Fried Sourdough Starter Recipe — Meadowlark Journal (2024)

FAQs

Can I fry my sourdough starter? ›

We have recently discovered that you can turn your leftover sourdough starter into FRIED BREAD! Honestly, it is one of the best inventions to come out of the kitchen recently. All you need is a hot cast iron skillet, some olive oil (or ghee, or coconut oil), and your sourdough starter discard.

In 2020, Seamus Blackley, the creator of Xbox and a seasoned baker himself, baked sourdough bread from dormant yeast samples that are 4,500 years old, according to the Atlas Obscura website.

Along with a predilection for gambling, which concerned townsfolk, the miners brought with them or made bread starters. The starters were so important that they would cuddle them on cold nights so the yeasts and bacteria that made them viable didn't die, writes Avital Ungar for San Francisco Travel.

If you didn't discard, you'd also eventually have an unwieldily sum. You can always use this discard by directly mixing it into a dough for baking. Your discard, as long as it's in good shape, will leaven any bread dough just as well.

Keep feeding your starter, and you'll see normal activity (bubbles) return in a few days. If your starter has a bit of dark liquid on top, it's not dead! It simply means it's hungry and that it's time to feed it. Unless your starter has a pink or orange hue or is beginning to mold, you probably haven't killed it yet.

While the age of your starter won't make your bread any better — turns out, only good sourdough practices can do that — it's a link in the long legacy of sourdough, one of the oldest forms of baking that exists. Whether your starter is a week or a decade old, you can become part of that lineage as well.

Dried sourdough starter lasts indefinitely, and can be brought back to life with water and flour when you're finally ready to bake again.

Sourdough breads gave way to bread with commercial years in the 19th Century, as it was quicker to make. However, in the 1980s the world began to see a resurgence in the ancient fermented bread and it's now enjoyed by millions every day across the world.

Local Alaskans use "sourdough" to describe anything and anyone with experience or longevity — even their fellow Alaskans. Referring to themselves and other long-time residents as "sourdoughs," the use is indicative of the sourdough's historic presence in Alaskan society.

Sourdough is most associated with pioneers, but the Alaska Gold Rush made Sourdough bread famous, as it was the most popular and practical food for the pioneers and prospectors.

Can dead sourdough starter be revived? ›

Unless there's visible mold on your sourdough starter, it will be able to be revived! Sourdough starters are actually really hard to kill!

You can store mature sourdough discard in the refrigerator indefinitely. As long as there is no mold, it is good to use. It may develop a grayish liquid on top called “hooch” which can be poured off before use or stirred in. If you stir it in, the flavor will become more sour.

If you don't get rid of the excess, eventually you'll have more starter than your feedings can sustain. After a few days, your daily 1/4 cup flour and water won't be enough to sustain your entire jar of starter, and your starter will be slow and sluggish, not much better than discard itself.

However, “discard” doesn't necessarily mean “throw out.” A two-to-three day old starter can be used to add amazing flavor and texture to a number of baked goods, even if it is not quite ready to make your dream loaf of sourdough bread.

You shouldn't eat sourdough discard raw but you absolutely can eat it cooked! This sourdough fried bread uses pure sourdough discard for the dough.

Method. Drizzle extra virgin olive oil in a pan, heat over medium heat and grill the sourdough bread on one side. Once golden turn and brown the other part. Garnish with freshly ground pepper, extra virgin oil and a bit of dill.

May support gut health

Although the beneficial microbes in the starter tend to be lost during the baking process, the fibre and plant compounds, called polyphenols, become more bio-available. These act as an important fuel source for our gut microbes, which explains why sourdough is a gut-friendly choice.

Do not taste raw sourdough starter before baking. Instead, a bubbly appearance, tangy smell, batter-like consistency, expansion, and records of preparation steps should be used to determine when your starter is ready. The fermentation process will acidify the starter, which helps prevent pathogen growth.