Category: Bloody Baking

Sourdough Waffles

WFMH

Listening to: Terminal -Bongripper (my #1 album of the year)

My waffles aren’t perfect, because no one is. 

Holy goddamn fuck are waffles great. Triple the recipe for freezer waffles that will make your cold, dead heart happy that you planned ahead. Remember the post about sourdough? Here’s something to do with the discard or when you just have too much starter that needs to go. This can also be used for pancake batter, but waffles are obviously better. Fight me. 

SD Waffles- Yields 6 sq ft (or about 7 med waffles)

  • 4.5  cups of sourdough starter, ripe or unfed is fine
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 2 Tbsp sugar
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda + 1 T water, combined
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla or maple extract
  1. Heat up your waffler, stovetop or electric are fine. Take a few tokes at this time, as directed by the devastating riffs you’re taking in.
  2. Whisk all of the ingredients together. The baking soda needs to be combined with some water as it’s the only dry ingredient in this recipe and won’t mix in well if only added dry. If the starter is unfed, add an extra tsp of baking soda or the waffles may not fluff up as much. Add any mix-ins like chocolate chips or fruit at this time.
  3. Bake until golden brown. Be patient, it’s hard to not peek. Take in the devastating riffs for a few minutes. If you’re making them for a meal, don’t expect to make a stack and serve it, they won’t last that long. Cool on a wire rack if meal prepping before freezing in ziplock bags. 

There you have it. Pour the batter on to a griddle if you like pancakes better. Either way, your waffles are better than boxed. The tang the starter brings to the waffles is like no other. Depending on how ripe your starter is, you may need to add more baking soda, or your waffles may suffer from a lack of fluffiness. No matter what, don’t you dare think waffles aren’t metal, they have built in cups to hold the liquid nectar of sin. 

Use as a vessel for your newly found jam and jelly making skills, or in the worst-case scenarios your “I tried” fruit syrup. Line up the condiments you want to use in order of flavor intensity and make a waffle buffet. Host a breakfast of booze night with your favorite battle vest-wearing buddies to show off your skills to show off how cool being domestic can be, without being an elitist prick. 

Waffles were one of the first items I learned to make in bulk. My little round waffle iron I picked up at Goodwill was a champ when I was broke in my first apartment and my freezer needed to be filled with easy breakfasts. I have since paid it forward to someone else who needed one and replaced mine with a square stovetop model I acquired from my dad when he was cleaning out some cabinets. Leggo My Eggos are nostalgic, but these will be your new go-to. 

Sourdough Starter- A Different Kind of Pet

WFMH

Listening to: Rituals- Rotting Christ

My SD starter, lovingly-dubbed Rodger, straight out of the fridge.

Step up your baking pleb, it’s time to learn to use sourdough.

This simple magical goop is made of flour, water, and wild yeast that grows on every surface. Pioneers usually made it by accident by leaving out dough and letting it ferment, this was how bread was leavened before commercial yeast was available. Ask me for a piece of my starter, I am happy to share. If you’re far away, you can make your own. Soon it will become a part of your family and will keep you company. Name your new friend and feast upon its cooked flatulence.

Rodger, 8 hours after the first feed right out of the fridge. Right after this pic was taken, he was fed a second time.

Why keep a sourdough starter if I can just get yeast at the store?

Yeast at the store is just fine and works quickly. Sourdough is much less convenient, but the taste it brings to your baking can’t be matched. There’s so much to learn with sourdough recipes and see how you can make more homemade items. The starter I use isn’t particularly “sour” as with commercial bread, but I can taste the tang when I made crackers or pizza dough. 

If you enjoy experimenting with baking the slower, more old-fashioned way, this is for you. Many recipes will call for commercial yeast as well as starter, so don’t dump your packets or jar of commercial yeast just yet!

How to take care of a starter

  1. Find a good sized glass, ceramic, or food-grade plastic crock for your goo to live in. Depending on how much you need, try for at least 1 or 2 qts. 
  2. “Feed” the starter: Use a food-scale to tare your container and set the units to grams. Add all of the starter you have, add equal parts water and flour, in that order. Add the water first, as you can always remove some if you add too much, THEN the flour, as it it much more difficult to remove once it’s incorporated in the mixture. Make sure to mix it very thoroughly until there are no lumps of flour. The yeast that is in the starter now has food, and will start to foam up. 
  3. Keep an eye on the starter. Sometimes it will open the lid to its container and shit all over your counter if it’s really excited. Once it’s really frothy and bubbly, it’s ripe and ready to use. This can take a few hours, depending on how much it’s been fed. 
  4. Keep the starter in the fridge when you’re not going to use it for a few days. Chilling the starter will let the yeast remain dormant if you’re not going to bake for a while. Make sure to bust it out at least the night before you plan on baking and feed it. 
Rodger, 8 hours after the second feed. At this point, before feeding again I discarded 4.5 cups to make waffles for dinner. Fed what remained a third time.

I have too much starter, wat do, WFMH?

Fear not, young headbanger. For baking purposes, you might only need 100g or so of starter, depending on your recipe. You’re going to have a lot extra. Don’t dump the excess, you savage! Plenty of recipes call for “discard” sourdough or unfed starter. I make focaccia, waffles, crackers, popovers, and plenty of items that use the discard. Those recipes will come in due time, my dude.

The only time you want to throw away your starter is if it gets moldy. That, my brutal buddies, is no bueno. If your starter has been in the fridge for a while, you’ll notice that some of it has separated, a sort of black liquid \m/ on the top, which can just be drained off.

Overnight after the third feed, Rodger is getting frothy and light in texture. Fed for a fourth more time after this pic was taken. 

Bread is an expansive topic and can merit its own metal-themed blog, so I’ll only post the basics and my favorite recipes and let you do the rest of the research if you want to get more into it. King Arthur Flour is definitely an authority I refer back to time after time. You can get as fancy and into the hobby as you want, or just do the basics and you’ll still have homemade delicious bread.

Day 2, from fridge to frothy after 4 feeds. This is where you want the starter to be for baking bread or things that need a strong yeast presence, especially if you don’t want to add commercial yeast.

I acquired my starter from the bakery I used to work for and have since shared chunks of my starter with at least half a dozen pals. I named mine Rodger, he is a part of my little family. 

If your bread isn’t perfect the first few times you make it, don’t worry, just repurpose it. Seasoned croutons, bread crumbs, bread pudding, or French toast are all options to reuse sub-par bread. Worst case scenario the bread isn’t great but your house smells like a home.