lazy saturday

I got to sleep in a bit which was a welcome change from all of the early-rise-and-run-around I've been doing all week.

I made sourdough pancakes for breakfast from my sourdough starter which is starting to smell and taste a little more sour as it matures. I made up the recipe and will have to continue to tweak it a bit but the results were rather tasty.

Sourdough Pancakes

1 C. sourdough starter
1 C. fresh ground soft white flour
1 C. water
2 t. vanilla
1 t. baking powder (I think I needed more)
1 t. salt

mix together
let rest 10 minutes
cook

I did learn that when working with fresh whole grain flours and making pancakes you need to flip them as soon as the bubbles appear on the edges. Otherwise the pancakes will burn. I followed that and these came out perfectly browned. Very tasty but I think if I try again with more baking powder they will rise more which I would like. Served with melted butter and warmed maple syrup they were delicious.

After breakfast I took a big mug of tea back to bed with me and curled up to read my newest find from the library, The Bread Bible. What a luxury and a joy to sit quietly curled in bed reading this book. I really like it and think I'm going to have to buy it for my own personal library. The writing is very clear and I like the fact that the author, Rose Levy Beranbaum, talks about not liking sponges at first and then explaining all the different types, how she uses them and how they work (that's as far as I've gotten in the book). I flipped through to see some of the recipes and they look really lovely, can't wait to read through but I'm enjoying the beginning of the book as well.

I think I am going to try one of her sourdough recipes tonight; I was planning on baking tomorrow and instead of the recipe I was going to make I'll use my starter with a recipe from the book, we'll see how it turns out.