Sourdough Waffles Recipe

Sourdough Blueberry Waffles 

 

My last blog post talked about an antique waffle iron that has already become a treasured kitchen implement. It's easy to use, the waffles don't stick, and they come out golden brown every time. How could I not love it? Naturally, I've been making sourdough waffles with it, and I thought I should share the recipe.

Waffles made with sourdough are light and delicate. I think they're much better than those made with conventional recipes. Hope you give them a try.

In keeping with other recipes I've been sharing, this one produces two waffles, just right for one or two people. Of course, I haven't figured out how to make waffles camping across country on my motorcycle while doing a book promotion tour for my mystery novel yet. These will have to be made at home, unless anyone has a suggestion that's suitable for camping.

 

Sourdough Waffles Recipe

(Makes two waffles)

For wet ingredients :

One Egg separated and beaten
Set whites aside and to the beaten yolk add...
1/2 cup thin sourdough
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup milk (with cream)
2 tablespoons melted butter

For dry ingredients mix...

1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Stir into wet ingredients a little at a time
Fold in stiff egg whites
Add 1/2 cup blueberries, strawberries, or other fruit

Bake, serve and enjoy.

An Antique Waffle Iron

I know I’ve been writing about cooking on the road, camping with a motorcycle, but there are exceptions to everything, and this blog post is one. A while back, Lesley and I were at a yard sale and I spotted an antique electric waffle iron. I couldn’t resist it. My guess was that it had been made circa the 1940’s. Maybe earlier. For a couple of bucks, why not?

I love old things, but I want to be able to use them. When I was growing up, my sister and I ground breakfast coffee with an antique coffee grinder on a daily basis. I think some of the old things were made better. But, I had to wonder if this waffle iron would actually work,I mean, waffles have been known to stick, and this machine didn’t have a light that would turn off to tell me the waffle was done. Oh well…

The waffle iron came with a small booklet telling how to care for the machine, how to use it, and included a bunch of recipes for waffles. I knew waffles had been around for some time before electric waffle irons came out, my parents had an older one we used on top of a wood stove . You had to pick up the iron and flip the part that held the waffle in order to cook both sides. The little booklet suggested bringing the waffle iron to the table for elegant breakfasts, lunches, and even dinners. The iron was nickel plated, ornately designed, and I could see how it might fit into table settings of prized china and silver for thoroughly "modern" homemakers.

Well, last Sunday I had wire brushed, cleaned and re-cured the iron and declared it to be ready for the acid test. I whipped up a batter, using my sourdough approach, and poured the first waffle. To my delight, it looked beautiful when I lifted the handle. I gently lifted the waffle out—and threw it away. The little booklet said to do that with the first one. That way, you eliminate the risk of getting a tiny fragment of wire brush in one of your waffles. The second one was a keeper. And, it tasted great.

When we go south this winter, we have a waffle iron with Teflon coated grids, timing lights, and a knob to turn to adjust for the desired doneness. The antique waffle iron will stay here along with other old things I love because they were well-built, beautiful to look at, and still work well. But, it was exciting to use it and discover it still worked well. What a treat. Like sourdough, a time-honored thing that gives pleasure in the preparation of food as well as in the consumption. Thanks for visiting my blog.

WHOLE WHEAT SOURDOUGH BISCOTTI

I love tea, and I drink it every afternoon. When I was working nights on a summer job when I was in college, a friend of mine and I shared tea at four o’clock in the morning, (the night worker’s equivalent of four in the afternoon). When I'm on my cross country motorcycle trips, I also have to have my tea in the afternoon. Sometimes it gets combined with a fuel stop at some truck stop. One reason I got in the habit of stopping at truck stops, was so I could have a good, strong cup of tea. Not a problem at a truck stop, since I can make it myself inside the convenience store. Sometimes I make tea at a rest stop, and sometimes I simply pull off the highway where it's wide enough and brew a good cuppa with my camping stove.

Of course, it’s good to eat a little something with tea to combat the effects of the tea’s tannin. That’s where tea biscuits come in. A favorite accompaniment to tea for me, is biscotti. I prefer my biscotti when it’s not too sweet, and I love almond flavoring. Naturally, I had to find out if biscotti could be made from sourdough. It took a couple of attempts and exploration, but I did come up with something really worth the effort. Hope you’ll give it a try and discover how good sourdough biscotti can be for yourself.

Whole wheat sourdough biscotti

1 cup whole wheat flour

¼ cup thin sourdough starter

¼ cup sugar

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon lemon zest

½ stick butter

½ teaspoon almond extract

1 large egg

¼ cup dried cranberries

¼ cup chopped nuts (pistachio, pine, almond, walnuts or pecans)

 

For a small batch of biscotti, cream a half stick of butter with 1/4 cup of sugar. Add ¼ teaspoon of almond extract to the creamed butter and sugar, and then stir in one large egg, lemon zest and ¼ cup sourdough. Mix thoroughly. The sourdough used here is quite thin. Mix your starter with a little water, if necessary, whipping the mixture with a beater or fork until the sourdough loses its pasty consistency and is evenly incorporated into the liquid.

Add a pinch of salt and a rounded ¼ teaspoon of baking soda to 1 cup whole wheat flour and stir together. Mix the flour into the wet ingredients, sprinkling the flour over the wet ingredients a little at a time until it is all incorporated. Add ¼ cup dried cranberries and ¼ cup pistachio nuts (or chopped walnuts, pine nuts, chopped almonds, or chopped pecans if you prefer) as you incorporate the final bit of flour. Knead the mixture on a floured pastry cloth and form it into a sheet about seven inches by three inches, about ¾ to 1 inch thick.

Bake the dough on parchment paper, or a lightly greased pan, in a 350⁰ oven for thirty to forty minutes until done. Let the loaf cool fifteen minutes to a half hour, then cut it into slices ¾ inch thick. Lay the slices face down on the pan and bake again for another fifteen minutes until the slices are just starting to brown. Let cool, prepare a pot of tea and enjoy.