Even if you never bake the bread, you may want to keep a sourdough starter alive to make these sourdough discard recipes.
baking
Charlotte’s Easy Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread
Get all the sandwich bread you want, when you want it, without committing to years or decades of feeding and caring for a sourdough starter.
Charlotte’s Soft Pretzels
This may sound harsh but if you want your kids to learn how to bake, don’t buy them snack foods. When we went plastic-free, I stopped buying crackers and cookies. If my kids want crackers or cookies, they make crackers or cookies. Not only have they learned baking skills, they also eat fewer snacks—sometimes the […]
How to Eat Apples Nose to Tail
At the farmer’s market this past Sunday, my daughter MK bought not-so pretty apples to bake pies for the meal she would prepare Monday in our community kitchen. She also suggested I write a blog post about uglies (she’s a smart one!). At $1 per pound for these cosmetically challenged apples—compared to $2.75 per pound […]
How to Make a Sourdough Starter (in Stick Drawings)
I taught a sourdough starter workshop last month and I really could have used some graphics to outline the process. Creating a starter from scratch may sound complicated (you can read more about it here and here) but involves only a handful of steps and your patience. I hope these slides will help explain this […]
Sourdough Bread from Starter to Finish
At a holiday office lunch last week, some of my coworkers complained about women they have blocked on Facebook. Their crime? Posting too many new baby pics. While I understand not wanting to see every minute of a newborn’s life documented in one’s feed, I’m just like these new mothers, except I post pictures of bread […]
5 Tips for Throwing a Zero-Waste Party
This past Saturday, I served tea and baked goodies at my friend Todd’s piano recital. With the holidays coming up, I thought I would share the simple things I did to reach (practically) zero-waste while plying a crowd with treats. 1. Plan ahead Although I don’t need to worry much about food waste when I bake […]
Crispy On the Outside, Fluffy on the Inside Sourdough Waffles
Click here to go straight to the recipe. Or use the batter to make pancakes! I love baking with sourdough starter. Actually, I’m obsessed with my starter. When my boyfriend asks how my day went, I often include an update on my starter: “Eleanor smells fruity” or “Eleanor didn’t rise as much as I had hoped” […]
I Eat Food Unfit for Human Consumption
I live in Silicon Valley, high-tech central. Almost everyone I know is an engineer, married to an engineer or divorced from an engineer. I see more Teslas here than minivans. When the tech-heavy NASDAQ has a really, really bad day, stores like Fry’s Electronics (geek central where you buy parts to build your own computer) have […]