du's doughs

in my early 20’s, i wasted way too much time worrying if my interests were cool.

i had just moved to brooklyn, and found myself surrounded by a cluster of late 20-somethings with impeccable style and taste in music, two things i thought i sorely lacked.

i wanted to be quirky. i wanted to be hip. i knew at least, that i didn’t want to be basic.

i began to keep quiet about the things i loved that didn’t align. sweetgreen salads. taylor swift. pumpkin spice.

luckily, i came to my senses over time and adopted a new perspective: who the f*ck cares? i learned to stop prioritizing the potential judgment of others over my own joy.

shamelessly, i still love salad. taylor swift still speaks the words of my soul. and goddammit, when the first signs of autumn hit, i become the biggest sucker for pumpkin spice.

these mooncakes are dedicated to that past self, and to all the joys and comforts that fall brings us. enjoy these with people that make you feel cozy. maybe even with a pumpkin spice latte in hand 😉

notes

• i prefer making 50g mooncakes. you can find pretty inexpensive molds on amazon.
• i’ve tried adding the pumpkin spice to the puree mixture over heat, and found that it’s best to add towards the end. this prevents any spices from burning.
• try to use the dough the same day or within a day. filling can be made the night before and refrigerated.
• i did try to store the dough in the fridge overnight for one batch, and i’d say avoid resting it in the fridge if you can. it’s still workable, but will make the dough be extra crumbly, crackly, and harder to handle. if you must, bringing the dough balls up to room temp first before molding helps.
• the dough recipe is from kristina cho’s honeyed pistachio mooncakes, and the filling is loosely inspired by this easy mooncake recipe from yan cooks food. if the mooncake wrapping and stamping instructions are unclear, please refer to either of the aforementioned instructions!

a post-vaccine life motto i’ve adopted: seek more opportunities to turn ordinary moments into special ones.

i buy all the flowers at the farmers market stand as it closes and cover every surface of my apartment with them. i lug bushels of apples home to make apple crisp in batches, dropping in on my friends on a random tuesday for a special delivery. i thrift a red dress that makes me feel like the 💃🏻 emoji, muster all the main-character-energy i can, and stroll around nyc in it without a so-called occasion.

i find myself delighting in the ability to infuse this everyday magic into the familiar, worn grooves of routine, in a way i have never felt before.

there is something that feels so fun, so dramatic, so extra about decorative sourdough.

unlike a cake, bread isn’t often thought of as pretty. maybe that’s why i’m even more appreciative of those who have made sourdough an art.

it’s decorative gourd season y’all. let’s make sourdough pumpkins!

notes

i’ve wanted to try this pumpkin shaping ever since i saw it on my instagram feed last year.

my variations:

• added a dash of turmeric for additional color in the dough, and subtle flavor
• saved and dried a butternut squash nub to top the final loaf for additional flourish
• included actual pumpkin puree during the autolyse for the full pumpkin effect

baker’s percentage & basic timetable

the percentages for water and flour only account for the final dough build, and do not include the levain formula build.

what do you really need to bake good sourdough bread?

baking in taipei, without my usual suite of tools, has really pushed me to reflect on this question.

i optimistically brought doug, my sourdough starter, with me, to taiwan.

i say optimistically because it turns out it’s pretty rare to have an oven in a typical taiwanese kitchen. i walked into my airbnb to find a countertop air fryer, a robust blender, and a cabinet where an oven might have been installed.

luckily, a lack of a proper oven was nothing a bit of resourcefulness and a lot of enthusiasm from my roommate couldn’t solve.

together, we managed to get access to a toaster oven for an afternoon, cobble together a suite of tools, and still get pretty incredible results. i’m sharing the process below if ever you find yourself in a similar situation.

may your days be filled with bountiful carbs, wherever you may find yourself!

equipment

• standard sized toaster oven. i used a panasonic toaster oven which had a maximum temperature of 230°C
• 8″ x 4″ enamelled steel pot with lid. we had this vardagen pot from ikea, but i think any 2 qt dutch oven would work.
• soup sized bowl. i used the bowl from this dinera set from ikea, the size of this cereal bowl
• thin paper or a tea towel. i used thin coffee filter like paper to line my bowl to create a “proofing basket”

necessary tools

• kitchen thermometer. i brought my thermopop from the u.s.
• kitchen scale. also brought from home, i have this one

optional tools

• lame. i brought my wiremonkeyshop one with me because it is small and i am extra.
• parchment paper. this would help, but i managed without. i used some coarse brown rice flour instead.
• bench scraper. or dough knife! i brought one from home, but you could use whatever large, sharp knife you have on hand.

notes

• toaster ovens have lower maximum temperatures than a regular oven. my bake times were much longer in order to bake it all the way through and achieve the crust color i wanted.
• toaster ovens are smaller than regular ovens. i’d recommend making smaller loaves. i used 450g of flour for two loaves.
• toaster ovens heat up much faster than regular ovens. i also used a non cast-iron, non-dutch oven. as a result, i reduced the pre-heat time.

sourdough cracker toffee may be the best treat i have ever made for my friends.

i’ve seen grown adults reaching for a quickly emptying tub, eyeing the crumbles at the bottom, only to eventually tip them eagerly into their mouths to get that one last bite.

these moments of feeding people and witnessing their response bring me an almost embarrassing amount of joy. it’s my not-so-secret love language.

in chinese culture, feeding people is a common way to show care when the words aren’t quite there. it’s a universal, unspoken i love you, often followed by enthusiastic consumption. i love you too.

i’ve been baking these a lot lately for my bay area friends.

at first timidly, always asking for permission to swing by, until one friend remarked, “erica, you don’t have to ask. the answer will always be yes“.

so i practice.

i practice showing care without restraint. i practice not feeling self conscious. i practice the small act of vulnerability that is showing up unexpectedly with treats, and trusting there will be someone on the other end to devour them happily.

i love you. i love you too.

notes

popular variations of this recipe include matzah toffee, which uses matzah crackers as the base, and christmas crack, which uses saltine crackers. i’ve adapted this recipe from once upon a chef.

poking holes into the rolled out dough pre-bake is a crucial step! this will make sure your crackers will stay flat and not puff up, creating an even base for the other layers. i’ve made this mistake so you won’t have to.

i’ve specifically used a 50/50 proportion of all purpose and wheat flour for these crackers.

• different flours have different absorption properties. the texture of your dough might change if you make large adjustments. for example, when adding the same amount of water, all purpose flour will feel stickier than wheat.
• that being said, adjusting for hydration, i think rye and buckwheat could be interesting additions.

as always, i develop my recipes with my 80% hydration starter. please adjust the starter and flour amounts to match yours.

i’ve always considered dill to be a second tier herb.

my mother cooked with a multitude of herbs, often, even growing chives and green onions in our backyard.

during peak harvest times, my mother would cook nothing but chives for weeks at a time — chive dumplings, chive bao zi, chive pockets. she fed it all to my brother and i until we became bloated from the fiber.

dill just never had a place in my pantry. never harmonized with the warming notes of our rotation of ginger, star anise, and chilis, never made it into our cart during our biweekly trips to shanghai supermarket.

in the past few months, however, i’ve been flirting a lot with dill. a dill-less salad now feels naked, like it’s missing an ingredient as crucial as the lettuce itself. i’ll never leave another PLS ungarnished.

above all, i’ve become hooked on the combination of cheese and dill after trying a roll from la farine.

with the feedback of over seven taste testers, i’ve developed a delicate, puffy, pizza-crust like roll that similarly centers cheddar and dill.

this roll has a crisp and thin crust, encrusted with thinly shredded cheddar and speckled with fresh dill. bready walls surround a small divet where the cheddar pools and bubbles. when you bite in, it’s like eating a sauceless, herby micro pizza.

no matter where you are in your relationship with dill, these rolls will make you fall in love all over again. bread and cheese tend to have that kind of effect.

notes

the secret to the perfect texture and bite is using olive oil instead of flour while shaping! it is of utmost importance that you use as little flour as possible during this step!

i encourage swapping the dill for chives or scallions for a different flavor profile. in fact, i’ve tested this with scallions and the result is just as wonderful (see the three rolls in the left corner of the cover photo).

though i haven’t tried it, gruyere could also be a nice cheese accompaniment to the dill.

if your cheddar is on the saltier side, i would skip the extra salt. the cheddar i used was pretty mild.

as always, my starter is 80% hydration. please adjust the dough formula to match your starter. all timing and schedules are suggestions. i developed this recipe in springtime san francisco kitchen at about 74°F.

baker’s percentage & sample timetable

the percentages for water and flour only account for the final dough build, and do not include the levain formula build.

i made this tiny sourdough reel for april fools’ inspired by how “small batch” has taken off this past year. it quickly became my most popular post! i’m blown away by the response, and wanted to share a longer video and process with all of you.

i’m including the full recipe below so you can make your very own tiny sourdough loaf ✨

notes

• although i provide a recipe, you can scale down any standard recipe. 60g of total flour will make two tiny sourdough loaves.
• i used my classic country brown recipe, but decreased the proportion of wheat flour to 10%, and used bread flour in place of all purpose.

materials

• mini proofing basket: for a round bannetone, i use a 2.5 oz condiment sauce cup and a cut pour-over coffee filter. you could likely use a small piece of scrap linen cloth too.
• mini dutch oven: mini le creuset cocotte

the last time i lived close to wilderness, i was 11. i had a patch of wood in my backyard. a small, trickling creek ran through it. wild turkeys, the size of vacuum cleaners, would often visit.

life whisked me away to more and more urban areas until life found me in the berkeley hills this winter. here, i once again remembered what it was to notice.

how to greet the bickering crows. how to spectate the scurrying squirrels. how to pay attention, in wonder.

at least once a week, too, i would walk down the street to ascend a steep, winding dirt trail above claremont canyon. what started as a simple hike became a stumbling prayer of gratitude.

i learned to recognize the wild rosemary bushes near the top. i began to visit often. when the bushes looked healthy and weren’t flowering, i would pick a few sprigs, taking home a piece of the mountain with me.

when the world gifts something as magical as fresh, wild rosemary, what else is there to do but to share something with the world in return? how do we show gratitude for gifts such as these?

this recipe is my offering. perhaps you, too, will pause when your hands run over the sprigs of rosemary, and when you smell it filling up the crevices of your home.

this ritual has become my small, delicious meditation on all the magic that grows from the earth. i hope it becomes yours too.

notes

i wasn’t planning on re-visiting sourdough crackers. i’ve already written two recipes.

yet i knew there were a few issues i needed to resolve: dryness, thickness, toughness of bite, blandness. this updated recipe addresses all these shortcomings with a wetter, more flavorful dough.

these sourdough rosemary crackers roll out into thin sheets more easily, and bake up more crisply. i am generous with the rosemary. they are pretty, they are aromatic, and they are delicious.

ingredients matter.

• i strongly encourage you to use fresh rosemary over dried, and flaky salt to top.
• i haven’t tried adding other herbs or spices, but i encourage experimentation!
• one exception: if you plan on adding seeds, nuts, or other chunkier toppings, i’d recommend adding it at the end, while rolling out the dough rather than mixing it in. revisit my everything cracker recipe for more details on this process.

lastly but not leastly, i have a stiff starter at 80% hydration. please do adjust the amount of flour if yours differs.

i ended last year hung up on three things.

the first: a boy (isn’t it always?). quarantine fact: break ups are much, much harder during a global pandemic when there is not much else to do except sit on a rollercoaster ride of uncomfortable feelings and thought patterns.

the second: brooklyn. seeking proximity to family and an escape from the impending winter, i left new york. quarantine fact: there’s nothing like cinematic nostalgia to leave you on the ground curled up in a blanket burrito, sobbing. watching dash & lily destroyed me.

last, but certainly not least: my beloved arizmendi cheese rolls. back in august, i had scoured the internet for the recipe. i had racked my brain for the taste profile of the cheese. quarantine fact: i had tasted cheesy, bready greatness and i could not go back.

luckily, when i moved last month i discovered cheeseboard, arizmendi’s sister bakery. needless to say, i have since consumed many a cheese roll. luckily, this also had the happy side effect of mitigating the first two aforementioned hang ups. a small sacrifice in the name of research.

after much neighborly taste testing, i’m confident this formula produces a remarkable likeness to the original cheese roll, with improvements. i feel i’m doing a similar type of analysis and reconstruction for the other parts of my life. basking in the sunny, warm winter days. reconnecting with old friends over focaccia. trekking through miles of redwood forest.

i’m not saying these cheese rolls have magically cured my afflictions, though i notice progress everyday.

all i’m saying is this. if even one person is spared from the sadness that is a life without cheese rolls, then my work here will have been worth it.

notes

as always, please adjust the formula based on the hydration of your starter, and adjust the timing of the bulk rise based on the temperature of your kitchen. please treat all times listed below as a sample schedule. this recipe was developed during the winter, in a 60 degree kitchen at 50% humidity.

you might be tempted to use a different type of cheese. i strongly recommend you resist this urge. asiago cheese just hits different. i repeat. these rolls will not have the intended flavor without asiago.

as per my other experiences baking with cheese, parchment paper is a must! melty cheese can easily crust over.

this recipe preserves all of the loveability of these iconic rolls while also providing a softer bite, lighter texture, and smaller size. i’m especially excited about this recipe, and i hope you all will be too.

baker’s percentage & sample timetable

the percentages for water and flour only account for the final dough build, and do not include the levain formula build.

this is a deviation from my regular sourdough content, but i promise it’s worth it. i baked a nian gao 年糕 for my birthday last week and it truly was one of the best things i’ve done for myself all year.

nian gao is an unleavened, gluten-free cake made from glutinuous rice flour. it’s usually eaten to celebrate chinese new year, and the name even literally translates to “year cake”.

you can steam, pan-fry, or bake nian gao, but i’ve always preferred it baked, just like my mother used to make it. the baked version has the perfect crusty, coconut-y exterior and a complementary chewy, gooey interior.

if life has taught me anything in my short 28 years of life, it’s that rules and convention should only be used as guidelines, especially for things that bring you joy. especially if it involves cake.

this cake is far too delicious to only be brought up once a year, and i hope you’ll find the same!

notes

• you can sub up to half of the coconut milk with regular whole milk. i wouldn’t do more than that since coconut milk adds a lot to the flavor.
• i use ogura-an brand sweetened red bean paste, which contributes to this cake’s sweetness.
• erawan makes the only glutinuous rice flour i’ve ever used. look out for that iconic green lettering. bonus: one bag makes two cakes.
• i adapted this recipe from marvellina’s baked nian gao. i removed the need for toasting the coconut, added sweetened red bean paste, and reduced the sugar significantly.

after a rejuvenating august, i intended for september to be a time to discover sourdough steamed buns. instead, i found myself grappling with a lack of motivation and curiosity for most things i normally loved. i felt overwhelmed by the world, and drained by my personal life.

i took comfort in other people’s recipes. a few batches of chocolate dipped miso almond butter cookies. a dozen red bean paste and salted honey peanut mooncakes.

one of my favorite recipes was artisan bryan’s sourdough pan de coco.

it’s a recipe as chill and foolproof as they come, which was exactly the vibe i needed. simple, uncomplicated, without compromising an ounce of deliciousness. the creamy coconut with the tangy sourdough meld together to create a yogurt-y like flavor.

i’d highly recommend giving this loaf a try. it’s perfect for folks just starting out with sourdough, and also perfect for more experienced folks looking for a different voice and process.

i’ve included my personal notes below, along with the link to the original recipe. enjoy, and remember to be extra kind to yourself during these trying times my friends.

original recipe

artisan bryan’s sourdough pan de coco

notes

• if you’re like me and try to minimize sourdough starter volume, i’d recommend halving all measurements in the levain build method.
• it took my starter closer to 6 hours to double in volume based on cooler fall kitchen temperatures. definitely adjust based on your kitchen and season!
• i used my hands to incorporate everything and let it ferment overnight in the fridge. this made for an extremely chill, extremely unfussy process.
• three logs felt a little awkward in my loaf tin so i went with four logs.
• i added more than 50g of sweetened coconut. my recommendation here is just to generously sprinkle whatever you have on top and not worry too much about precise measurements.
• bryan is right — this bread was best eaten fresh out of the oven! i would say it keeps for a few days at room temp. any longer and i’d recommend freezing. to re-heat i’d recommend microwaving until the texture becomes soft again.

long, lazy summer days call for simple, produce-centric meals.

i love spending weekends gobbling up as many colors as i can. heirloom tomatoes topped with flaky sea salt. watermelon with handfuls of fresh mint. cucumbers with avocado and dill.

what are your favorite farmers market finds? summer squash is one of mine.

every june, zucchini and its friends burst onto the farm stand and backyard garden scene in abundance. i love cooking them with eggs, putting them in dumpling filling, and baking them into quick breads. i have delicious memories of my grandma cooking them up with noodles for a breakfast noodle soup.

lately, i’ve renewed my love for zucchini in the form of fritters.

crispy and light on the outside, full of oniony and garlicy goodness on the inside. i like to serve them hot, sometimes with a dollop of cold yogurt. for extra fancy summertime vibes, i garnish with some freshly picked herbs.

best of all, they’re super simple and super fast. this verison is also completely vegan thanks to sourdough discard.

notes

the final batter is fairly thick. to reduce the wateriness of the zucchini, i include two additional steps.

• first, adding salt in the beginning will draw water out of the zucchini.
• second, squeezing the water out will prevent the batter from becoming too runny. if your final batter still seems too watery or loose, just stir in a bit more flour.

as always, please adjust the recipe to suit your starter’s hydration. as a reminder, i have a stiff starter at 80% hydration.

although you could bake these fritters, i strongly recommend frying them. in my experiments, they tasted way better, and the crispiness can’t be beat.

but you probably already knew i was gonna say that 😉

this is the very first guest post on this blog! charlotte, the author, and i share a long, beautiful friendship over our love and appreciation for food (among many, many other things). we first met in 6th grade in surburban minnesota! her culinary creativity constantly inspires my own. i’ve made this recipe of hers a few times now, devouring most of the batch immediately after making them. without further ado, i’ll let charlotte take it from here. i hope you love these shao bing as much as we do!

– erica

taiwanese shao bing, as told and adapted by charlotte

while versions of this sesame flatbread abound throughout the chinese speaking world, most of my memories of shao bing 燒餅 are from summers spent in taiwan. there, shao bing are often served with a kind of fried cruller— you tiao 油條—sandwiched in between its flaky layers, then dunked in a steaming bowl of freshly pressed soy milk.

when i was younger, we would go to the neighborhood breakfast shop with my Ah Gong and Ah Ma, still shaking off the jet lag of a long international flight, sweating in the heat and humidity of the morning. we’d cram around one of the plastic tables ringed by round metal stools and order from the Lao Ban, watching him sling ladles of rice milk and flip rows of egg crepes at the front of the shop. everywhere the smell of frying dough, steaming xiao long bao, motorcycles, sun-on-asphalt. these little breakfast shops, once ubiquitous in taipei, have mostly given way to western-style cafes and bakeries.

but a few remain, and my family and i make a point to go every year. unable to travel to see family in taiwan this year, we’ve resorted to sighing longingly over old photos of past breakfasts, and occasionally attempting to recreate our favorites.

shao bing is one of my mother’s favorite breakfasts, and my sister and i endeavored to recreate them for mother’s day. i very loosely adapted this recipe from edwina at cooking in chinglish, incorporating sourdough discard rather than using instant yeast.

to serve

eat immediately after baking, for breakfast. we like them split open on the side with a scallion-flecked omelette nestled into the layers, or filled with heaps of fresh alfalfa sprouts and tomatoes and a dash of salt. honestly, they’re also pretty great plain.

serve with some freshly made peanut rice milk for a taste of a classic taiwanese breakfast.

bonus recipe: peanut rice milk

1/4 cup uncooked short grain white rice
1/2 cup peanuts, toasted
3 cups water
1 tablespoon dark brown sugar

soak white rice 6-8 hours or overnight, then blend with peanuts and water until smooth. heat in a pan, stirring, until the milk begins to bubble and thicken. add sugar, and cook to desired consistency. tastes just as good iced as warm!

makes 2 servings

we could all use a little more comfort in our lives right now, even in the blistering heat of summer. for me, no other food combination spells out comfort more than cheese and carbs.

this loaf deliciously combines the best of both worlds. the savory creaminess from the melted cheese comes in sporadic pockets, with the subtle spiciness from the black pepper running throughout.

this cheese and black pepper combo has easily become one of my favorites.

notes

as always, please adjust the formula based on the hydration of your starter, and adjust the timing of the bulk rise based on the temperature of your kitchen. this recipe was developed during the summer, in a 80 degree kitchen. please add an hour during the shoulder months, and two hours in winter months.

i used mccormick’s ground black pepper to develop this recipe, which i found to be fairly weak in flavor. i liked the flavor better at 2.5%, which for a 400 g flour loaf was 10 g of black pepper. i did not try this with freshly cracked black pepper. if you do bake this with freshly cracked black pepper which usually carries a stronger flavor, please be sure to reduce the amount.

cubing a block of cheese yourself is the secret to melty cheese pockets! shredded cheese will not yield the same effect. i like to use sharp, white cheddar cheese, but i bet a similar type of cheese would work just as well.

parchment paper is important here because the cheese will melt and get stuck to your dutch oven! that being said, the parchment paper might also get stuck to the loaf due to melted cheese. peel and scrape it off before enjoying.

baker’s percentage & basic timetable

the percentages for water and flour only account for the final dough build, and do not include the levain formula build.

although my korean food journey began with bowls of stone pot bibimbap in restaurants, i owe the bulk of my learning and appreciation to my korean friends. i have many happy memories of cooking for each other, swapping recipes from our childhoods and stories of our mothers.

those who are fans of my sourdough discard okonomiyaki know i’m a lover of savory pancakes. i’ve adapted this kimchi pancake recipe from maangchi, a true cooking legend. instead of flour and water, sourdough starter discard acts as the primary binder.

the tangy, funky, sourdough discard pairs beautifully with the tangy, funky kimchi. with only 8 ingredients and a 3 minute cook time, these pancakes are super easy, quick, and fun to make.

bonus: they’re vegan! just be sure to grab a vegan kimchi like sinto gourmet or chi kitchen. most store bought brands have seafood of some sort. you can also make it yourself if you’re feeling bold.

notes

the texture of this batter should resemble pancake batter. if it feels runny, add in all purpose flour until it reaches a firmer consistency.

this batter makes enough for two 8″ pancakes. feel free to modify the size of your pancakes! smaller ones will be easier to flip.

lastly, please adjust the recipe to suit your starter’s hydration. i have a stiff starter at 80% hydration. for help, my sourdough hydration math post and calculator explains how to calculate adjustments.

as a quick example, if your starter is 100%, the batter may come out too runny! to adjust, decrease sourdough discard amount to 130 g, and add an additional 20 g of all purpose flour.

years ago on one of my buzzfeed tasty binges, i saw a method of pan frying potstickers i had never seen before. using a cornstarch slurry, the mystery hand effortless created a lacy, crispy, delicious looking “skirt”.

as i recipe tested my dumplings last weekend, a light bulb went off in my head. what if i replaced the cornstarch slurry with watered down sourdough discard?

a few rounds of trial and error later, lo and behold — the crispiest, most delicious addition to a potsticker was born.

for the skeptics out there, do not sleep on this!! it’s absurdly good.

dumpling series

this is the last part of my three part series on sourdough discard dumplings!

• in the first part, i explain my formula and method for making dumpling wrappers using sourdough discard.
• in the second part, i focus on shandong style dumpling wrapping technique (with a vegan filling recipe!), and how i like to pay fry them.
• this part describes my formula and method for adding a pretty, extra crispy skirt on your pan fried dumplings with a sourdough discard slurry.

read them all together to re-create my sourdough dumplings, or mix and match with different techniques or store-bought items.

notes

please adjust the hydration of the slurry based on your sourdough starter.

you can use this crispy skirt recipe and technique with any sort of homemade dumpling. it should even work with store-bought potstickers!

dumpling series

this is the second part of my three part series on sourdough discard dumplings!

• in the first part, i explain my formula and method for making dumpling wrappers using sourdough discard.
• in this part, i focus on shandong style dumpling wrapping technique (with a vegan filling recipe!), and how i like to pay fry them.
• the third part describes my formula and method for adding a pretty, extra crispy skirt on your pan fried dumplings with a sourdough discard slurry.

read them all together to re-create my sourdough dumplings, or mix and match with different techniques or store-bought items.

notes

this guide assumes you are beginning with a set of dumpling wrappers.

after wrapping your dumplings, you can freeze them for 3 months. i put dumplings on a well floured sheet pan and pop them into the freezer until firm before transferring them into a re-usable ziploc like container for longer term freezer storage.

easy vegan filling

shandong style wrapping method

to begin, hold a single wrapper flat in your open-facing left hand.

next, put a spoonful of filling inside the center of the wrapper. this photo shows a generous amount, but i would start off with less filling until you get a hang of it. you may need to pack your filling slightly.

after filling, pinch opposite sides together at the middle with your other hand so it looks kind of like a cannoli.

to close, we start at the left end of the dumpling.

start by tucking the filling in on the left side by poking it lightly inward. then, fold the dough at the tip inward slightly and firmly pinch shut.

continue firmly pinching upwards until you meet the center pinch. the dough can overlap at times but you don’t need to be precise with it.

when shut securely, repeat with the other side! give it an extra squeeze for closure.

when complete, set aside on a well floured surface, and repeat with the rest of your dumplings. freeze or cook them immediately.

pan frying potstickers

to cook, i usually pan fry or boil them. serious eats wrote up a great guide that approximates what my family does for both fresh and frozen homemade dumplings.

on medium to medium-high heat, heat up a thin layer of oil in a non-stick skillet. place as many dumplings as you can fit in sizzling skillet. fry until lightly golden, about 1 minute.

then, pour a thin layer of water, covering the bottom of the skillet. cover the lid immediately and cook for 5 minutes. remove cover and cook until bottoms are golden brown and water is completely evaporated.

dumpling series

this is the first part of my three part series on sourdough discard dumplings!

• in this part, i explain my formula and method for making dumpling wrappers using sourdough discard.
• in the second part, i focus on shandong style dumpling wrapping technique (with a vegan filling recipe!), and how i like to pay fry them.
• the third part describes my formula and method for adding a pretty, extra crispy skirt on your pan fried dumplings with a sourdough discard slurry.

read them all together to re-create my sourdough dumplings, or mix and match with different techniques or store-bought items.

my story

i learned how to make dumplings from generations of women in my family passing down this one tradition.

from a young age my mother made it clear to me that the way we made dumplings was not like other chinese families. first, she said, we made our own wrappers. this skill, she urged, was not one to be overlooked.

thus, my childhood kitchen table became my training ground. me struggling to roll out dumpling wrappers while my palms hurt, mom generously wrapping plump morsels, dad manning the boiling station, brother too young to contribute beyond eating (eventually stepping up into assistant wrapper).

there are many different ways to make “chinese” dumplings. each region has its preferences for wrapping, pleating, filling, and cooking methods.

shandong 山东 style dumplings are known for thicker, chewier dumpling wrappers. they are fat with filling, and don’t care to impress with braided pleating. oftentimes my mother squeezes them shut in a dual cupping pinching motion i have yet to master.

though incorporating sourdough discard into the dumpling dough is far from traditional, it does create a flavor that’s very compatible with the black vinegar sauce and fillings i usually use (cabbage or carrots).

more importantly, i wanted to develop this recipe to bring together two of my most important worlds. i wanted to share this piece of my story with all of you, and share it in an incredibly delicious way.

notes

although the formula is new, this is the process my family has always followed for homemade dumpling wrappers. the rolling method is tricky and will take practice to get used to. i can’t promise that it’s foolproof, but i can promise to try my best in communicating what the women in my family have taught me.

as always, please adjust the water and flour amounts based on the hydration of your starter.

if you have leftover dough, you can use it to make a scallion pancake.

baker’s percentage & basic timetable

the percentages for water and flour only account for the final dough build, and do not include the levain formula build.

i wish i could say that perusing the olive and cheese selection at the park slope food coop is what inspired me to make this loaf, but alas. i must confess i made this loaf because i once loved a man who really, really loved olives.

he didn’t live in new york (or even in this country), and for some reason i got it in my head that if only he tried a piece of this bread, he would consider moving brooklyn. yes, the loaf was truly that tasty.

a year has gone and passed since then. my hypothesis was never tested, as our relationship was too short-lived for him to try this bread.

luckily, this recipe lives on.

salty, tangy, always leaving you wanting more. feed this to all the lovers and olive lovers in your life. please do let me know if it has the intended effect 😉

notes

be sure to buy pre-pitted olives! i most certainly, definitely am not including this because i learned this the hard way heh (but seriously, de-pitting them was a n00b lesson you will now not have to repeat).

for lamination videos, check out my guava cream cheese post or @fullproofbaking.

my regular batch of caveats: please be wary of starter hydration and seasonal timing adjustments (for me it means about +1 hr in the summer, and about -1 hr in the winter).

baker’s percentage & basic timetable

the percentages for water and flour only account for the final dough build, and do not include the levain formula build.

i don’t talk about ken forkish enough. i really should because he changed my life.

in 2016, my coworker, artur, brought in a loaf of bread (so crusty, so good) and evangelized a book he used to make it, flour water salt yeast (fwsy, for short). artur kept bringing in bread, each loaf better and more complex than the one before. and i, carb loving individual that i am, kept on eating it, each bite more curious than before.

i picked up a copy later that month and started baking alongside arty.

ken became my first teacher of sourdough, and fwsy became my bible. his story of transitioning from disillusioned banker to james beard celebrated bakery and pizzeria owner resonated with a younger version of me, a frustrated software engineer looking for, if not meaning and fulfillment, at least something where she didn’t have to stare at a screen for hours.

i have read the entire book (and have baked 90% of it) from cover to cover. my copy, you could say, is well loved. the entire middle chunk can be pulled out. there is dried, crusted sourdough starter on the guide to making your own levain pages. you can’t miss the bits of crusted up dough on the recipes i really struggled with (all i can say is, ken, you must have a frigid portland kitchen).

this recipe is inspired by one of my favorite loaves in the book, his country brown sourdough. i’ve incorporated newer techniques that work better for me in wetter doughs, and paired it with the familiar flavor of his country brown. mildly tangy, soft, accessible, and so very versatile.

notes

as always, please adjust the formula based on the hydration of your starter, and adjust the timing of the bulk rise based on the temperature of your kitchen (1 hr shorter during summer, 1 hr longer during winter).

i mentioned that this is a pretty slack, wet dough due to the high hydration and lower protein content of the flours. to introduce more strength, i extend the autolyse to 1 hr (as opposed to 30 min), use the rubaud and slap & fold methods for mixing, and load up on coil folds.

please refer to the above linked videos for the techniques i mention in my recipe, as i do not describe them further.

feel free to experiment with any whole wheat variety. i’ve baked this with both king arthur whole wheat, and locally grown red fife!

the link to ken’s book is an amazon affiliate link. this means if you purchase it from this page, i’ll make money from it. that doesn’t affect my opinion of this book at all. know that i only recommend products and resources that have helped me immensely on my personal sourdough journey and that i consider to be a worthwhile investment.

baker’s percentage & basic timetable

the percentages for water and flour only account for the final dough build, and do not include the levain formula build.

you may have seen the following phrase or a variation of the phrase floating around my blog posts.

“i have a stiff starter that’s 80% hydration. please adjust amount of flour in final dough to account for your starter’s hydration.”

you may have even wondered, “um *ahem* erica. more on this word adjust please.”

if that’s you, you’re definitely not alone. this post is for you, and i’m way more excited than i should be to talk about math and baking at the same time.

before i begin, a surprise

i know not everyone likes to nerd out on ratios. i’ve made a few cute calculators you can use to make things a bit easier and less manual at sourdoughcalculator.com

first things first

it’s important to know what hydration your sourdough starter is. an easy way to figure this out is to write down the amount of flour and water per feeding, and divide the water amount over the flour amount.

i usually feed my starter 30g of flour, and 24g of water. 24 / 30 = 0.8, meaning my starter is at 80% hydration. at 80% hydration, my stiff starter has a dough-like consistency.

many people feed their starter equal proportions of flour and water, meaning their starter is at 100% hydration. at 100% hydration, the liquid starter has a batter-like consistency.

let’s do some math

now the fun part (caveat: my fun might be much, much nerdier than your fun).

we can reverse calculate the amount of flour and water in our sourdough starter. because our sourdough starter is just two ingredients, and because the amount of water is just a proportion of our flour amount, our equation becomes:

amount of starter = amount of flour + hydration * amount of flour

this equation says, the weight of my starter is equal to the weight of the flour and water it’s made out of, and the weight of water is just a proportion of the weight of flour.

since we already know the amount of starter and our hydration, we can solve for the amount of flour.

a practical example calculation: if i have 100g of my stiff starter at 80% hydration, i can calculate the amount of flour by doing:

100 g = x + 0.8x

where x represents the amount of flour in my starter. when i solve for x, i calculate that my starter has 56g of flour, and 44g of water.

adapting recipes to your starter

so you have a 100% hydration liquid starter but want to make some of my recipes? i gotchu.

there are two cases to be aware of: one in which i’d recommend adjusting the amount of starter, as well as the amount of flour, and the second in which i’d recommend maintaining the amount of starter, and adjusting the flour and water.

let’s say you’re eyeing shortbread cookies, which calls for 100 g of starter discard.

100g of liquid starter means you have 50g of flour and 50g of water.

since the cookie recipe doesn’t call for water, i would first reduce the amount of starter to match the water content of my stiff starter, and then add additional flour to compensate.

we know that 100g of stiff sourdough starter has 44g of flour. therefore, i would probably use 88g of liquid starter (44g flour and 44g of water), and then add 12g extra AP flour (44 + 12 = 56g flour) to achieve the same flour:water ratio.

an example that has water are my fluffy scallion pancakes.

50g of stiff starter means 28g flour and 22g water.
50g of liquid starter means 25g flour and 25g water.

since this recipe includes flour, water, and starter, you can maintain the amount of discard, and directly adjust the flour and water content, by adding an additional 3g of flour, and subtracting 3g of water.

et voila

that’s all folks! if you want to see more of this kind of content, let me know.

confession: i have never baked a chocolate chip cookie i truly loved.

before i begin my saga, i would like to set the record straight and say i have eaten many chocolate chip cookies that i have loved. i line up dutifully each year at the minnesota state fair to get the family sized bucket of sweet martha’s, and pop them in my mouth like they’re cookie popcorn. i can eat an entire larger-than-my-fist-sized levain bakery cookie (or two) in one sitting thank you very much.

but baking them, you’d think they’d be straightforward, but man, something goes wrong every time.

i have traumatic memories of scooping out chocolate chip cookie dough in neat little rows fully expecting them to emerge as beautifully golden discs with crisp edges and soft centers, only to take out a tray of little mishapen piles that barely spread.

the problem is always this: they always turn out just ok. mediocre. some even good, but none great. definitely not the addictive little bundles i knew flour, sugar, butter, and chocolate had the potential to be.

i thought i was cursed until i made the cookie.

when i first saw alison roman’s salted butter chocolate chunk shortbread (or why would i make another chocolate chip cookie ever again) recipe, i felt skeptical.

who was this woman with all the “the’s”: “the stew”, “the pasta”, “the cookies.” it was a bold move, i thought, to claim them all for her own. assertive. aggressive, even. how could one person take ownership of all of these staple nouns?

but a curse was a curse, and i felt a glimmer of hope since she promised they weren’t meant to spread much anyway.

as i type this now, after happily eaten #thestew, munching on #thecookies for dessert, plotting when i can acquire shallots to make #thepasta, i confess i’m a convert. she has made a pretty special cookie.

this sourdough adaptation of her viral recipe is my homage to alison roman. they’re buttery like your favorite shortbread, not too sweet, studded in chocolate, and best of all, shockingly easy to make with a flavor complexity that goes way beyond the effort you need to put in.

we all need a go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe in our lives. i’ve finally found mine.

*a side note: i recently found out alison roman said some things about other female entrepreneurs this past week that i personally find problematic. like cherry bombe, i feel disappointed. i hope we can take these comments to talk, learn, and grow as a community of women supporting each other.

**updated side note: alison roman issued a very public, very vulnerable apology which i find very brave. i don’t believe in cancel culture. i want to live in a world where we can hold multiple, conflicting emotions at once: one where we can simultaneously hurt, forgive, admire — and much much more.

notes

i added buckwheat because i was feeling fancy. if you want to stick with the nothing fancy vibes, you can stick to all purpose flour.

i like to use cold starter discard, straight out of the tub i keep in my fridge. another note on my starter: i have a stiff starter at 80% hydration. please adjust the amount of flour and starter in the dough to account for your starter’s hydration.

you can store the dough in the fridge for a week, or in the freezer for up to a month. i usually make one of the logs immediately, and then freeze the other log for whenever the need for emergency cookies strikes.

baker’s percentage & basic timetable

the percentages for water and flour only account for the dough build, and do not include the levain build.

*you can also sub with another fun flour like rye or spelt.

my earliest meaningful memory of pizza is of waiting in line with my mother at papa murphy’s take and bake, bogo coupon in hand, ordering two supreme pizzas. then, there was the costco food stand. our family of 4 would pile into the car, do our shopping, walk out with the largest supreme pizza available, and eat the leftovers over the next few days.

if there’s one thing my mother believed in, it was value. getting anything short of whatever gave you the most amount of toppings was unthinkable. and thus, i was raised on a string of supreme pizzas.

then, the singular experience at 17 that redefined pizza for me: a classic margherita from punch pizza.

for one, it was a topping-less pizza. i remember it coming out, the bare cheese staring back at me, bits of tomato sauce peeking through, naked, like it forgot to put its clothes on.

second, we each got our own individual pizza, as if one entire pizza was an acceptable serving size my parents conveniently forgot to mention to me, a young susceptible mind and a very hungry almost adult.

but most importantly, it was nothing like i had tasted before. the thin base, the wood fired flavor, the satisfying chew of the crust. it was hard for me to believe that we lived in a world where the pizza i knew and loved could coexist with this new pizza i didn’t know and quickly became infatuated with.

i’ve had way more pizza memories than i’d like to admit over this past decade of pizza discovery and re-discovery. pizza seems to hold the constant of re-inventing itself for me just as i keep re-inventing myself.

my newest favorite way to eat pizza is to make a big batch of dough, invite a small group of friends over, and make a couple of pizzas together while we catch up. it’s as collaborative as it is creative, as easy as it is fast, as humble as it is impressive.

i hope these will soon become your favorite pizza memories too.

notes

i have a stiff starter that’s 80% hydration. please adjust amount of water in final dough to account for your starter’s hydration.

we might not get to gather in groups again for a while, but luckily this dough keeps well for a few days in the fridge. in fact, this dough needs a long cold proof. you’ll find it becomes easier to work with and the flavors become more complex the longer it’s been in the fridge. it bakes up quick enough to make for a reasonably achievable weekday work from home lunch.

pizza like this does its best baking at very high temps. unfortunately most home ovens don’t go as high as commercial ones. just crank it to as high as it will go, and make sure your oven is clean. i may or may not have set off my smoke detector at least 5 times over the course of 3 bakes.

this recipe makes enough dough for 3 – 12″ skillet-sized pizzas or 4 – 9″ skill-sized pizzas. scale up or down as needed. i can pretty easily eat an entire one of these.

this recipe is just for the crust. some toppings inspiration:

• du’s: mozz, caramelized onions, roasted garlic, spinach. to prevent burnt ends, put the caramelized onions on post bake or hide beneath spinach. drizzle with honey & chili flakes right before serving.
• margherita: tomato sauce & mozz. put basil on right before serving.
• tie dye: ricotta & mozz, tomato sauce & pesto
• shakshuka: tomato sauce, egg, mozz, feta. top with pepper and arugula post bake

baker’s percentage & basic timetable

the percentages for water and flour only account for the final dough build, and do not include the levain formula build.

if you’re like me and love baking bread just as much as you love eating bread, you might occasionally have the unique, and frankly excellent, problem of sometimes being in possession of perhaps, too much bread (writing this pains me because i’d like to defend that there is no such thing as too much bread, particularly sourdough bread).

over the past few years, in addition to baking slightly smaller loaves and finding more people to share my freshly baked bread with, i’ve developed a few strategies to maximize my bread consumption and to salvage aging (or failed heh) loaves — what else is a carb-loving eco-conscious nerd to do?

1. pre-slice & freeze half

i’ve found that the shelf life of homemade sourdough is around 3 days, though the crust begins to lose its characteristic crunch much sooner than that.

let this be a game changer: you can freeze your bread, and re-toast it to revive the same texture.

i like to pre-slice the portion of the loaf i plan to freeze into toastable sizes, and then store them in a freezer bag. when i’m ready to eat, i just pull out slices one by one and pop them in the toaster on a medium-high setting. when they pop out, they’re crispy on the edges and soft in the center.

you’re welcome.

2. give your bread a second life

sometimes my sourdough gets stale sooner than i’d like. in these cases i give it a second act: savory bread pudding, french toast using day-old guava cream cheese sourdough, or my current favorite — sourdough croutons. like discard focaccia, the recipe is simple while the possibilities for flavor combos are limitless.

this recipe is vaguer than my other ones. just like okonomiyaki is a way to eat a bunch of delicious sauces, i feel like croutons are simply a vehicle to get flavor profiles you want on a very crisp vehicle.

sub olive oil for melted butter for a richer flavor. add whatever flavorings you want. i like a generous amount of italian seasoning and garlic powder. sometimes a bit of parmesan cheese if i’m feeling fancy.

cut toss bake enjoy repeat. i hope this encourages you to love your day-old bread just as much as you love your fresh-out-of-the-oven crackling loaf!

the wonderfully talented caroline schiff reminded me recently that that frying up sourdough discard on its own makes for a pretty damn tasty pancake. this, of course, had me dreaming of all the savory pancakes i’ve loved in my life and how to recreate them.

okonomiyaki, a japanese savory pancake made predominantly out of cabbage, is one of my favorites. it’s customizable, crisp, chewy, dangerously easy, disproportionately delicious, and very, very, pretty. i think of it as a relatively healthy conduit to eat a bunch of sauces i always want excuses to eat.

cabbage also happens to be one of the heartiest vegetables and lasts forever (at least in quarantine time), so of course i have an unreasonable amount now stocked up in my apt during this pandemic. wishing i could hop on a plane get myself to japan this spring, but this pancake will have to do.

notes

the toppings i’ve listed are mere suggestions. feel to top with whatever you have on hand, and whatever you find delicious. ketchup or kimchi works just as well as sriracha or chili crisp.

maybe cabbage and carrots aren’t your thing. that’s ok. feel free to throw in other vegetables or scallions in you have on hand that have similar texture to substitute (daikon, broccoli stems, etc.) for a non-traditional, but likely still delicious savory pancake.

other additions: for the non-vegetarians, kenji says you also fry it in some pork belly or bacon, and top with dried bonito flakes. for an eggier pancake, add an additional egg and 50 g additional veggies.

i’ve made these the size of a regular pancake or the traditionally larger size, either works. remember that the larger the pancake, the harder it will be to flip!

growing up, my mother made dumplings from scratch at least once a month. she always purposely made extra dumpling dough, and with the remains, we’d make scallion pancakes, often without the scallions.

a thing to know about my mom: whenever my mom makes anything, she always guesstimates. “eyeballing”, she would say, is the chinese way.

unfortunately, i don’t have my mother’s eyeballs. maybe it’s that i’ve absorbed a more western (?) philosophy, finding mostly comfort and curiousity in the precision of baking. thus, most of my adult life has been a journey to furiously scribble down measurements whenever i can and whenever my mom will let me pull out my tools to take weights or temperatures or to ask more questions than necessary.

the first recipe i managed to write down correctly was one for scallion pancakes. i was 17 and in college and really craving something other than our student center’s tofu teriyaki when i emailed home for some ratios. after some trial and error and tweaking, i finally got a version that had the same texture as my mothers.

this recipe is a sourdough discard adaptation of that original recipe.

notes

i have a stiff starter that’s 80% hydration. please adjust amount of water in final dough to account for your starter’s hydration.

these are pretty traditional scallion pancakes. for a fluffy version characteristic of northern china, check out my leavened, fluffy sourdough discard scallion pancake recipe.

if you read the introductory paragraph, you’ll realize that you can use this dough formula to make dumpling wrappers as well! i’d recommend letting the dough rest for an extra hour or two before cutting and rolling out.

this recipe makes one single-serving pancake. feel free to double and triple as you please.

the shaping technique described in this recipe optimizes for distinct layers. you can also use the roll & snail technique found in my other scallion pancake recipe for a more traditional swirl aesthetic.

bonus non-gluten side salad recipe

i sometimes like to serve this with a traditional cucumber salad. the slight tang from the sourdough with the sourness of the black vinegar is a winning combo in my book. the sauce that sits at the bottom ends up being a great dipping sauce.

slice up one cucumber, mince 2-3 cloves of garlic, throw in a couple good glugs of black vinegar, a sprinkle of salt, and a spoonful of extra crunchy peanut butter (optional). shake or toss or mix until all ingredients combined. drizzle with sesame oil to top, and serve immediately.

baker’s percentage & basic timetable

the percentages for water and flour only account for the final dough build, and do not include the levain formula build.