Sourdough Pancakes

This is a nice change on the usual pancakes. Great with fruit and syrup/agave or cream.

 

Ingredients:

115 g flour (about 1 cup)

2 eggs

120 ml milk (I used rice milk – about 100 g)

150 ml sourdough starter (about 120 g)

1 pinch salt

1 tbsp sugar

oil

 

Instructions:

1. Mix all the ingredients together but the oil.

2. Warm the oil in a frying pan and fry the pancakes until golden on both sides.

Sourdough Bread

If you want, you can use an egg or milk wash on top of the bread, and/or you can also sprinkle it with seeds.

 

Ingredients:

130 ml milk (I use rice milk)

6 g fast-action dry yeast (about 1 tsp)

340 g strong white bread flour

20 g sugar

pinch of salt

15 g oil

190 g starter (about ¾ cup)

 

Instructions:

1. Warm the milk and sprinkle the yeast over it.

2. Mix the flour, sugar, salt, and oil together, then add the yeasty milk.

3. Mix in the starter. Knead well, then leave to rise for about an hour.

4. Knead, shape into a loaf, and let rise for another hour or so.

5. Bake at 190 C for about 30 minutes.

Sourdough Starter

The longer you leave it, the sourer the flavour. Often, the first breads you make with it don’t taste that sour, so keep trying. If it gets a strange colour, do not use it. It should be brownish-grey.

 

Remember to add back whatever you use from it. So if you use 100 g, add another 100 g flour and 100 g water.

 

Ingredients:

1 tbsp fast-action dried yeast

250 g flour

475 ml lukewarm water

 

Instructions:

1. Mix the ingredients together in a mixing bowl.

2. Cover and leave in a warm place for 4-8 days, until it has developed a sour smell.

Macarons

We’ve finally given in and made a trendy dessert. Yes, we made macarons. They seem fiddly but as long as you’ve got the proportions right, it’s not too hard. I looked at lots of recipes and it seems the egg to almond ratio should be about 120% and the egg to sugar (both types) about 50%.

 

To make chocolate macarons, replace 25 g of sugar with cocoa.

 

Make any buttercream or other filling you like. We used my chocolate ganache.

 

Ingredients:

140 g egg whites (about 4 medium eggs)

75 g granulated sugar

1 pinch salt

2 tsp vanilla extract

230 g icing sugar

115 g ground almonds (if they are not fine enough, mix in a food processor with the icing sugar)

 

Instructions:

1. Whisk the egg whites, granulated sugar, and salt until stiff. Add in the vanilla and whisk a little more.

2. Mix the icing sugar and almonds together and then add to the meringue. Stir well, until no longer stiff but not liquid either (25-35 strokes).

3. Pipe evenly onto parchment-lined baking trays. Knock the trays to get out any air.

4. Bake for 12-18 minutes at 150 C.

5. Let cool, then sandwich pairs of macarons together with filling.

Vegan Vanilla Coconut Ice Cream

This is a really simple, pleasant vegan ice cream. I like to serve it in the Scandinavian way, with jam (cloudberry jam is perfect).

 

Ingredients:

1 tin coconut milk

4-5 tbsp icing sugar, or more to taste

3 tsp vanilla

 

Instructions:

1. Blend all the ingredients together until smooth. Adjust amounts according to taste.

2. Freeze, then serve.