Sourdough pancakes for champions

What to do with your excess sourdough starter? It is really important to keep your sourdough starter going, if you like that kinda thing, but what do you do when you get too much!? Pancakes!!! Requiring a REALLY healthy, super bubbly starter (and thick like a pancake batter, not watery), sourdough starter will cook up a beautiful pancake if your starter is just right. Make sure your starter actually RISES in the container you're keeping it - which means it's thick enough, and bubbly enough.

Grease a pan up with a little butter or your preferred fat, and when hot (but not too hot, just hot enough that a drop of water from your finger hisses nicely, not angrily) pour out a little cake of batter and swirl the pan so it gets as thin as possible. Cook it well on both sides, and that's it!! If it's a little rare on the inside, don't worry, the grain is already fermented, which means that is nearly pre-digested anyways!! These pancakes do require a bit more time to cook though, so it is better to cook on medium-low heat, and have each one sit for about 5 minutes.

Serve up with granola, or your preferred toppings.

Sourdough, Recycled Brown Rice bread!

Throughout the retreat, we started to get a little burdened with leftovers. We weren't sure how to use 2 servings of rice, or a tiny bit of left over vegetables, so we started finding creative ways to use them in our cooking. Here's an application for left over grains, especially non-glutinous! Since we had a celiac person in our retreat, I felt a little bothered that all of our bread had gluten in it (kamut) and so began making brown rice sourdough bread. However, as grains ferment in the process, it doesn't really matter what grain it is, and if it's cooked or not. So I began putting grain leftovers in a large bowl to ferment, and would make them into bread. The first morning I made it, I didn't think it was really anything special, as was kinda weird... however, that same morning I happened to drop an entire scalding hot crock pot full of cooked brown rice congee on the ground while carrying it to the dining hall, and it smashed all over the place (including my bare feet, which gave coincidentally gave me a lovely little liver moxibustion treatment), anyways - I felt so bad that I thought I'd better serve this strange congee bread, and low and behold, they ate all of it - 2 full loaves. They loved it, and I continued making it throughout the retreat from then on.

As it really is a tactile thing to make, and working with leftovers really offers no quantifiable, measurable methodology to making it, I just simply add brown rice sourdough starter to the leftover grains (about 1 cup) and then add fluids to bring it to a batter like consistency, maybe a little wetter. For fluids, I would use leftover, starting to ferment homemade brown rice milk, or some left over vegetable cooking water - as it was a little starchier to help the bacteria nosh on the soon-to-be dough. After a day of sitting, or when I see it rise, I add fresh ground brown rice to bring it to batter consistency, and again, add a little fluid if need be. I think some dry ground grain is necessary to make it tough enough to bake, as the cooked grains were too wet and soft to make a loaf unto themselves. As a batter consistency (maybe slightly firmer than batter) pour into loaf pans and let them rise (you can rise as many times as you like, but it MUST rise in the bread pan before baking), and then when risen (usually in the morning) bake it at 450F for at least an hour. It will be extremely wet and doughy when you take it out, so it MUST cool and set IN the pan for at least 1/2 hour or so, and even still, it might pull apart a little, so be sure to grease your pans and get them out carefully. You can check to see if their done without taking them out of the pan simply by inserting a chop stick and checking to see if any doughy residues remain on the stick. You'll know, and it does take practice to get it right. It took me a whole year to get this down, but then again I didn't know what I was doing when I started! Good luck, and email Whole Foodies for questions if you have them!

The Patient Pizza (sourdough crust)

Above: sponge after rising

Above: sponge before rising

Above: starter when bubbly

The sour flavor enters the Liver - according to Chinese health philosophies, but so does patience, which this recipe calls for quite a bit of - making it very healing for those with swollen stagnant Livers (easily angered, irritable or impatient). Patience is the key to this delicious, important component to any fantasy pizza, as well as a healthy flowing Liver.

The beauty with souring your own food in your house is that you draw on the natural bacteria in your own home, creating a culture that you naturally live with. As healthy bacteria are key to a healthy gut and immune system, this recipe, in essence turns the bacteria in your living environment into your immune system! Making your every breath in your home strengthening for your gut and immunity, rather than fighting the natural bacteria in your house - you turn it into you!! Be one with your home!!

Start by adding 1/4 cup of whole grain flour (I used spelt) in a CLEAN jar (remember, you will spawn whatever bacteria are growing in there) with 1/4 cup water and dropped in a raisin. Choose organic, cause harsh chemicals on the surface of the raisin (sprays) can potentially kill your bacteria - and the naturally occurring bacteria on the surface will be healthier (the bacteria are the white film normally seen on grapes, raisins, cabbage, etc). I also stirred in one capsule of a digestive enzyme to start the fermenting - but you can spit in it to get it started too. Haha.. just kidding... but really it works. I haven't tried it. Gross.

Put a lid on the jar LOOSELY so you can draw bacteria from the air. Sealing it tight will do nothing.. maybe it will mold before it bubbles up and sours. Stir the starter daily and check on it. After a day or two, or three - depending on the warmth of the jar, it will begin to be bubbly, fragrant and sour! Fermentation!!

Quick! Feed it by doubling it, add another 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup water and stir.

Let it bubble away again, this time it will be faster. Again, once soured, double the batch by adding 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water. Once that is bubbled up, you are ready for some crust action.

Dump the total of 1 cup flour starter into a large mixing bowl and add 3 cups of water and 4 cups of flour (the same as the starter, but others can work - actually, you can put anything in there, leftover rice, oatmeal, etc - it will get "eaten" up by the fermentation and look uniform once soured.) This sticky mush is called a "sponge" and acts as an in between for your final dough and the starter. Let this rise, covered (preferably with a damp cloth... and don't have it open because if a fly falls in there, you will be culturing more than bacteria!) for 2 hours and up to a day or so.. just let is rise and get sour too.

Stir in another 3 - 4 cups of flour just until it's soft and doughy and able to be kneaded. If it's too sticky and sticks to your hands, add more flour. You'll also want to flour your wooden board/surface you're kneading on so that doesn't stick too. Knead for about 5 minutes to work the gluten and get the air out.

Roll it out into crusts (or at this stage, roll it into loaves if you're making bread) with a floured rolling pin, and set it on a floured baking sheet/stone.

Put it into a cold oven and let it rise again for about an hour, or more. You speed it up you can add a shallow pan of hot water in the oven to make it warm and moist for the lovely bacteria to spawn even faster. Bacteria seem to reproduce when the conditions are hot and sweaty.

After about an hour, but up to a day!!.. (although this can make the crust/bread tougher) turn on the oven to 350F without disrupting the crust (so it stays risen) and bake it for about 30 - 45 minutes (a loaf would be 375F for 60 minutes). Once it looks cooked through, take it out - dress it up and make a pizza, cooking for another 15 minutes or until your cheese is cooked or however you like it.

It's alot of work, and I'm sure you'd be a little 'crusty' if your pizza is a flop after all that effort, but chances are it will turn out great (souring is pretty fool proof) and will taste like no other crust you've ever tried!! Delish!!

*As a note, after you've dumped your starter into the mixing bowl, leave just a little bit in the bottom of the jar, and you can add 1/4 cup of flour and water each to remake the starter, which will be quick.. you only have to start your starter once. Once it's going, it just keeps on going and going and going and.....