Mini rich sourdough rolls

I'm testing out some recipes for rich bread rolls that are perfect for mini sliders. What I'm looking for is a bit like brioche, quite rich and slightly sweet so that the savoury taste of fillings really stands out.

This time I tried using cream and egg in order to achieve my perfect buns.

Ingredients:

Strong flour 250g

Starter 125g

Egg + Cream = 165g

Light brown sugar 1 tsp

Salt 4g

Oil 1 tsp

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Although I didn't put any butter, because of the cream it had nice buttery taste (I guess the cream became like butter while mixing...?).

Double fried egg sandwich...

The roll worked well as a supporting actor. The runny egg soaked into the bun nicely and it had just the right amount of sweetness and buttery richness.

I'm thinking about modifying the recipe slightly to make the rolls little softer but I must say I'm pretty happy with this attempt!

Banana Chiffon Cake - Sourdough -

Ingredients:

Egg 4

Flour 50g

Sugar 80g

Sourdough starter 20g

Banana 1 (mashed)

I've been making lots of breads recently, but clearly not enough cakes. Last weekend I finally got a withdrawal syndrome, and had to do something about it...

So.., I made banana cake! :D

This is not one of those moist dense type ones (I like them too!), but it's rather light and super soft. I used my Sourdough Chiffon Cake recipe and added mashed banana before folding in the flour.

When I took the cake out of the oven, I had to put my nose on the cake... the smell was irresistible...

I love love love chiffon cake because it's so ridiculously light that after you had a big slice or two you  don't feel heavy. It's perfect for someone greedy like me who wants at least two slices when it comes to cake...

I had some with plenty of unsweetened cream. 

Wholemeal sourdough bagels

Bagels..., I love both eating and making them, but I've been thinking 'agh, I can't be bothered to do that extra step of boiling water and cooking the bagels in it before baking...'

Yes, I was lazy.

However, my hungry brain won against my lazy bum.

I made bagels. Not only did I do so, I made five different types..., I can be motivated, sometimes....

Ingredients:

Wholemeal starter 125g

White strong flour 250g

Salt 4g

Water 145g

Oil 1tsp

***

Honey and water

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I used my strawberry wholemeal sourdough for this recipe. It has such a nice beer-like smell that even with a simplest plain bagel you can get the sweet moreish flavour.

As I was shaping I added different fillings to each one of them.
(Here is how I shape bagels.)

* Plain

*Chocolate

*Blueberry

*Cinnamon & raisin

*Rosemary & pink rock salt

My favourite was Cinnamon & Raisin. ;D What's your favourite?

Purple Sweet Potato Sourdough Bread

Do you know purple sweet potato?

Purple sweet potatoes are sweet potatoes with beautiful vivid colour. I've never seen them in the UK but they are quite popular in Japan, especially I see a lot of purple sweet potato desserts in Okinawa, south coast of Japan.

I've got a sachet of purple sweet potato powder in my cupboard, and tried using it with my sourdough bread.

Ingredients:

Strong organic white flour 250g

Starter 125g

Purple sweet potato powder 5g

Milk 178g

Salt 4g

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Look at the crumb! What a pretty pink! That must put a big smile on your face when you cut into it, right? (It did to me anyway....) :D

Not like the sensational colour, I couldn't really taste the sweet potato..., but the texture was good. The nice bit of toughness and slight chewiness was there.

Interested in getting some sweet potato powder?

Here is a link (it's in Japanese) ; パイオニア企画 紫芋パウダー 20g×5袋, or if you would like information in English, message me.

Sourdough Banana Pancake

Sourdough pancakes again, and this time it's Banana!

I'm going to keep this post short and sweet, so... the recipe is here - Sourdough pancake -. I added half a banana just before cooking on a pan, and it worked perfect. ;)

Nice and soft, and naturally sweet.;)

Perfect energy boost breakfast too. ;D

Sugar topped sourdough baguette

This is a variation of basic baguette and it's probably a quite Japanese influenced one.

After scoring the dough, I put some slices of cold butter and sprinkle of sugar in the cuts.

When the bread goes into the oven, the butter melts into the breads, and an amazing smell comes out from the oven!

Keep the butter as cold as possible.

Long fermentation in the fridge (I did 48 hours) gives the dough a nice texture and air bubbles. The buttery crust and subtle sweetness from the sugar was so good that I didn't even put butter on or anything...

Sourdough lemon cake

Sourdough for breads, yes, of course... 

but how about sourdough for cakes?

Yes! Totally possible and rather nice!

Ingredients:

Flour 100g

Starter 60g

Egg 1

Sugar 30g

Butter (melted) 30g

Honey 1tbsp

Lemon 1

Because the natural yeast in the sourdough starter is used as the rising agent, making cakes with sourdough starter takes much longer time than without. It took me about 4 hours before I put my cake in the oven. Yes I know, it's bit long but don't rush, the key to success is 'patience'.

And when you see the nicely risen fluffy cake, you know it was worth for all that waiting time... ;D

I tried using as little sugar as possible with this recipe without making it a lemon tasting bread-like thing (it's still called 'cake' so got to have some level of sweetness, right?). If you like your cake to be sweeter, add a few more tablespoons of sugar. ;)

Hope you all enjoy 'something-a-bit-different' cake with sourdough. :-d

Sourdough Pancake - testing...

Lately I've been testing out recipes for pancakes made with sourdough.

Don't get me wrong!, I do like pancakes made with baking powder or soda (as I mentioned here...), but I love the more bread-like and chewy sourdough pancakes. Plus, that unique, savoury but very slightly sour-sweet taste is something that you can only get with sourdough pancakes. ;D

Ok, the recipe..., the honest truth is... I'm still working on it, but I thought I'll share my attempt because it went pretty well.

Ingredients:

Starter 60g

Plain flour 60g

1 Egg yolk + Milk = 50g

Honey 1 tsp (optional)

1 Egg white

I separated the egg and used the egg white to help rise the pancakes as well as make them more airy. It worked. The pancakes were very light, probably a little too light for me.

Next time I'm going to beat the egg white less and try not to burn the bottom of the pancakes! (Why does a kid say 'toilet!' at the most awkward timing...?)

They still tasted good and were perfect for light sandwiches ;D

Sourdough Nuts & Fruits Biscotti

Ingredients;

Starter 50g

Strong flour 50g

Plain flour 50g

Egg 1

Almond powder 20g

Almonds, Walnuts, Cranberries, Raisins (As much as you like...)

Honey 1 tbsp

Salt pinch

I made sourdough biscotti again (here is my previous attempt), this time with more nuts and fruits, and it's truly addictive!!

I love this recipe because it has no rising agents except the natural yeast from the starter, also there is no sugar, no butter, which feels (and I believe is!) pretty healthy;)

The crunchy nuts gives me a good energy boost in the hot kitchen too;D

Do you dip your biscuits?

Smiley Sourdough Cheese Bread

☺︎☺︎☺︎ 

Ingredients;

Starter 125g

Strong flour 230g

Rice flour 20g

Milk 165g

Parmesan cheese 3 tbsp

Salt 4g

Oil

Stencil is one of the easy ways to give your bread a little more special look, and I dressed up my sourdough cheese rolls with smiley ☺︎ faces. :) 

I added parmesan cheese to the dough for a mild cheesy taste but you can add cubes of other cheese (such as cheddar or mozzarella) when you shape for more cheesiness.

Nice 'ears', ☺︎guys!

I was planning to have cheesy toast and crostini with these rolls, but we (mainly I) started tasting them, one slice led to another, and more and more... Before I knew there were few slices left... 

Oops.. never mind.