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Zero-Waste Chef

sourdough starter

  • Sourdough

How to Manage Your Jar of Sourdough Discard

Posted on August 4, 2022August 11, 2022by Anne-Marie Bonneau
A very small jar next to a very large jars of sourdough starter is faded out with text appearing across the image, saying "Discard isn't discard until you discard it"

What is sourdough discard? How long does it keep? What can I do with it? How can I tell if it’s bad? These sourdough discard FAQs reveal all.

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  • Sourdough

Sourdough-Potato Focaccia Made With Simple Ingredients and Tools

Posted on October 4, 2021December 2, 2021by Anne-Marie Bonneau
slab of sourdough potato focaccia topped with garlic cloves and cooking on a silver cooling rack

Do you love sourdough bread? Do you love potatoes? This sourdough-potato focaccia is for you. It requires humble ingredients and simple tools.

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  • Sourdough

How to Make a Gluten-Free Sourdough Starter

Posted on June 11, 2021September 4, 2022by Anne-Marie Bonneau

I ground up teff grains in my grain mills to make a gluten-free sourdough starter but store-bought flour also works as do various grains.

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6 Comments
  • Sourdough

How to Deal with Your Sourdough Starter When You Travel

Posted on May 26, 2021January 2, 2023by Anne-Marie Bonneau

If you plan to travel after a year plus of lockdowns, during which time you adopted a pet sourdough starter, will you have to find it a sitter?

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  • Sourdough

Sourdough Bread Zoom Classes (and a Recorded Starter Class)

Posted on December 9, 2020December 9, 2020by Anne-Marie Bonneau

By popular demand! Live online sourdough bread classes. Learn to make this 3-ingredient bread from the comfort of your kitchen.

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  • Sourdough

Sourdough Discard Vegan Pumpkin (or Squash) Ginger Cake

Posted on November 30, 2020November 30, 2020by Anne-Marie Bonneau

If you started baking sourdough bread, bake this sourdough pumpkin ginger cake to use up discard left over from feeding your pet starter.

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  • Fermentation

Free Sourdough Starter Zoom Class!

Posted on November 14, 2020November 21, 2020by Anne-Marie Bonneau
sourdough starters in glass jars

Mark your calendars! Free sourdough starter Zoom class on December 3rd. Bring a jar, flour and water and we’ll make our starters together.

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  • Fermentation

Sourdough Starter Metric and US Equivalents

Posted on August 5, 2020August 5, 2020by Anne-Marie Bonneau

Need to measure your sourdough starter but don’t have a scale? Have a recipe you’ll like to convert to US cups? Use these conversions.

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4 Comments
  • Sourdough

Sourdough Discard Pizza: How to Sourdough-ize a Recipe

Posted on June 17, 2020March 24, 2021by Anne-Marie Bonneau

Many recipes are suitable for adding sourdough discard to—quick or yeast breads, muffins, tortillas, focaccia—and this pizza dough.

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23 Comments
  • Fermentation

Call the Midwife of Microbes

Posted on May 25, 2020May 27, 2020by Anne-Marie Bonneau

Is your sourdough starter sluggish? Your ginger beer jinxed? Your kombucha capricious? Apply to get a diagnosis via Instagram Live.

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  • Fermentation

Sourdough Discard Vegan Carrot Cake

Posted on May 6, 2020June 17, 2020by Anne-Marie Bonneau
frosting a sourdough carrot cake in the pan with coconut buttercream frosting

If you’ve adopted a pet sourdough, you’ll need to find recipes for the discard you accumulate from feedings. This carrot cake makes your discard disappear.

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27 Comments
  • Fermentation

Sourdough Discard Vegan Chocolate Cake

Posted on April 27, 2020April 2, 2021by Anne-Marie Bonneau
sourdough discard vegan chocolate cake

Whether you’re new to sourdough or you’ve baked it for years, you can likely use another recipe for your discard, especially one for an easy chocolate cake.

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82 Comments
  • Fermentation

Is My Sourdough Starter Dead? Your Starter Dilemmas Addressed

Posted on April 15, 2020September 18, 2021by Anne-Marie Bonneau
sourdough starters in glass jars

Need help coaxing your sourdough starter to life? What can you do with all the discard? And what is a levain? Learn the answers to these questions and more.

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33 Comments
  • Fermentation

Bake Sourdough Bread Without the Expensive Tools

Posted on March 29, 2020January 12, 2021by Anne-Marie Bonneau

Don’t let a want of fancy tools squelch your dreams of baking delicious sourdough bread. You may have most of the gear you need.

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23 Comments
  • Uncategorized

Hunkered Down During COVID-19? Make Something.

Posted on March 14, 2020March 14, 2020by Anne-Marie Bonneau

Millions of us will stay hunkered down at home during COVID-19, either out of necessity or precaution. Now seems like a great time to learn a new skill.

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"High food prices stir appetite for budget-minded "High food prices stir appetite for budget-minded recipes from food writers."

Thank you for including me in the article, Geoff Nixon @CBC! 

One of the best ways to handle high food prices is to eat all the food we buy. There is zero downside to doing so.

Link in profile for the full article on how rising costs will affect food writing.
Have your energy costs increased? Ours have. Here Have your energy costs increased? Ours have. Here are five simple ways to conserve energy in the kitchen:

1. Set a timer to avoid cooking longer than necessary. 
2. Soak grains and beans before cooking. They’ll cook faster. 
3. Use a pressure cooker if you have one. It cooks food very quickly. I bought this one second hand for $15 many years ago.
4. If food is freezing in your refrigerator, turn the temperature up. Consumer Reports recommends 37°F. Lower isn’t necessary.
5. Cook more food at once when you have the oven on. After turning it off when you’ve finished, leave the door ajar to warm up the room.

Most of these conserve your time as well, another precious resource!
Nearly indestructible perfluoroalkyl substances (P Nearly indestructible perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), aka forever chemicals, render food packaging heatproof, greaseproof and waterproof, including some supposedly eco-friendly, compostable food packaging. They prevent food from sticking to pans. They render fabrics stain-resistant. They make dental floss glide.

They make our lives more convenient but at an outrageous price. PFAS have been linked to  kidney and testicular cancers, ulcerative colitis, thyroid disease, and pregnancy-induced hypertension. They may negatively impact fertility, the endocrine system and the immune system. And the may reduce the efficacy of vaccines. 

But they are also everywhere! In these slides are easy ways to avoid them. Avoid non-stick pots and pans; avoid take-out containers and wrappers; consider eating more food cooked at home from unpackaged vegetables (they have their own packaging!); don't eat freshwater fish; skip the microwave popcorn and pop popcorn on the stove; choose PFAS-free dental floss.

I couldn't fit additional ways in the slides:

✨ Check the EWG website for the map of cities with contaminated water. (Link in my newsletter). Consider getting a reverse-osmosis water treatment system.
✨ Cosmetics, shampoo and other personal care items may contain PFAS. Search for products that do not through EWG’s Skin Deep database.
✨ Avoid stain- and water-resistant fabrics. Sofas, carpet, mattress protectors, outdoor clothing…many of them have been treated with forever chemicals. Do your homework before you buy.
✨ Sign petitions (I like to a few in my newsletter). We need regulations to stop the polluting corporations.

See my most recent newsletter for all of the links and more info. Link in bio.
These are three buy-the-seeds-once plants: bok cho These are three buy-the-seeds-once plants: bok choy (first two images), arugula (next two) and sunflowers (this one came up early with all the rains). Let some of these plants bolt and go to seed, save the seeds, repeat and you’ll have free seeds for life. (Ideally… things can and will happen…)

I actually didn’t buy my bok choy or arugula seeds. They came from a community garden share! Gardeners tend to be very generous. Share your seeds as well. When those things that can and will happen do happen, you’ll have a network to fall back on.

Did you save any seeds last year?
As promised, a sock darning Reel. I used embroider As promised, a sock darning Reel. I used embroidery floss for this. I don’t add any knots in here. The floss is so intricately woven, it’s not coming out.
Here’s a little clip from my first sustainabilit Here’s a little clip from my first sustainability workshop on @omnianetwork “Tips & Tricks For A Sustainable Kitchen,” which is now live!

Launched today, Omnia Network is a premium workshop platform on a mission to help people thrive in their pursuit of natural and holistic health and wellness. I’m excited to be part of the launch!

In this workshop, I cover tips for a sustainable kitchen regarding: food waste; composting; plastic and paper waste; water conservation; and energy conservation. You can sign up for my workshop at www.omnianetwork.com. With your membership, you’ll have access to other workshops as well, with more coming!
You may have baked with a flax egg to replace eggs You may have baked with a flax egg to replace eggs but have you every tried a sourdough discard flax egg?

I’ve been baking cookies with sourdough discard flax eggs and they taste delicious! Shown here are peanut butter cookies.

Flax meal eggs are not new. To make one, combine a tablespoon of flaxseed meal and with 2 1/2 tablespoons of water. If you search online (or on IG), dozens of recipes for them and articles about them will pop up. No one I’ve fed cookies made with them knows the difference. I love them for peanut butter cookies, chocolate chip, oatmeal...

But sourdough discard flax eggs?

Because discard contains only flour and water, I wondered if I could make a sourdough discard flax egg with it, swap that for the egg in a cookie recipe and compensate for the flour present in the discard by reducing the flour called for in the original cookie recipe. Turns out, I can!

Here is the recipe for replacing one egg with one sourdough discard flax egg:

✨ 1 tablespoon of ground flaxseed
✨ 3 tablespoons sourdough starter discard (or fresh if you like), 100 percent hydration

✨ Combine the ingredients in a small bowl. Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes to thicken.
✨ Reduce the amount of flour in the recipe by 3 tablespoons.
✨ Add the sourdough flax egg at the step where you would ordinarily add the egg and continue with the recipe as usual.

You wouldn’t want to use this for meringues or macaroons or recipes that call for loads of eggs. But it works so well as a binder for cookies and bar cookies. 

You don’t have to be vegan to enjoy these. You just have to like cookies; appreciate the ability to bake when you have no eggs or can’t find eggs; and value saving money.

Want to make a starter of your own? I still have some space in my free Feb 10th sourdough starter workshop. It’s my starter Eleanor’s 9th birthday! They grow up so fast 🥲 Go to my profile to register.
Mending socks is so darn fun! The big toe on one o Mending socks is so darn fun! The big toe on one of my favorite socks developed a fairly big hole ☹️ But I fixed it! 😀

For this sock, I used embroidery floss. I mended some thicker socks this weekend with thin yarn. I don't have a darning mushroom but my daughter has a very small embroidery hoop so I used that. I plan on posting a video of sock darning later this week.

I can't think of anything else that brings quite the same feeling of satisfaction as repairing my stuff. Repairing extends our stuff’s useful life, conserves resources and takes some pressure off of our bursting landfills. 🧦🧶🪡🧵
Turn a piece of newspaper into a free compost bin Turn a piece of newspaper into a free compost bin liner.

If the ick factor prevents you from collecting food scraps for compost, this trick can help. And if you do compost, these liners will keep your food scraps collection bin cleaner while adding brown matter (the paper) to the compost heap. Save money on compostable bags—and skip all the research for said bags (watch out for greenwashing). Plus these are fun to make!
"We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-orie "We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society, when machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered."

Martin Luther King, Jr., from his speech "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence," April 4, 1967
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#drmartinlutherking #drmartinlutherkingjr #drmartinlutherkingjrday #MLK #MLKday #MLKquotes #blackhistory #blacklivesmatter #blm #consumerism #materialism #equality
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Top Posts & Pages

Cook Less and Eat Better with a Continuous Menu
Amazing Peanut Butter Cookies With a Sourdough Discard Flax Egg
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Make-a-Dent-in-Your-Discard Sourdough Pita Bread
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