Perfect Sour Dough Muffin Recipe

I have spent a month trying to figure out the perfect English Muffin.  This is the 10th or 11th version.  I actually have another variation plan in mind.

Sourdoughs have different peak and actions, so you'll have to adjust your recipe to how your sourdough behaves.  I used a Bahrain starter, which is a slow acting starter with an amazing sour flavor.

325g Sourdough starter
24 g sugar
25 g dried milk
12 g salt
35 g melted butter or oil
140g water
465 g flour.

I do my bread by hand, so I add about 1/2 the flour and mix like mad with either a  whisk or rubber spatula to develop gluten in the mix.  This saves tons of time in kneading later.

Knead to a smooth texture and proof.  My technique is to turn the oven on for 5 min at 350, then turn it off and use it to proof the dough.  I keep the dough in the mixing bowl and cover it with a shower cap to retain the moisture.  First proof is 2 hours. (adjust for your sourdough)

Pinch off sections 75-80g in size.  Create balls using the fold and squeeze method my mom taught me for making rolls.

 Pull the edges into the center of the ball, until the outsides have a smooth texture.

 Squeeze the base and tuck it under for the rest.

 After a 10 minute rest, roll the balls into 3-4" circles.

 Directions here vary in other recipes with flour or cornmeal.  I used Masa  sprinkled from a high distance.  I used flour for early batches, but it tended to clump up and be too thick.  I don't like cornmeal so none in the house.

 12 to a pan. Covered with foil (which I reuse from batch to batch) with space above to be sure it doesn't touch the cover while it rises. Proof for an additional 2 hours.

 They touched each other more that I would have liked.  Use a sharp knife to divide them, hoping to limit how much they deflate.

Cooked in an electric skillet at 250 for 6 minutes per side with the lid on. The steam helps with the cooking heat while limiting the browning.  My early attempts were nearly burnt.  I find that by going on  a lower heat, it needs and additional  minute per side. I also stacked them 2-3 high after pulling them from the skillet instead of cooling rackto get some residual cooking.

So there are my secrets for Fluffy Muffins.

Fluffy Muffins History

5 weeks ago, I started out on a quest for fabulous, fluffy English Muffins.  Sounds simple, right?

 I asked for recipes from friends, and reviewed internet versions.  Here's the first round with some wonky shaped versions on the re-roll of extras.

 Cooked in an electric skillet.  Had trouble getting them off the proofing pan without making weird shapes.

Reasonable texture.   Fairly small.

 Next batches were wonky

And too dark on the cooking.  But still delicious.

 Texture improved.  Tried multiple techniques, resulting in weird shapes.

 Then this super-model version.  This is what I was imagining.

Even prettier when toasted.

Last week's version shows how much closer I'm getting to the solution.  The upper version from the freezer are the same size (65g) as the lower ones.  I am 9 batches into this at this point.

Posting the finale in another post.

1 Month Vegetarian Eating

My month of vegetarian eating has been a mixed bag.
   

Eating Out:
On the "good" side, I have needed to look at menus differently.  Overlooking things that I would normally order, I found grilled cheddar with blueberries on sourdough to be amazing.  Boise Fry company has a great black bean burger.  Made even better with blue curly fries with blueberry ketchup.

The hospital across the street from where I work serves a Bistro Bowl where you get to pick the ingredients.  I veg mine up and use both the tofu and peanuts as protein, topped with chimichurri sauce.  It's pretty yummy.


Everything else eaten out has been horrible.  It probably doesn't help that our usual haunts are biker bars and small town cafes.  This was a black bean and quinoa burger with texture and flavor of saw dust.  Twice in 1 week I was served "stir fry veggies" with so much teriaki sauce that my tongue was numb for the rest of the day. 

So mostly if I'm eating out, I've found soup and salad to be one of my few reasonable options (besides 1000 calorie bowl of mac & cheese or alfredo pasta).

Postitive:
On the bright side, I am eating a lot more variety of vegetables and more whole grains than before. And probably more calcium too since complicated grilled cheese has become my norm at home.
 
Grilled Havarti on Multigrain with tomato, cuke, spinach & basil.
Grilled Provalone & Gouda with mushrooms on dill rye.


This was my favorite experiment: Papparedelle pasta mixed 50/50 with shaved carrots the same shape.  Tossed in a little bit of cream sauce and enoki mushrooms and topped with basil & green onions.


I've tried tofu a couple times.  Squished and highly seasoned, it's edible but not exciting.


Unfortunately, the carnivore at my house is NOT on board with this plan.  Subsequently, I pre-prep a lot of ingredients that can go together to order.  Oh, and he is using it as an excuse to eat Fruit Loops.

So in conclusion, I will continue on.  Mainly because I am seeing results in the 2 areas I started this for initially.  My weight is down about 4# and my BP down 5 points.

Tot Failure

I'm not really sure what possessed me to try Cauliflower Tots, but I did.

So I'm a native Idahoan.  Tater Tots were invented here.  Why mess with perfection?   But I was on the store to buy cauliflower to roast. And had considered mincing some up  to replace rice for a stir fry I was planning on.  When I decided to make a sandwich out of a portabello mushroom, I was reminded of a recipe I had seen someone post about tots made out of cauliflower.

So I reviewed a dozen recipes, all the while, in the back of my head asking "Why?"
They were either full of fat from cheese & bacon, making the equal or higher in calories than the original.  Or they had crunchy ingredients like bread crumbs that pushed up the carb count.  Or both.

I focused on texture and finding a balance between fat and carbs.   I chose to hand chop my cauliflower to keep the texture chunkier. I also steamed it in the microwave for 3 minutes rather than boiling it. This was a 1 pound head.

  I used 1 cup panko breadcrumbs for crunch.  And 1 ounce of very finely shredded asiago cheese for flavor. I also added a spoon of fried garlic for both flavor and crunch.

I added 2 eggs for a binder. The texture was too loose, so I rolled it sushi style in waxed paper and put it in the freezer for 10 min.

 That didn't help. They didn't firm up.  It was a complete and utter disaster. 

I tried making balls, using a measuring spoon as a mold, as well as just mushing it together with my finger tips.  I must have spent 20 minutes trying to make blobs that would stick together. 

 Instead of baking 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven, it took over 40 minutes at 450 to brown these up.

They were tasty, but not worth all the work.

Dips.

Contrary to popular belief, this is not a post about my friends.

High protein bean dips are amazing.  I love making homemade hummus.  By making it from scratch, I have lots of adjustments I can make, besides the fact that it is a fraction of the price of pre-made. 

My Iraqi restaurant owner spilled the beans and gave me the secret of insanely smooth hummus.  After soaking the beans, he removes all the outer skins on every bean.  I am not that patient.  But I cook mine from scratch and add 1/2 the garlic in the cooking, which mellows the garlic flavor.  Then I "rub" the skins of the beans when they are soaking in water.  My goal is at least 50% peeled beans, which is enough to make it really smooth.  And I freeze it in 1/4 cup portions. 

 This combo is Black beans with home made pico de gillo. 

Once again, I am cheaper than I am lazy.  This is just 1/2 onion, 2 tomatoes, 1 jalapeno, and either cilantro or parsley ( I make a batch of each since hubby is a cilantro hater.) I was going to buy pico for this challenge,but the $4/pound price was off putting.  The scratch version was less than $2/ pound, and I could adapt to our variable taste with less onion, and cilantro vs parsley.

 I fell in love with a carrot/ginger soup and decided to replicate that flavor with some red lentils.

And this is how it turns out.  I freeze them in 1/4 cup portion cups from the local restaurant supply store. By mid day they are soft enough to scoop.  With veggies or whole grain crackers.  15 carbs/ 1/2 cup. Plus what ever you're dipping with.  The high fiber content drops the net carbs even more.  But more importantly, it is yummy and keeps you from being hungry or blood sugar spikes.
Enjoy.

Soy

 Tofu.  BLECH.  I have had a lifelong battle trying to like soy products.  It's mostly about texture.  I love edemame.  I'm pretty good with the TVP that is supposed to be ground meat. But tofu. Blerg.

 So here is evidence that I made something with tofu that I actually ate (and don't hate).

So remember that my purpose on this challenge is to eat a plant based diet, not to avoid meat products.  So I marinated the firm tofu (that I cut in 3 slabs) in a mix of beef broth, chicken bouillon powder, with some soy, Worcestershire and sesame oil for 5 hours.

 I patted it dry and added a sprinkle of corn starch to make a nice light outer coating.

 Fried it in oil until crispy.  Still squishy inside, but a nice outer texture and good flavor. 

 As compared to this pre-made product I bought at the local Asian market.  It smelled and tasted like Play-Dough. 

That **** I put into a stir fry that was so spicy my mouth was numb and I couldn't taste the PlayDoh.

I won't be buying that again.  And it's unlikely I will touch the rest of the package.

 Meanwhile back at the kitchen, another night I decided to build a meal around these "noodles"

Holy moly!  Look at that fiber!!!

 We did soup, salad bar style.  The options were the tofu "noodles", edemame, bean sprouts, enoki mushrooms, mini bok choi, Farro, pico de gillo, and the diced tofu or chicken.

Here's my bowl: everything but the farro and chicken.  Topped with homemade chicken broth to warm it all up.

In summary, it's a mixed bag.  The tofu was OK.  But isn't everything battered and fried?  I may use the "Spiced Thin Bean Curd" as a rodent deterrent in my garden. The tofu noodles were good, but need to be eaten in small portions to prevent the Colonoscopy Prep experience.