Sourdough Saturday – Sourdough Biscuits

Although we here in the Pacific Northwest are having a cooler spring than normal, the days are finally warming up. Warmer days means that I am less inclined to make a long-baking loaf of bread and am looking for quicker, but equally tasty options. This week it was sourdough biscuits, inspired by a recipe in World Sourdoughs From Antiquity by Ed Wood. I wasn’t disappointed and you won’t be either. The sourdough starter gave these biscuits more of a “bread like” texture than a traditional baking powder biscuit, but they weren’t as bread-like as a traditional yeast roll. Either way, biscuit or roll, they were the crowning touch to a light dinner – I served them with a green salad and a bottle of wine for my best meal this week!

Recipe:

• 2 cups sourdough starter (learn how to make your own here)
• 1 – 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 Tbsp melted butter

Start with a active, bubbly sourdough starter like pictured above. In a large bowl combine all ingredients, stirring until a soft dough forms. I needed to use 1 1/2 cups of flour to get the dough to hold together, but that is because my sourdough starter was almost runny. If your starter is more dough-like, you will probably only need about a cup of flour.

Knead the dough briefly on a floured surface. Pat dough into a square, about 1/2 inch thick, and cut biscuits with a biscuit cutter – I made 10 large biscuits. Put biscuits on a baking sheet or in a greased cake pan. Cover and let rise 1 hour.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20 – 25 minutes or until browned. Remove from oven. Brush tops with additional melted butter if desired and let cool before serving.

You can find a more traditional biscuit recipe – but still made with sourdough – in this older post by Sarah’s Musings.

I am also submitting this post over at Yeastspotting. Yeastspotting is like a big box of crayons for bread bakers – you have to try them all!