De Baking Psychopath

When you combine Gus, bacon fat, and caramelized onions, there can only be one outcome: triple happiness. I needed to feed Gus this weekend, and feeling lazy to make bread, I decided to give these sourdough biscuits a try. I got the recipe from the King Arthur Flour catalog awhile back because they were very intriguing (cue in imaginary beard stroking). The sourdough starter is not used for leavening, it's just for flavor. Then to "kick it up a notch" (a la Emeril), I substituted most of the butter out with rendered bacon fat I've been saving in the freezer for biscuits one day.  And finally that day had come! These biscuits came out completely fabulous. Smoky bacon flavor, sweet caramelized onions, flaky/tender biscuit. There was a hint of sourdough flavor at the end, but nothing too overt. We just ate them straight, but they would be great as an accompaniment to soup or eggs as well! You can find the recipe here:  http://www.kingarthurflour.com...

  Gus! Beloved Gus! In the last 9 months since I created Gus, he's fed our family so well! Bread, pizza, crumpets, pancakes/waffles, naan...everything has been tasty and fragrant! Long live Gus! It is therefore fitting for me to share this wonderful sourdough recipe as my 200th blog post, as in many ways this sourdough starter has represented the journey and learning curve of discovering and executing new baking recipes over the last few years. It has been a tasty and wonderful time of personal growth that you, my readers, have shared with me over the Interwebs.  This recipe was first used for its intended purpose: pizza. The pizza crust from this recipe is great--fluffy and stretchy and really fragrant from the "Pizza Dough Flavor" from King Arthur Flour (basically a blend of cheese powder).  Then we decided to use this recipe to make rolls to eat BBQ with, and that was a smashing success, so since then we've made this recipe as rolls a few more ...

I have been diligently feeding Gus, my sourdough starter, every one or two weeks, and thus I am always trying to think of what to do with the ripe starter that must be removed to make room for new feedings. We finally finished the last batch of bread awhile back, so I was again ready to try a bread recipe.  I tried this one from Williams-Sonoma , which was made popular through a few high-profile bloggers' sites. As you can see, it turned out wonderfully. The crust "sang" and crackled when it came out of the oven, which is always an auspicious sign of good bread eating to come. The crust is crispy, and the bread crumb is soft and light and great for sandwiches.  I also have been making sourdough naan , pancakes and waffles , and of course our standby crumpets when I don't have too much time but want to feed Gus. Yay Gus! He has given sustenance to our family in so many different ways, and hopefully for years to come!

Hi.  I know it's been a little quiet over here. It's not because I am not thinking of this blog, or baking on occasion.  It's just because the last 6 weeks have been an emotional roller coaster that I was not prepared to deal with after my last committee meeting. You see, I am trying to finish up my thesis project by this summer, or at latest this fall, and return back to medical school, and the magnitude of that task has me hyperventilating and my stomach in knots, with very few moments of clarity and peace in between. But most of the time, the near-panic attacks preside. And while I still take time out to relax, it has been more and more of a struggle to keep up my usual baking-blogging routines. So while I stockpile pictures and try to get my act together one of these days to share some of the awesome recipes I am still lucky enough to have time to enjoy making/eating, here are a few peeks into my plate/lunchbox of late. Above, a sandwich made with ...

" Would you like a crumpet? " It almost sounds like a line from a BBC miniseries, or it may remind you (at least it did for me) of Mrs. Judson's famous cheese crumpets in The Great Mouse Detective ! I was absolutely delighted to find that making crumpet batter is easier to put together than pancake batter when one has excess sourdough starter to play with! (And don't worry, you can make them even without starter! See below recipe for the link.) What do they taste like? They're like a cross between a pancake and a nice chewy, pillowy, yeasty flatbread. Definitely more of the savory category by themselves but were superb with sweet toppings too! We've enjoyed them with a fried egg on top, or with lovely marmalade, and of course Michael had to spread one with Nutella. It was a novel and exciting way to change up our weekend brunch routine, and the best thing is they're so easy to make and easily stockpiled in the freezer for weekday breakfast...

The original Gus, with his friends Stomach Ache and The Pox. This is it, I've finally fallen off my rocker. I've joined the ranks of some of the most superstitious, self-made alchemist, and cult-like group of people out there: Keepers of Sourdough Starter. Before there was commercial baker's yeast, before there was even beer brewing from which to skim off yeast, sourdough was THE original way of capturing yeast ( Saccharomyces cerevisiae ) for breadmaking. Nowadays most legit fancy bakeries still maintain some mother starter for their yummy loaves, and therein lies part of the reason why they produce yummy bread that is different than what you can make at home and why they're still in business. Amongst laypeople, however, it is now a less common occurrence, no doubt because our parents' and grandparents' generation heralded the new technologies of mass-produced bread and commercial yeast with great enthusiasm. However, I've come across many st...