Fried Sourdough Starter Recipe — Meadowlark Journal (2024)

FAQs

Can I fry my sourdough starter? ›

Making Fried Sourdough Starter really couldn't be easier! You'll find the full recipe quantities and instruction for how to make this recipe with and without caramelized onions below in the recipe card. This recipe begins with preheating a cast iron skillet over medium-low heat with 1 Tablespoon avocado oil.

Sourdough baking's history dates back to the ancient Egyptians — and interestingly, a man named Seamus Blackley, alongside a team of archaeology and microbiology experts, managed to revive 4,500-year-old yeast microbes from ancient Egyptian bread-making vessels housed in a Boston museum.

Some early miners were even known to sleep with starters in their pockets on cold nights so that the yeasts and bacteria didn't freeze to death—giving the prospectors a somewhat sour smell, which may also be part of the reason they earned the sourdough nickname.

A 1:1:1 ratio would be 40 grams of starter, 40 grams of water and 40 grams of flour for instance. A 1:5:5 ratio would be 40 grams of starter, 200 grams of water and 200 grams of flour. In the 1:1:1 mixture you start the fermentation with more bacteria and yeast in comparison to the 1:5:5 ratio.

A pinch of salt either in the starter or on top afterward makes it even better. The result is a super fluffy, sour, savory pancake / fried bread that is ready by the time I finish making a pour over coffee.

If you think you killed your starter with heat, always use a probe thermometer to take the temperature in the center of the starter. If it is below 130F/54C it is still alive, even if it was exposed to a higher oven temperature for a short time.

For most bakers, the answer is a clear no. Maurizio Leo, author of the award-winning bread cookbook The Perfect Loaf, still uses the first starter he ever made; it's now 12 years old. And while he's sentimental about that starter, he says its age doesn't really impact his bread.

The age of the sourdough culture

A fresh starter will produce milder bread while a more mature sourdough starter will create a more sour dough.

Sourdough breads gave way to bread with commercial years in the 19th Century, as it was quicker to make. However, in the 1980s the world began to see a resurgence in the ancient fermented bread and it's now enjoyed by millions every day across the world.

Alaskans so identify with sourdough that long-time residents are often called “sourdoughs” and numerous businesses in Alaska use the word to emphasize their experience or longevity, from Sourdough Fuel (heating specialists) to Sourdough Sue's (yurt purveyors).

Why is sourdough so popular in Alaska? ›

Sourdough is most associated with pioneers, but the Alaska Gold Rush made Sourdough bread famous, as it was the most popular and practical food for the pioneers and prospectors.

You can try to revive it by pulverizing it and adding water, then feeding it on a regular schedule. But if it doesn't respond at all (no growth, no bubbles) after three or four days of twice-a-day feedings, you might as well start over.

If you don't get rid of the excess, eventually you'll have more starter than your feedings can sustain. After a few days, your daily 1/4 cup flour and water won't be enough to sustain your entire jar of starter, and your starter will be slow and sluggish, not much better than discard itself.

The best flour blend for creating a new sourdough starter is 50% whole-meal flour (whole wheat or whole rye) and 50% bread flour or all-purpose flour. I recommend a 50/50 mix of whole wheat flour and bread flour. Why do you need to use these two types of flour?

Compared to whole wheat flour, rye flour is said to be the most nutrient- and amylase-dense option for a sourdough starter. Overall, it has a lower gluten protein content than wheat flour, which means it produces slack, sticky, and dense doughs.

You shouldn't eat sourdough discard raw but you absolutely can eat it cooked! This sourdough fried bread uses pure sourdough discard for the dough.

Things that Will Kill A Sourdough Starter

High Temperatures - preheating your oven with your sourdough starter inside can lead to your starter's demise - but it would have to be completely baked for it to be completely unresponsive to some TLC.

Depends on when you bake it, hydration level... If you've just fed it, it basically is dough. If you've let it ferment like you normally would when you're about to bake bread then it will likely turn out like over fermented bread.

Melt the butter in the pan on low heat. Once the butter is melted, place the bread slice in the pan, making sure it soaks up some of the butter. Put the heavy lid (or heavy plate) on top of the bread and let it cook on low heat for 2-3 minutes.