Oregon Trail Sourdough

[Schwert]

Last year a fellow I know from another forum mentioned that the Oregon Trail Sourdough Preservation Society would send out a packet of starter for a nominal donation. I promptly sent off a SASE and a couple of bucks. I got my little packet of yeast starter which I then proceeded to file away in a safe spot never to be found again. Well Sunday before last, I was digging around in the office for something and my letter with the yeast appeared.

No time like the present I thought, so I moved my sourdough starter to a different container, washed up the old bean pot and then started up the Oregon Trail stuff. Flour and water, nurtured in a Bain Marie all day Sunday and mornings and evening for a week….I got a slow slow slow bubbling brew with constant feeding with flour and gentle warming. Saturday I made sourdough biscuits. Flavorful as all get out but flat as pancakes…just no lift in this starter, but MUCH better flavor than my stuff. So I decided to add a few dried potato flakes to the starter. I goosed the mix on Sunday and by Monday morning I could tell my Oregon Trail Sourdough was much happier, so I double boosted the potato flakes last night…….

Allright….gas and flavor now. I highly recommend this starter, it is vastly superior in flavor to my starter that I have been using for quite some time. This one is reported to have come from a long line back to the 1800's. Even if that is a bit of hyperbole, it is still a richly flavored starter that does seem to like potatos.

I will try out my biscuits again this weekend now that this one is working nicely.

This starter can be found here:

http://home.att.net/~carlsfriends/

 

[led]

Intriguiing, I might send of for some. On a related note, I remember from my childhood that my Aunt had what she called a yoghurt plant. As far as I can remember, this was quite a thick doughy mass that was put into warm milk, making yoghurt. The culture was thinned out every now and then as it grew. Anybody else heard of this, as I've never been able to track it down since.

 

[Schwert]

This weekend I made some sour dough biscuits with baking powder (not natural rise) using the Oregon Trail starter essentially as a flavoring agent.

Night before:
1 cup Oregon Trail starter
flour
potato flakes
water to a very soft dough
cover and let work

Next morning
About 1 cup flour
3-4 T butter cut into flour with a pastry wire
1.5 t baking powder
salt

add to starter sponge and mix quickly
add enough milk to make it right
only add enough flour to fold this over to a soft dough…do not knead it
roll out and cut rounds, work excess and cut again

Bake at 450 deg for about 12 minutes


After breakfast I made a batch of sourdough cinnamon rolls. This is essentially a sweet biscuit dough done up like a jelly roll with cinnamon and brown sugar.

The complete recipe (or at least one similar) is in my sourdough article so I will not give the details, but they were good. This sourdough has developed an excellent flavor which is great in both the sweet rolls and salty biscuits.

These biscuits or the sweet rolls are some of my favorite walking foods. A cup of tea made in the Kelly Kettle and a couple of rolls can really make my morning. A biscuit or two with cheese for lunch and I am set.

 

[Keith_Beef]

Sounds yummy.

I'm sitting down here in the cellar, with the delicious smell of parsnip cake (we were out of carrots) wafting down...

My Mom used to make a thing called "Herman cake", presumably named after Herman Munster.

It was a yeast colony that she would feed on flour and a pinch of sugar. When it had grown enough, she would take out two small cupfuls of it; one to pass on to a friend, and another to start a new batch. The rest would be mixed with raisins and be baked into a cake.

I think that this is the same as what some know as "friendship cake".


Keith.

 

[Schwert]

The Oregon Trail Sourdough continues, this time with an Iris Soda bread derivative.

Night before:
1 cup starter (or as Keith says a bit of the friendship cake precursor)
potato flakes ~3T
flour ~1/4 cup or enough
to make a thick batter, this should rise up to a 3 cup sponge by morning if all is well. This must be sour for this one to work.

Next morning in a bowl
1 cup whole wheat flour
5T butter cut in with pastry wire
1 t soda
1/2 t salt
1T sugar
a bit of milk (buttermilk would be ideal for its pH)
stir
add the sourdough sponge and mix quickly. Turn a few times in some excess flour but do not knead much.

Shape and lay on a floured sheet. Sprinkle some sea salt on top and slash.
Bake until done at 375.

The acid base reaction plus some steam makes this loaf rise...so if your starter is not acid, you can add a bit of vinegar to the sponge prior to mixing it with the dry ingredients.

Excellent with cheese, sausage, soup or even peanut butter.

Not too dense, but enough to hold together for a great trail lunch.