the store is even easier right? Right, buuuuut the taste comparison is in huge favor of the home made variety. When I came across this recipe that called for making them on the stove top in under 10 minutes instead of heating up the house by using the oven I knew it was time to get busy.

I've had a batch of sour dough starter given to me by my mom for over 10 years now. Those of you who aren't familiar with sour dough starter might be all like, "ewwwww, 10 year old dough starter?" and those of you who are familiar with it know the older the sour dough starter, the better it is. Liquid gold in fermentation form.


What is sour dough starter and how do you get your hands on some? 

I'm glad you asked. It's basically a mixture of flour and water that has been set out on the counter top for several days and ferments thanks to wild yeast which is found in the air all around you.

Sooooo, why doesn't the mixture get gross and moldy if it's left out on the counter top for a week?    

Another great question!

The starch in bread flour is something that not a lot of bacteria can easily handle, while sugar is. Yeast, on the other hand, creates special enzymes to deal with starch. The yeast and lactobacilli also destroy the culture with the alcohol and lactic acid they produce, and that keeps other bacteria out.

1.  Hundreds of years ago, before there was packaged yeast, bakers used sourdough starter to keep a supply of yeast alive and handy. They kept a pot of live culture in a flour/water medium, and "fed" it daily or weekly so that the yeast remained alive and active. Beer brewers use yeast leftover from brewing there beer. Mmmm, beer bread. 

Why does wild yeasted bread have such a complex flavor compared to bread leavened with commercial yeast? I thought you'd never ask! When flour and water are left out for several days, naturally occurring yeast in the air and the flour, usually saccharomyces exiguus and bacteria, mostly lactobacillus and acetobacillus feed off the sugars released by the enzymes in the dough. Lactobacillus and acetobacillus create the sour flavor in the form of lactic and acetic acids. Around the San Francisco Bay Area, a naturally occurring bacteria called lacobacillus san francisco is responsible for the sourdough flavor.

So if your not lucky enough to have had some sour dough starter passed down to you, you can easily make your own. It takes just 2 ingredients and a few days of patiently waiting and VOILA you have your very own sour dough starter! When ever you take out a cup or two for baking bread, pancakes or these Sour Dough English Muffins you simply add more flour and water, mix and let it sit out on the counter top for a few more days. After 3-5 days when it gets little fizzy bubbles going on you stick it in the fridge to slow down the fermentation process.

For a great, step by step guide on how to get a sour dough starter started click here.

I'll never buy store bought English muffins again! These are so easy peasy to make.
Mix up your dough in an electric mixer, roll it out, cut into circles (I used a 1 cup measuring cup), let rise for 1 hour on a cookie sheet dusted with corn meal, transfer to a skillet brushed with coconut oil and cook on each side for 5 minutes. That's it.

recipe adapted from The Woks of Life

 TIME      1 HOUR (RISING) 20 MINUTES        YIELDS     2 DOZEN MUFFINS

 4 cups flour, plus more for kneading
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup luke warm water
2/3 cup plain yogurt
* 1 cup sour dough starter
fine corn meal for dusting
coconut oil for brushing on pan

In the bowl of an electric mixer combine flour, yeast, salt, and sugar. Add water, sour dough starter and yogurt, and mix into a soft dough. Using your dough attachment, knead the dough for 10 minutes, until smooth, adding more flour 1/4 cup at a time until it is not sticky and forms a ball. Let dough rest for 5 minutes. 

On a clean surface dusted with flour, roll dough out to a thickness of about ¾ inch. Cut out circles with a 3 inch round cutter. Sprinkle a baking sheet with corn meal, and place the circles on it. Cover with a damp tea towel and let rise in a warm place for about an hour, until almost doubled in size. 

Heat a flat griddle pan until hot and brush with oil. Add the muffins and reduce heat to medium. Cook for 12 minutes, six minutes on each side, until firm and golden brown. Turn only once. Serve with butter and jam.

notes

*No packaged yeast is needed because the sour dough starter has wild yeast in it.
This can be made without sour dough starter by adding 1 more cup of water and 1/2 less cup of flour plus 1 package of quick rising yeast.

We used these the next day for breakfast sandwiches, YUM! They will be great for Eggs Benedict too.

sources

Vegan Baking

How Stuff Works

The Kitchen

How To Make Kombucha Step by Step {Recipe Redux} #fermentation

I've been hearing about kombucha for a while now and how amazing it tastes and how good it is for you. I recently got on board the kombucha train and am thrilled to report it is every bit as yummy as I've heard! A friend of mine from work gave me a "SCOBY baby" and my first impression was "ewww" it does look a bit like a little slimy sea creature." After I got over my slight aversion to the little slime ball I set out to brew my first batch of kombucha tea and now, I have several batches going in circulation.

A quick description of what kombucha is all about:

While sugar is needed for the fermentation process, the bacteria and yeast from the SCOBY burn out most of the sugar in the tea, transforming into a  fizzy, sweet and sour fermented drink. I think it tastes quite a bit like a cross between champagne and a not too sweet apple cider. Weird huh?

"SCOBY" is an acronym for "symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast." Which is responsible for turning plain old tea into a healthy probiotic drink, Kombucha.

Probiotics are essential to basic human nutrition. Probiotics are live microorganisms (in most cases, bacteria) that are similar to the beneficial microorganisms naturally found in the human gut. These “good bacteria” are used to prevent and alleviate many different conditions, but particularly those that affect the gastrointestinal tract. 

So you want to try to brew some Kombucha on your own? Awesome! Here's a simple step by step list to get you going. I must say, I was a bit nervous I would mess it up and it would taste awful, I've heard some people say it tasted like vinegar, but it was one of the easiest things I've ever done and tasted wonderfully refreshing!

1. Get your hands on a SCOBY. I asked around and was surprise when a friend of mine from work had been making Kombucha for years and brought me one of her "babies".  I recently saw a brewing kit sold on Williams Sonoma from a company called  Brooklyn Kombucha.  Cultures of Health sells Kombucha starter kits although their SCOBY's are dehydrated which is sketchy in my opinion and some people, including my uncle who has been brewing Kombucha for years had trouble getting them to activate.  SCOBYS are fairly sensitive so I recommend asking around to find a friend who has one. Just be sure to have them send the SCOBY home in a glass jar, covered in at least a half cup of Kombucha tea. (It’s important the SCOBY does not dry out and the tea is useful for making your first batch.)

2. Brew a batch of tea with 2 tea bags or 1 1/2 teaspoons loose, preferably black or green tea with 2 1/2 cups filtered water. Do not bring water to a full boil. Remove water from heat, pour into a sterilized quart sized glass jar. Add 1/4 cup sugar, stir to dissolve. Add tea bags. Place a clean washcloth or cheese cloth. Avoid teas that contain oils, like earl grey or flavored teas. Let the tea cool to room temperature! You can remove the tea bags/leaves after 10 minutes or when it comes to room temperature about 4 hours later. The heat can destroy the live organisms in the SCOBY.  

3.  Pour the starter tea that came with your SCOBY into your freshly brewed tea and stir with a wooden or plastic spoon, NO METAL. Using a wooden or plastic spoon, or your hands clean and rinsed with vinegar, add SCOBY to the glass jar. Cover with cheesecloth and secure with a rubber band.  

4.  Store the jar in a safe place, preferably between 70F-80F (your pantry should be fine, keep it out of direct sunlight) with good air circulation and not near any other fermenting foods or drinks. 

5. Let it sit unbothered for 7-10 days. On day 7 taste the Kombucha and see if it is sweet enough. It should be sweet and fizzy. 

6. To keep the cycle going (that's a good thing!) Make 2 new batches of tea following above directions.  

7. With clean hands, also rinsed in vinegar to remove any bacteria place the new SCOBY onto a plate rinsed in vinegar. During the fermentation period, the baby SCOBY grows and creates another thin layer, the new baby. Usually they stay together, floating at the top of the jar and you need to gently peel them apart. Sometimes the baby will float to the bottom, that's o.k. too. It depends on the type of tea, container and conditions it's in. 

8. Measure 1/2 cup from your brewed Kombucha and stir in into your freshly brewed, cooled tea. Separate your new tea into 2, quart size glass jars. Place the 2 SCOBYS, mother and baby one into each of the 2 containers of cooled tea. 

 9. Either drink the remainder of the finished Kombucha or store in an airtight container in the refrigerator which will stop the fermentation process. If you want to add berries, fresh fruit or fresh ginger {ginger ale!} do so now and either place in the fridge or if you want it to get fizzier keep in the pantry. Just remember if you add anything to the Kombucha and keep it in the pantry you will need to add a few more tablespoons of sugar or it will become vinegary.

photo source

Day 7. Can you see the mother and baby starting to separate? 

Important Tips:

No metal! My friend and mom even suggest removing your rings when you handle the SCOBY.

Rinse your hands in vinegar before handling. Any germs on your skin will multiply like crazy during the fermentation process. 

You can make bigger batches if you want, one SCOBY will ferment any size container. 

Finished Kobucha will keep in the refrigerator for around a month. 

SCOBY's will last a very long time if handled with care. If it becomes dark and discolored or looks icky, toss it.

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