Sourdough Waffles: The King is Back

Andy and I make a batch of sourdough waffles or sourdough pancakes once a week from our NYC grown, Northampton transplanted sourdough starter.  We do this partially for starter care, to keep it in regular use by supplementing bread baking with breakfast foods, and partially because we are addicted to decadent and hearty breakfasts.

Here's what happened this morning...  Andy got out of bed before me (this almost never happens) and was antsy to whip up a waffle batter.  Since the usual sourdough waffle or pancake recipe comes straight from my head and my head was still half dreaming I told him to try the Sourdough Waffle recipe in King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion** as a jumping off point.

So now, the Pumpkin Queen has been reunited with The King (Arthur) on the UYS.

Andy didn't get too adventurous in his adaptation, only halving their recipe all except for the eggs.  The boy likes eggy waffles.

Sourdough Waffles
Adapted from King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion
Yields about 8 round seven-inch waffles

Sponge
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup buttermilk (we used powdered buttermilk/water)
1/2 cup sourdough starter

Batter
2 large eggs
1/4 stick butter, unsalted and melted
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Combine all the ingredients for the sponge and let it sit for as little as 5 minutes and as long as 8 hours.
Beat together the eggs, butter salt and baking soda.
Blend the batter mixture into the sponge.
Know your waffle iron and spray or butter it for the first waffle if it tends to get grabby.

Last nights homemade whipped cream (that topped KAF's Classic Pumpkin Pie)
turned into whipped butter this morning

Notes and Variations:
So, the waffle batter I typically throw together is a bit thicker than this one, my liquid to flour ratio is closer to the one we use for pancakes.  I noticed that with this thinner batter there is a fine line to walk in terms of filling the waffle iron.  It's a line well worth walking because the waffles turn out so perfect once you figure out exactly how much batter to add.  Just be aware, overfill and you get spill over, under fill and you get hole-y waffles.

Exhibit A

What I really love about this recipe, besides that is makes delicious, light waffles, is that you can let the sponge sit overnight if you've planned ahead for waffles, or "for whatever shorter time span is practical."  That's a big deal.

Some variations I plan to try in the future are supplementing a tablespoon of applesauce for half the butter and adding some ground flaxseed to the sponge.  And clearly I'm nuts for lots of fruit and nut combos.

I'm wa-full,
Sarah

**This book is one of the best gifts I've ever received.  I am so lucky to have great cousins to gift it to me.  Thanks!  If it's not on your bookshelf already I recommend you put it on your birthday/holiday wish lists and wedding registries ASAP.

Egg Salad Should Not Be Feared

Egg salad just sounds weird. I'll admit - I hadn't tried it until about 6 years ago (yikes! okay so maybe it was a while ago, but now I feel old so lets pretend that's not so long) when miss Emily Ann, one of the most wonderful people on this planet, picked me up to go to a DMB concert in Saratoga.  We were rising seniors in High School.  This was going to be a great road trip.  And Em brought the snacks - they were typical high school fare: Cheetos, Tostitos, and...egg salad???!!!

It freaked me out.  Em was sitting there, happily dipping her chips in the egg salad, when I said "hm, if Em can do it, so can I."  And it was love ever since.

As someone who's keeping to a semi-vegetarian, mostly pescatarian (and sometimes just plain omnivorous, but that's only sometimes) diet, I love that egg salad is a viable sandwich option without being only veggies. It doesn't need to be creepy and smooth, either.  Celery adds a delicious crunch and keeping the mayo to a minimum lets the egg flavor shine - whatever that means.

Anyway, here's the recipe you'll need to make the perfect egg salad sandwich:

Egg Salad
Makes 2 sandwiches
(printable recipe here)

5 hard-boiled eggs (cold or room temp)
1 tablespoon mayo
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2-1 rib of celery, diced
salt and pepper to taste
optional (but recommended in any combination):
dash of curry powder
dash of paprika
dash of cayenne

Place the whole eggs in a mixing bowl.  I prefer to use 3 whole eggs and 2 whites  because the texture of hard-boiled yolks doesn't necessarily tickle my fancy, but that's entirely up to you.  Don't worry - when I'm at home I feed the yolks to the Boofer and the Doofer (my dogs, Breeze and Knight respectively), because yolks make their coat nice and shiny.  Here I feed them to the compactor, which is slightly less economical but it's two yolks, okay?  Give me a break.

Add in the rest of the ingredients and get to chopping and mixing with a fork.  Keeping the eggs whole at first allows you to keep chunks in the egg salad so it's not so smooth.  Refrigerate the salad until cold and then serve it on a slice of Sar's amazing sandwich bread (toasted if you're not bringing it to work!).  Adding a leaf of lettuce would complete the sandwich, but I ate all of our lettuce last night soo...my sandwich was 100% pure egg salad.  And, I'll say it.  It was "egg-cellent".

Disclaimer:  The egg salad sandwich photo is NOT of my sandwich...in case you were confused.  It's of a sandwich that Sar made weeks ago on another loaf of bread and with cucumbers.  But I'll have you know the egg salad was just as delicious that time as it was this time...and I gobbled it up so quickly this time there wasn't a moment free to take a picture.  I figured a Blackberry photo from work during lunch wouldn't cut it.

-Lil

The Geography of Whole Wheat RAISED Waffles

Yeasted is not a word.  But let's not get nit-picky.  Let's talk geography, not grammar.

What American's know as a "Belgian Waffle" in Belgium is actually called the Brussels Waffle.  Belgian waffles, like Belgian draft horses, are different from your average breed of waffle in that they are super tall.    The trick to a true Belgian waffle is that the bread-er uses yeast to raise the waffles.  I don't think that's what the breeder uses to make the horses over a ton but who knows.  Everything is bigger in Belgium.  (?!)  This Belgian, Maurice Vermersch (I don't know how big he was.  Probably huge if he went along with the horses/waffles trend), introduced the waffle during the 1964 NY World's Fair and decided to call it the Belgian waffle upon observing the poor geographical skills of Americans.

The world according to The New Yorker (and perhaps even an understatement of how New Yorkers see it):

AND Manhattan is getting BIGGER according to this NYTimes article on the new subway maps!

Whole Wheat Raised Waffles  Adapted from Orangette - who got the recipe from Marion Cunningham's The Breakfast Book

(Printable Recipe)
Yields about 4-5 batches of waffles (depends on size and configuration of waffle maker)

1/2 cup warm water

1 package active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)

1 teaspoon sugar

2 cups whole milk

1 stick unsalted butter, melted*

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

2 large eggs, beaten

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

The night before, mix the water, yeast and sugar and let stand for 5-10 minutes.

Measure and mix the milk, butter, salt and flours.

Combine with yeast and let stand overnight.  Use a large mixing bowl since the batter will double in size.

In the morning, preheat your waffle maker.

Just before cooking, beat 2 eggs with baking soda and mix into batter.

Cut fruits (we used banana, blueberry, strawberry and apple) can be added on top of the batter after it has been poured into the waffle iron.  

Fruit is optional, but highly recommended.  It's your thing, do what you wanna do.  If you get some fruit stick-age to the iron just let it be part of the next waffle if you cannot remove it gently.

*The next time I use this recipe I will substitute 3/4 cup apple sauce and use only 1/4 stick (2 tablespoons) of butter.  They were delicious and crispy BUT we don't need need to raise cholesterol for raised waffles.

We bought a new waffle iron for my dad as an early fathers day gift.  I had read the Cook's Illustrated waffle iron reviews without consulting my mother.  Both of us went out shopping without communicating and fortunately, only she was successful.  Worst case scenario, we would have had to make space for a waffle maker in our tiny UES apartment.  God forbid.

But anyways, my mom found the Food Network Signature Series waffle maker.  So Aaron and I presented it to my dad, because we love him, and so that I would have an excuse to take the maiden voyage with the waffle maker.  Much of making good waffles is in knowing your waffle maker.  The first few came out a little bit soft to our liking and so we learned to ignore the first "beeeeep" for the second.  There was some talk about how perhaps the trick is when you stop getting steam and that if you are adding fruit, be sure to leave the waffle on (without peeking) for a bit longer.  It's hard to ignore, especially for notoriously impatient New Yorkers, but well worth the wait.

New Yorkers are so rushed that tourists get their own sidewalk lane:

This post is happening from my country home on Freund's Farm in Connecticut.  Although we live in New York now, Lil and I were both raised in the beautiful Northwest corner of CT (aka the NWC).  I think at least part of our patience for bread can be attributed to our country roots because it definitely has nothing to do with trying to squeeze onto the 6 train at 8AM (the 2nd avenue subway is coming!!!)

For those loyal NYC reader(s), just wondering, do you know about the Wafels and Dinges truck?  (And is it weird to ask a question to cyberspace?)  I see it up by 116th on the West Side occasionally.  Just smelling the waffles is at least 2000 calories.  The owner makes them so authentic that he even spells them "wafels" instead of waffles.  Pretty legitimate.  For my melting pot taste buds, these buttery whole wheat raised waffles were fantastic.

Thank for sharing your waffles, Belgium.  Sorry American's tend to not care where in the world you are.  I suppose if you wanted us to know, you should have kept the waffle to yourself so we'd have to travel for them.  No going back now.

- Sarah

P.S. Belgium borders the Netherlands, Germany, and France.  The capital city, Brussels, is essentially due East of London.  Start at home and practice your USA geography:

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Buttermilk French Toast on Challah

Holla!  French Toast!

Buttermilk Challah French Toast

(Printable Recipe)

Yields 9 slices French Toast

9 1/2 to 1 inch slices of Challah Bread 

6 eggs

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 heaping tablespoon orange zest

Pinch of cloves

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

First slice up the bread in about 1/2 inch slices

Whisk together all ingredients either in a low, flat pyrex, or transfer the liquid to something that you can fit slices in to soak.
Let them soak for up to 5 minutes.
Cook over a medium-low flame.

If you don't have a griddle, like us, you can turn the oven on really low and keep the slices warm until they are all cooked.  They like to be cozy in a pig pile of French Toast.

Top with Strawberry-Orange syrup, fresh fruit, and a drizzle of maple syrup and brunch is ready!

Strawberry-Orange Syrup

(Printable Recipe)

2 tablespoons fresh squeezed orange juice

1 tablespoon maple syrup

3/4 cup cut strawberries

Put it all in a pot and cook until it looks like mush.  

- Sarah

Challah with Poppy Seeds

Challah bread is a braided, eggy loaf eaten by Jewish people on Shabbat and other holidays.  I would argue that it also makes the best bread for French Toast.  

I adapted this recipe from King Arthur Flour to be more whole wheat-y.  Partially because we ran out of all purpose flour and partially because whole wheat is healthier anyways.  "Whole wheat" means that the entire grain was ground with all parts intact - the germ, endosperm, and bran.  All-purpose white flour is ground from endosperm only.  When all parts of wheat (whole wheat) are ground to become flour, there is significantly more nutritional value (i.e. antioxidants, fiber, etc).  

We love a good grain in this apartment.  

Braided Challah Bread with Poppy Seeds

Yields one huge loaf

Time about 3 1/2 hours

Sponge

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup warm water

2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Dough

1 cup bread flour

4 teaspoons vital wheat gluten 

2 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour

3 tablespoons water (or milk if you are not going parve)

1 3/4 teaspoons salt

1/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 whole eggs and one yolk

3 tablespoons whole wheat flour

Wash

1 egg white

1 teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon water

Poppy Seeds (Poptional)

First, whip up the sponge.  

Let it be for 45 minutes.  

About 30 minutes after the sponge has been sitting, start to combine your dry dough ingredients in a large mixing bowl (with the exception of the 3 tbs whole wheat flour).  Stir them together.  In a separate bowl, mix together the wet ingredients.  Slowly add the sponge to the dry, stirring, and then add the wet ingredients to the sponge/dry mixture.  

Dump onto a whole wheat floured surface (use the 3 tablespoons*use more/less if you need* on your surface, the dough, and your hands).

Knead until the dough comes together.  Make sure you wash your hands and the surface well afterward since we are dealing with raw eggs.  This dough feels smoother on my hands than a dough without as much egg/oil.  

Shape the dough into a ball.  Lightly oil a bowl and turn the dough around so the whole surface gets oily.  

Let is rise until doubled about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Whip up your wash at some point while the dough rises.  

Now, for the braiding.  What to choose?  Fishtail, french, topsytail?

I went with a fancy four-braid.  If you are doing this with as a three-braid your rope will be longer.  

Divide the dough into four equal pieces.  Roll the dough into long ropes-- over a foot and under two feet.  About 16-18 inches if you are making a four braid, longer if you are only using three.  

Braid your dough.  One way to make a four piece braids is to take the left-most and go over the strand directly to its right.  Then take the right-most and go over the two middle strands.  Repeat, left-most over one to the right (KAF four-braid technique description).  Right-most over two to the left.  If that is confusing try these ways until you figure out what works for you:

Weaving

1-2-3-4: 1 over 2, 3 over 1 and 2

Once you're all braided, wash with egg wash, cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for about 45 minutes to 1 hour.  Preheat the oven to 375°F during this time.  Right before the challah goes in the oven give it a second go with the egg wash (this is what gives you that nice shiny crust).  Add poppy seeds now if you'd like.  

Bake at 375°F for 35-40 minutes.  Always let bread cool completely before you cut into it.  

Shabbat Shalom

- Sarah

Sourdough Pancakes II

A while ago I made my first batch of Sourdough Pancakes.  They were awesome and I have craved them several times since.  Unfortunately, my craving usually strikes early in the morning.. and then I am all deflated when I realize the batter needs to sit overnight.  
So, after several disappointing pancake-less mornings, I realized I should just look up a recipe for same-day Sourdough Pancakes.  This Joe Pastry recipe caught my eye because it doesn't call for any additional flour or water -- it's all stater!  

I adapted the recipe a little bit because 2 cups of starter would make a huge tower of pancakes for two people.  Even halved, this recipe could potentially serve 3-4 people especially if you make a hefty portion of scrambled eggs and strawberry syrup.  

Same-day Sourdough Pancakes topped with Strawberry Syrup and served with Scrambled Eggs
(Printable Recipe)

Use:

1 cup ripe sourdough starter

1/2 egg (+other half and extras for scrambled eggs on the side)

1 tablespoons sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon baking soda combined with 1/2 tablespoon water

1. Measure starter into a bowl. 

2. Combine baking soda and water and let sit while you mix together all other ingredients in a separate bowl.  Reserve the other half of the egg separately for some scrambled (or your favorite style) eggs.

3. Fold the sugar, salt, oil, and 1/2 egg mixture into the starter.  Then, stir in the baking soda water.  

4. The mixture should bubble/foam.

5. Fry and serve!

Don't forget to scramble up your eggs while the pan is still hot!

Simple Strawberry Syrup
(Printable Recipe)

Use:

Strawberries

Pinch of sugar (optional)

1. Cut up as many strawberries as you can eat and pop them into a saucepan over medium heat.

2. Add a pinch of sugar if you feel so inclined.

3. Stir occasionally about 5 minutes.  You'll know when it's done.  HINT: do not use strawberries in photo above to determine done-ness.  Use your other senses.

Top with whipped cream if you are feeling feisty.

Happy Sunday!
- Sarah