3 posts tagged with "cooking"

What can we do with sourdough discard? I would hate to waste my sourdough discards, which is why I have been searching for different things to do with it. Did you know that discard lasts for a few days in the fridge? This recipe uses a 2 day old discard.

So today, I wanted to make some pastry with it. Beforehand, I did a quick search and found that pastry follows the same method as a regular pastry recipe, only that it uses less flour. I used my previously developed Pastry recipe as follows:

Makes 2 sheets of pastry

Ingredients:
225 g flour
25 g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
50-100 g of sourdough starter*

Method (pastry):

1. The butter was cut into small cubes (0.5 cmx0.5cm)
2. The butter and flour was rubbed together to make a crumbled flour
3. The oil was added and mixed in, then the flour was rubbed further
4. salts were mixed in
5. Starter was mixed in.
6. A small amount of water was added (just to make it come together)
7. Stretch and fold of the pastry several times
8. Moulded the pastry into a Dish, covered and placed in the fridge overnight.*

Filling: 1/2 brown onion
1 garlic cloves
1/4 cup cream
60 g ricotta
1/3 cup tasty cheese
200 g button mushrooms, sliced
2 handfulls of spinach
1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp pepper

9. Over medium heat, melt butter and fry onion and garlic until onion is translucent.
10. Add mushrooms and fry until they start to sweat.
11. Add spinach.
12. In a seperate bowl, combine the cheese and cream. Add the mushroom mixture and salt and pepper.
13. Pour mixture into the dish (pre-moulded with pastry)
14. Cover the top with the second layer of pastry.
15. Bake at 200 °C (fan forced) for 30 minutes.

Img caption: The rolling out of one pastry (left), the filling of the pastry in the dish (middle) and the final product (right).

Notes about this recipe: Note about the starter: This was a discard that I kept in the fridge for 2 days. I think it is safe to leave sourdough discard for 3 days in the fridge, so I wanted to use it before I needed to throw it away.

NOTE about the hydration: on the 26.06.24: before I added the starter, I added 1/2 cup of water (which I realised was a mistake therefore this recipe is tweaked). After I added the starter, it was very sticky! This was wrong, the consistency should be crumbly. Therefore, it is crucial to add the sourdough starter before extra water, so you correct the consistency.

Note for step 8: Refrigeration is important for pastry. The colder it is, the better. You want the butter and oil to solidify to bring the crumbly consistency to your pastry. I also think that it will aid in bring flavours out of the sourdough.

On 23.6.24, I used my sourdough discard for the first time. At this point it was 10 days old. Just before I was preparing to use it, I noticed that it had rose almost double its initial size. It was very gaseous and therefore, I thought it was active and ready.

The first recipe I used was the following: Makes 5 pancakes. Serving size is probably 1-2.

Ingredients: 97 g starter (discard)
112 g plain flour
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup of milk (warmed)
1/2 frozen banana
1 egg.

Method:

1. Combine dry ingredients
2. Add wet ingredients
3. Let it sit for 5 minutes (it will bubble a bit because of the sourdough discard)
4. Fry 30 sec each side.
5. Serve with butter

The pancakes were indeed very fluffy and full! I enjoyed these pancakes so much that a few days later, on 25.6.24, I made more!

The next time I made them, I changed the ingredients as follows (methods are the same):

50-100 g starter
112 g plain flour
1 scoop of protein powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup milk (warmed)
1/2 frozen banana
1 egg.

These pancakes were delicious and I ate two for lunch the following day!

Img caption: The batter (left image), pancakes cooking (middle image) and the final product (right image)

It's already August! Wow, where has the time gone? Five months left until I need to submit my PhD thesis.

I arrived home from work after an unsuccessful day in the lab. The electrodes attached to my potentiostat were disfunctioning. I spent my 3 hours of lab time, trying to trouble shoot the problem. With the help of one of the guys in the workshop, I was able to fix the electrode. However, upon a "dummy test", the signal was not strong. I gave up, and decided to go home and not waste anymore time.

I arrived home and prepared a quiche for dinner. I was feeling inspired by Emma (as over the weekend, she made a really awesome scrambled eggs). The egg filling alone contained some butter and rosemary.

After I finished preparing dinner, I was still in the mood to cook - anything to avoid working on my thesis! I decided to prepare tomorrow nights dinner as well.

I don't know about you, but I get tired of eating similar things all the time. I feel like it is super boring and not creative at all. While I was having these thoughts, I had finished the rest of our loaf of bread. That's when I was inspired to make some bread.

I remember when I was much younger, around 15 years old and would often bake various things for my family. I enjoyed baking a lot - from bread to cakes. However, I saw so many people around me who were a lot better. I often compared myself to others and it really demotivated me to cook (Yes, I always wanted to be the best). I wonder what life would have been like if I didn't compare myself and just did the things that I enjoyed - because I enjoyed them.

Maybe my enjoyment of baking and "creative cooking" is the reason that I chose chemistry. I always wonder what drove me to stay in chemistry. I usually say that it was because I got the best marks for the least amount of effort - which is probably true. Now, I am thinking that it was also because I was using my hands to create something. Synthesis is very similar to cooking: a step by step process to create something wonderful.

The funny thing is though, I struggle so much to follow recipes. The same thing applies in the lab: I struggle a lot to follow new synthetic protocols. This caused so much stress during my undergrad: as I didn't perform as well as some of the other students. Somehow I have made it through and am almost finished a PhD in chemistry! Sometimes I forget how amazing it is that I've made it this far. Dani had to remind me earlier today when we were discussing my PhD.