Sharing Leroy

I write this knowing its been about 3 weeks since I fed poor Leroy, and I was reading some sourdough tutorials the other day and thought it would be nice if I could start someone else on their own sourdough experience.

Would anyone reading be interested in a small packet of dehydrated starter made from Leroy's discards this week when I feed him (likely on Friday). I will gladly set out a pan of starter to dehydrate if anyone is interested. He's quite gassy and he's developed a nice strong sour flavor in just a few months.

If you're interested - just leave a comment with your email address so I can contact you off blog.

I'll also be spending Friday making some yummy treats to take to the farmer's market on Saturday.

Bacon & Cheddar Popovers, Pepperoni & Cheddar popovers and cookies of some form. If I decide on something good I'll share the recipe here.

Now that fall is here (its only supposed to be in the upper 30s for a low on Saturday) I'll be blogging my cooking efforts again as the heat and humidity won't prevent me from baking & cooking.

I'll also be sharing recipes I've found that I think others will like that I may not be able to eat (those containing mushrooms are a good example).

-frawg

A generic update

First off let me apologize for not updating this sooner. Its been too damn hot. After making a decent sized batch of sourdough bacon muffins a few weeks ago and having to toss all but 2-3 muffins I've really not been in the mood to cook for others lately. That and I haven't had time.

I do want to say I have been promoting the markets of both Orleans & French Lick - far & wide across the interwebs. And will try to get some time to shoot photos this week in Orleans for inclusion in some new recipes and just to keep you updated with everything baking & goings on at the market.

There are plans to try a new recipe later today (yeah its 430am here as I write this and I still need to sleep). If it goes well I'll probably share.

I did have a minor scare with the fate of "Leroy" the sourdough starter in my fridge. Roommate asked me to make some sourdough bread to take to a dinner gathering on Saturday night (this coming) and I took Leroy out of the fridge to feed him so he'd be good & ready for baking with in the morning. Only to discover he had been shoved all the way to the back wall of the fridge and was now frozen solid.

I was not a happy camper when I discovered this - having nearly no experience with sourdough I wasn't sure if he was alive or not - or if he was alive how to resuscitate him. Google to the rescue. He spent 8hrs thawing on the counter, and at 1am I removed the lid and sniffed - he smells stinky like he should...but he wasn't gassy...*shrug* Guess I'll feed him and see how he is in the morning (not enough time to make him into bread by the time its needed but at least I'll know he wasn't killed off.) So he got an high dose of carbs and some water to even things out. Mixed him back up so he was thinner than pancake batter then poured off 1 cup an replenished him with 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup water - will hope he's nice & gassy by morning so I can feed him again a few more times before finding a non-back of fridge hiding spot for him when not in use.

I wasn't the one who moved him - likely he just inadvertently ended up pushed to the back wall and wasn't intentionaly frozen. But let's hope this is the most serious scare I have with him yet.

-frawggie-

Cheesy Bacon Ranch Sourdough Muffins (sort of the 3rd time)

After some trial and error I discovered a great change for the muffins.

You'll need the basics from the 1st recipe:
1 cup sourdough starter (unfed or medium ripeness)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats (don't use quick oats)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt (I accidentally forgot this but my bacon grease was salty so maybe it made up for it?)
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tsp spices of your choice
2 eggs
1/2-3/4c stir-ins - I used a 3oz packet of bacon bits (real bacon) some parmesan cheese and some cheddar cheese - use what you like.
Then you'll need a packet of ranch dressing mix - the powdered dip kind - brand is up to you. I've used Kroger brand and Hidden Valley brand both worked fine.

And  1 cup sour cream - I used all natural sour cream both times - I just like it better in flavor. You could probably substitute greek yogurt or even regular plain yogurt - depending on your preference. Mostly this just adds moisture.

Combine per previous recipe - just add in the extra flavoring/moisture parts and bake as directed.

*NOTE* The added moisture helps make for a lighter weight muffin - but they DO NOT do well in very humid temps like we've been having in the midwest. Made some on a Friday evening - by Monday morning they were green...and not in the good way. Without the added moisture from the sour cream they lasted over a week.

Garlic Bacon Cheddar Sourdough Muffins revisited

While I'm well aware the mistakes I made the first time around making these muffins were all my fault. I can say positively that this round has worked much better - and yay for me I even remembered to take a few photographs of the progress. Few being the key word but well I remembered in the first place is a positive.

Same basic recipe as last time see here Bacon Sourdough Muffins - Take 1 - only not really. I did do some things majorly different.

This time I added almost no other herbs & spices, and there's only about 1/16th of a tsp of salt in the entire recipe and no baking soda so there's limited added sodium other than what existed in the bacon I used. Everything else just added up to be an awesome combination. These would make excellent breakfast for any SCA event requiring a breakfast component and you can make up a ton of the batter ahead of time and keep it in the fridge until the morning of to bake for the crowd. Someday when I get around to making bacon jam - I can state these would probably be even more awesome topped with that heavenly spread.

Here's what I did differently:
For the sauteed onions & garlic I added 1/2-3/4 cup diced sweet onion, and 3 whole cloves of fresh elephant garlic - so about 1/4 cup of garlic finely diced. I added this into a pan of unsalted butter 4tbsp of unsalted butter that had already started to brown a bit, and 1/2 tablespoon of bacon grease for some flavor, about 6 good turns of black pepper on a pepper mill set on medium - coarse, about 10 grains of coarse sea salt, and 1/2tsp dried basil, as this cooked and reduced down a bit I added about 2 heaping teaspoons of grated Parmesan cheese stirring gently (note here this smelled good enough to eat out of the pan - and I'm not the biggest fan of onion/garlic sauteed).

I let it all cook down until the onions & garlic were nice & golden brown and a little crispy. Removed this mixture from the heat to cool to room temp. I wasn't sure how much mixture I'd have in the end so I poured it into a temporary container to cool to room temp (so as not to kill Leroy like I did last time). And so I could get the mix going.

Next I poured in the starter I would use 1cup so I could get about 18 larger muffins, and then fed Leroy & stuffed him back in the fridge. Since I knew these would turn out better I doubled his feeding so I could have more of him for next time - possibly as early as Thursday or Friday.

I doubled the basic recipe Laura had given me originally. Though I did end up adding about 3Tablespoons of water to the mix just so it wasn't quite so dry and thick given how much additives I was going to add in. I mixed the dry ingredients and substituted baking powder for the baking soda in the original recipe so as not to kill off leroy again. No extra salt other than in the saute. I added the eggs (2 this time) and the oil - so I had a basic flavorless batter. I then added in the entire mix of onions & garlic and the oil from its sauteing about 3-4tbsp depending on your original measurements plus the saute liquid. Then about 2/3 cup each of mozzerella and sharp cheddar cheeses - finely shredded and another 2 Tablespoons of parmesan. (I wanted cheesy muffins dammit).

I folded gently and filled each paper lined muffin cup about even with the edge and then baked per instructions.

During the last 5 minutes of baking I topped each muffin with a sprinkling of both mozzerella and sharp cheddar cheeses to bake on a nice crispy melty cheesy topping.

Fresh out of the oven these are so dense, chewy and garlicky good that its hard to describe. One should be plenty but I think I'll have another soon so I can show you what the inside looks like.

They're flavorful without being so overpowering that you'd be afraid to eat them for lunch at work. Garlic flavor without the pungent after-breath.

I think if I get enough sales at Market that I'll have to make a quad batch of these to take to Simple Day in July...even if you don't like sourdough anything you'll like these.

frawggie

Upcoming Market Edibles List

Since I have no set income I have to remember to buy things when I have money. This includes baking supplies for making yummy things for the market. Had to get hot dog buns for dinner and while I was staring at herbs & spices to stick in the muffins I didn't end up getting made today a thought hit me. No not physically though they do do that sometimes. I realized I had enough cash on hand to get some stuff for upcoming market goodies and so I did.

If I can get a working formula going - and can perfect it I have plans to make bacon flavored hard candy - no your eyes do not deceive you, no I didn't make a typo yes you saw bacon candy. I've had similar elsewhere and it was delicious and I'd like to learn to make hard candy anyway so why not start with bacon.

Also on the agenda for upcoming markets are a list of goodies in no particular order other than my brain said - 'type this now':

Pumpkin Butterscotch Cloud cookies - my version
Old Fashioned Coconut Macaroons - not the french little hard sandwich cookie no the puffy balls of coconut baked golden brown...those!
Indestructible fudge - if I had my friend Angi's address I'd be suffering the leg pain tonight and standing up to make this just so I could send it to her - she's hospitalized after her 8th back surgery. I'd love to brighten her day but I don't have her address.
Peanut butter cup cookies - I can't tell you yet - I have to test these first - as in make a batch, eat them and then see if they're sale-able.
Homemade Moonpies - MOON PIES - not whoopie pies (though I know how to do those too) - sadly this will probably have to wait until like September - it needs to be moderately not stifling and also not over 45% humidity...er something like that.

A variety of candy type sweets - mostly caramels and hard candy - but for which I have some practicing to do and uh molds to buy.

Sourdough Chewy Granola bars - someday when I need to feed Leroy and have had $ to stop at Sahara mart and get nuts.  (note that says get nuts not GO nuts - I'm already there).
And many more things including a series of things from my Swedish cookbook. Now if only I had $10 extra on paypal so I could buy my bicarb. No I don't mean sodium bicarb...sadly I NEED to buy another container of Ammonium Bicarbonate aka Baking Ammonia (look on most major commercially produced baked goods lately especially lower sodium versions of things) its in there somewhere. I know Little Debbie uses it a lot. I'll explain further in another blog.

Frawggie who is being good and resting her sore leg.

Here's hoping...

Due to a lot of people inquiring about what is on my to-try-cooking list especially one item in particular. All I can do right now is suggest you wish for cooler days with less humidity here in southern Indiana.

For the one item everyone wants to know about - you'll have to wait. I cannot make these in humid weather - I know this from making the filling, during my cooking experiments growing up. Marshmallows + humid = fail. I'll have to wait until a drier cooler week to try my hand at Homemade Double Decker Moon-Pies. Yes I'd be bringing these to market - hence why the need for cooler days.

The list of things I want to try eventually is about 10 pages of recipe names and locations in MSWord - yes 10 pages. Most of it is muffins, cupcakes, snacks, and yes there's healthy stuff in there too.

I'm also going to be posting some recipes I haven't tested myself but that other friends have recommended to me, and that I think others might find useful - mostly those will be gluten-free recipes or things I have a digestive intolerance of or allergy to - mainly anything involving mushrooms.

I'll compile my next ten things I'd like to try - a wishful thinking list - one that assumes I have both the extra money, time and cooperative weather conditions and post it in a new post sometime today or tomorrow. Keep your eyes peeled (and hope for cooler, drier weather so I can make moonpies).

frawggie

Banana Crumbcake Muffins

You know we've all done it. Bought bananas thinking we'll eat them and they either don't appeal to us after we buy them or they ripen too fast and we don't get the chance. Rather than let them go to waste - there were 5 large ones after all, I decided I'd make something out of them.

I'm not a huge fan of banana bread, mostly because it was the one fruit-inclusive thing I could get the ex to eat so it got made often, too often. That and I prefer my bananas fresh from their bright yellow wrapping. I knew muffins would be a good choice because they're portable, and being tomorrow is the Orleans Farmer's Market hosted by Orange County Homegrown so I figured I can sell what didn't get eaten at the house. Being I'm the only one with any affinity for banana bread here its likely the majority will go to market.

This recipe is short, sweet and to the point, sort of. I used a recipe found here that I modified in a few ways as you'll see below. I again used a spice blend from SpiceEmporium on etsy that I don't see listed but was their "For the Holidays" blend that you can probably ask for, it contains cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, ginger & vanilla bean. It gives anything calling for cinnamon a lovely depth of flavor.

I had 4 large bananas going on their last days hanging from the banana hook and 1 banana that was further gone than those 4 but the flesh inside was just right. In all I had a LOT more banana than I think the original recipe intended. But they turned out very moist & very tasty.

Banana Crumbcake Muffins
Makes 15-18 large muffins

1 1/2 - 2 cups all purpose flour (you can probably use any type of flour you want including whole wheat)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4-1/2 tsp salt (how much you use is up to you) I used 1/4 t and they worked fine
3-5 bananas, mashed (the more banana mixture you use the more flour you might need to add)
2 tsp For the Holidays spice blend or 2tsp mixed spices (such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger)
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp vanilla bean (the black goo from inside fresh vanilla beans), or 1tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
3/4 cup white sugar
1/3 cup oil (I used vegetable, canola or even olive oil should work)
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Crumb topping:
2 Tbsp flour
1/3 cup brown sugar (doesn't need to be tightly packed but it does help)
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1/8 tsp vanilla bean (the black goo from inside fresh vanilla beans)
1 Tbsp butter (not margarine butter works better)

----------------------------------
Preheat oven to 350F. Line 15-18 muffin cups with paper (or foil) liners, or spray your muffin pans well with cooking spray.

In large bowl mash the bananas, mix in 1/8 tsp vanilla bean goo, spice blend, and cardamom, egg, and white sugar, stir until blended. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and oil, combine well. Mixture will be slightly thinner than cake batter. Mine was nearly liquid so I added an extra half cup of flour (originally 1.5 c), a little at a time until it was the right consistency. Mixture will be lumpy with the banana mush.

Scoop into prepared muffin pans until about 3/4 full (more or less to suit means more or less muffins/bigger/smaller sized muffins).

Set aside. In small bowl combine crumb topping ingredients with fork blending until the mixture forms a streusel like topping. Sprinkle crumb topping evenly over each muffin top. Bake muffins at 350F for 20-25 minutes or until pick inserted in middle comes out MOSTLY clean. Due to the high moisture content of these mine were solid and darkening on top but the pick test was a 'mostly clean' result, vs a dry perfectly clean pick. My total cooking time was just under 20 minutes. If you have more than one muffin pan, rotate pans halfway through cooking to ensure even doneness.

Let muffins cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove to wire racks for the rest of the cooling time. Store in airtight container.

Mine made 18 large muffins - likely due to the excessive amount of bananas I used. The total banana mixture I had was 2 2/3cups banana mush without the sugar, egg etc added in.

Whole vanilla beans make a huge difference in the flavor of these and most cooking (and you can use the bean two ways, scoop out the guts to add to your baking/cooking, and then recycle the bean by putting it into a light flavorless alcohol such as vodka or rum to make your own extract over time).

These and the Garlic Bacon Cheddar Sourdough muffins will be on our table at the market the weekend of June 4th 2011 if you're in the area come by and pick one up.

frawggie

Garlic Bacon Cheddar Sourdough Muffins

Before I begin reviewing this recipe I have to take a moment to heartily thank Laura Gazarian, the wonderful market manager for both the Orleans and Valley Farmer's Markets that are organized and run by Orange County Homegrown. If it weren't for her encouragement that yes I could in fact start my own sourdough starter, and for her kindly sharing her own recipes for some basic (but incredibly yummy) sourdough bread products, I wouldn't be sharing this adaptation with you.

I hope that in most of the recipes I make and feature here that I can use a majority of locally sourced items in my creations but its just not always possible, but I will note which items are locally sourced when I can.

The locally sourced items in this recipe are:
Garlic from Brambleberry Farm
Green onion from another vendor at the market I can't readily name (sorry I'll find out the name & update the post once I've verified it)
The spice blend I use isn't locally sourced but it is handmade by an etsy vendor, whom I adore.

My title and recipe are inspired by Laura's recipe but all mistakes and revisions are my own. I apologize in advance for not having exact measurements because I learned to cook from my grandmother so I'm used to eyeballing a lot of ingredients for that I humbly apologize and will note the approximate measurements to the best of my ability.

These muffins aren't like any muffin you've ever had. They're not very moist but they are incredibly delicious (roommate & I each had one fresh out of the oven). Their texture is closer to that of a savory scone rather than the traditional muffin. I think I know part of why that might be which I'll touch on later in the blog. They are quite filling and while not entirely healthy in the way I made them I can say they are something I'll make again regardless of whether I sell them at market or not.

The recipe, assume it will make 12 large muffins or 18 medium muffins or probably 36 mini muffins but bite size + these don't really work.
(I doubled the original recipe that Laura gave me so I could make more than the standard 12, I ended up with 18 total and they're slightly smaller than I expected but again I think that's my own fault)

Garlic Bacon Cheddar Sourdough Muffins
(1)
7-8 strips thick cut smoked & cured bacon, cooked*
----------------------------------------------------------
(2)
3-4 regular size garlic cloves, or two large garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
1 small green onion peeled & finely chopped
1/4 cup cold bacon grease (or 1/4 cup salted butter)
--------------------------------------------------------------
(3)
1 cup sourdough starter (unfed or medium ripeness - if unfamiliar just don't feed it yet, pull your 1cup out and then feed it, use the 1cup you'd normally throw away in these muffins, and feed as usual replacing the same amount you took out with half water & half flour)
2 cups all purpose flour (you can do a half & half mix of AP & whole wheat or all whole wheat its up to you)
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats (don't use quick oats)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt (I accidentally forgot this but my bacon grease was salty so maybe it made up for it?)
1/4 cup canola oil (or your choice of cooking oils)
2 tsp spices of your choice *see note 2 at end*
2 eggs
3/4 cup total of additions - to get to about 3/4c I factored in the large amount of garlic & onion I added, plus the 4strips bacon chopped into 1/4inch pieces, and about 1/2 cup freshly shredded sharp cheddar cheese  - adjust to suit your tastes.

(1)
Before beginning the muffin mix preheat oven to 450F, line a 13x9 baking pan with foil, up the sides and higher than a baking rack that will fit in the bottom of the pan (you can use any pan size you like here, its what holds 7-8 slice of bacon for me). Place bacon on the wire rack and place the entire pan in the oven. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until your bacon is desired doneness - watch closely at the end as it will go from undercooked to burnt in a very short time. Remove bacon to paper towels to cool & remove excess grease. Save your bacon drippings when cooled slightly in a reusable container in the fridge. It makes a flavorful oil substitute at the same calories. When bacon is done cooking turn oven down to 350F.

(2) While bacon is cooking, if you have bacon grease left from a previous round of bacon cooking add 1/4 cup cold grease to a non-stick pan on medium-low heat, when its melted and slightly warm, add in the chopped garlic & onion, cooking slowly until lightly browned and softened. Remove from heat, let cool at room temperature at least 5-10 minutes (this is where I think I made my mistake. I wasn't thinking and added the hot bacon grease to my dry ingredients.) Let cool until no longer hot, but not solidified.

(3) Prepare muffin tins with paper muffin liners, you can spray the liners with non-stick spray but I don't think its necessary unless you use more cheese, set aside.

Combine all ingredients except bacon & cheese I folded these in at the end so as not to over mix them. Make sure your bacon grease/garlic & onion mixture is cool enough you can touch it without getting burned (my mistake it was hot off the stove and I think it may have effectively killed off the starter).
Mixture will be very thick, you might need to add a little water to loosen up the batter, depending on how thin your starter was that you added at the beginning, mine was thinner than pancake batter so I didn't add water.

Do not over mix. Gently fold in your bacon & cheese, scoop into prepared muffin cups and bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Mine baked for 11 minutes, I rotated the pans, and then for another 12 minutes - 22 total.

Remove from oven and cool in pans for 1 minute, remove from pans to cool on a wire rack until cool. Store in airtight container.

Mine as listed above made 18 average sized muffins, slightly smaller rise than expected which was disappointing but they're yummy, and very hearty/dense texture.


*Note 1* I used 4 strips of cooked bacon in the muffins, ate 1 myself and roommate snuck one and the other was divided among the cats after the muffins were in the oven, if you're like me and like bacon any time, make extras and use what you like for the recipe.


*Note #2* For spices I used 2 tsp of a type of all purpose spice mix I got through etsy. It includes: garlic, basil, parsley, chives, savory, marjoram, lemon zest, black and cayenne pepper, coriander, mustard & celery seeds, thyme, & cumin. Its really good and it's not expensive - you can buy it here: Salt Free Garlic & Herb Spice Blend.

I hope you all enjoy this recipe and if you try it please post a link to your version, and let me know if you make changes I'm curious to see what everyone comes up with.


frawggie