du's doughs

i’ve been making a lot of focaccia recently. it seems like the entire world is stress baking along with me as a result of coronavirus.

my covid-19 experience thus far has been rocky: i’ve been away from my home and home kitchen this past month as part of a residency program in a different part of brooklyn. i definitely wasn’t expecting to face a once-in-a-lifetime, once-in-a-century global pandemic in not-my-home with not-my-family in the now-global-epicenter, but hey, here we are, and this too, shall pass.

as a result of the unfamiliarity, i’ve been revisiting old recipes that bring me comfort, like this sourdough discard focaccia. i’ve made this specific flavor combination four times this past week and plan to make it many more times this week to pull me through what i can only describe as shared global grief and trauma. i’ve loaded this focaccia with so many of my favorite things: heavy with ricotta, so much so that it tastes quite like a white pizza, generously topped with caramelized onions.

it feels almost luxurious to be able to eat this during a time of crisis, especially when i consider the additional luxury i have to be able to work from home. i keep telling myself that it’s ok to enjoy and appreciate and be grateful for the tiny beautiful things.

so bake this and share it with your loved ones. feed this to those you live with. tell them they mean something to you. don’t hold back on the cheese. don’t hold back on the drizzle. don’t hold anything back at all.

wishing all of you and your communities lots of love, connection, safety, health — and a lot, a lot of bread.

notes

the dough used in this recipe is the exact same formula as my sourdough discard focaccia, but i’ve simplified it a bit. my original recipe uses einkorn flour, but i’ve found i can really use any non-white flour in its stead (though einkorn flour still produces my favorite texture).

i’ve also just defaulted the hydration to 80% and a 12 hour bulk time, given that i’ve found higher hydration and a long bulk time yield a jigglier dough and better structured crumb.

i often double this recipe and make two batches at once. increase the bake time slightly if you’re going to be baking multiple pans or a larger focaccia. the shape of the pan won’t matter too much, but the size does. i usually like to use a pan that is just slightly bigger than my stretched out focaccia.

focaccia is like sourdough’s super chill, completely unfussy sister that pulls everything off without even trying. you know the type — the ones that throw their hair up in a bun without having to check their reflection, throw on a jacket that’s just laying about, and still manages to bounce out the door looking effortlessly cool.

some days i want making bread to feel like this too, and on those days i make focaccia. throw everything together, go to sleep, and in the morning, poof, without having to really even think, out comes this miraculously delicious, beautiful thing.

think it’s too good to be true? let’s make it even better. this sourdough focaccia recipe is leavened with sourdough starter discard.

you’re welcome 🙂

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.

you might realize you like a different thickness of focaccia than the one described here. a 10×10 inch brownie-ish or cake pan for this quantity of dough will give you a focaccia that just fills the crevices. for a thicker focaccia, use a smaller pan or scale up your dough. i use a pan where the dough doesn’t quite reach the edges and get a thinner focaccia i personally really enjoy. tldr; use what you got!

if you find your focaccia is sticking to the pan or worry it might, a few readers have recommended using parchment paper in addition to oil.

though this recipe tastes great on its own, it is also very adaptable to include whatever toppings you wish and enjoy on focaccia. a few suggestions:

• roasted garlic: roast 1-2 heads of garlic. dimple in the garlic before adding salt and additional olive oil.
• zataar: after dimpling and after drizzling olive oil and salt, sprinkle a handful of zataar. drizzle another bit of olive oil on top.
• veggies: slice a couple handfuls of raw grape or cherry tomatoes in half, and some red onion and peppers into slivers. dimple in the veggies before adding salt and additional olive oil.
• grapes: dimple in a couple handfuls of grapes before adding salt and additional olive oil.
• rosemary: top with a few sprigs of rosemary at the end.

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.

ingredient	baker’s percentage
all purpose flour	60%
einkorn* flour	20%
bread flour	20%
water	80%
unfed levain (discard)	20%

step	time
autolyse	30 – 60 min
bulk rise	10 – 12 hours
folds	1 – 2 folds
bake	15 – 20 min

*you can sub einkorn flour with whole wheat, or all purpose flour

🧧 happy lunar new year!!! 🧧

this past friday marked the beginning of the two week holiday period known as spring festival 春节, a huge celebration in mainland china to usher in the new year. festivities often include extravagant amounts of delicious food, a lot of quality family time, and even more echos of wishing each other health, happiness, and prosperity.

as a kid, my family used to gather with a few other chinese families in the greater twin cities area for a celebratory potluck dinner, where each family would bring their specialty dish, taking pride in their regional cuisine. raised in northern china where the food is more wheat based (rather than rice), my mom was known for her dumplings and flatbreads.

the apple don’t fall far from the tree i guess.

this recipe is a way to share a piece of my mother’s cooking and pride in our region. i adapted her yeasted scallion pancake 发面葱油饼 (fa mian cong you bing) recipe to use sourdough discard, and fell in love with the result. soft & fluffy on the inside with a perfectly umami laden & crispy exterior, this is a perfect way to get every last bit of leavening power from your sourdough starter discard.

notes

i went through a lot of trial and error with this recipe.

• some variations that were successful: i’ve used discard both at room temp and straight out of the fridge. the water temperature listed in the recipe below is for discard straight out of the fridge. for room temp you can use water 90-95°F.
• some that were less successful: this dough at a lower hydration doesn’t achieve the lightness we want, and the dough at a higher hydration becomes hard to roll out. i’d recommend sticking to 54-56%
• i didn’t test an overnight refrigerated proof at all, but that could be interesting to experiment with.

importantly, i use discard from a stiff levain. please tweak flour and water proportions to accommodate for your levain’s hydration. as an example calculation:

• my starter is 80% hydration with a 5:4:1 ratio of flour to water to starter. this means that 50g of starter is composed of about 28g flour and 22g water (or if you’re real nerdy like me, 50g = x + 0.8x, solve for x)
• if your starter is 100% hydration (1:1:1 ratio), that means that 50g of starter is composed of 25g of flour and 25g of water. so to match the recipe, add 3g more flour and 3g less water. ta-da!

i also wrote a blog post about this math with a few helpful calculator tools!

lastly, if you enjoyed this, i’d so appreciate you taking a second to rate and leave a comment all the way at the bottom. i love hearing feedback and it brings me so much joy to know you’re making this recipe!

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.

ingredient	baker’s percentage
all purpose flour	100%
water	54%
unfed levain (discard)	30%

step	time
first rise	1 hour
second rise	1 hour
proof	1 hour
final rise	1.5-2 hours
fry	12-14 min

if you’re now the happy parent of a new sourdough starter baby, and looking for a lightweight owner’s manual with video, you’re on the right page. a healthy, active starter is the lifeblood to any great loaf of sourdough.

the thing about starters is that not all starters are the same. all starters consist of flour, water, and the bacteria and yeast colonies that make it *alive*. however, there are starters made from rye flour, wheat flour, all purpose flour, bread flour, etc. there are also liquid starters and stiff starters. the ratios of ingredients can vary, and the composition of a starter can also shift over time.

i have a stiff starter, so to keep it simple, this guide will only speak to how i maintain my stiff starter. my stiff starter has a dough-like consistency rather than a batter-like consistency

one caveat before i begin: i am not a professionally trained baker in any capacity, nor do i claim to be. i am but a humble sourdough nerd who is incredibly curious about bread, has learned a bunch, and continues to learn a bunch 🙂

ok. now that that’s out of the way, i think about taking care of my starter in two parts — feeding and storage. i’ll dive into both parts in further detail below.

how to feed your starter

this is the ratio i use:

1 part unfed starter
1 part whole wheat flour
4 parts all purpose flour
4 parts water at 85 – 90°F

the recipe below is an example of a day where i am planning to bake. if i’m not baking, i like to reserve a very small amount — often only 6g of starter. 6g will look very, very small, but trust me, your starter will bounce back!

how to store your starter

when i’m keeping up my feeding schedule, i keep my starter in an old, glass peanut butter jar or a mason jar with a lid on my kitchen island counter. i’d recommend choosing a jar that will allow your starter to grow 3x in volume. starters are strong! they will pop the lid off if there’s not enough room. pro tip: write down or make note of the weight of the empty jar without the lid. this will make weighing the ingredients much easier.

when i need a break, i transfer a bit of it when its almost peak (~7 to 8 hours after feeding) into a smaller jar, and store in the fridge. for some time i kept my starter in the fridge during the week and took it out on weekends. you can keep your starter in the fridge for up to a month. i’d also recommend refreshing it at least 2 times before baking with it again. the first time i take my starter out of the fridge, i use an adjusted ratio:

2 parts unfed starter
1 part whole wheat flour
4 parts all purpose flour
4 parts water at 85 – 90°F

these crackers were born out of resourcefulness and convenience. after making my everything sourdough bread, i took the extra starter discard and made my basic cheesy cracker (like usual). then thinking nothing of it, i rolled the dough in the everything seasoning i had leftover.

little did i know that these crackers would become, by far, the most addicting thing i have ever baked. i have seen my friends demolish jars of these in one sitting. i have seen myself demolish jars of these in one sitting.

if you’re interested in witnessing the same progression of events, please proceed.

you’ve been warned.

notes

this recipe is shockingly simple for the flavor it delivers. there’s plenty of salt in the everything seasoning mix, which omits the need to add it directly to the crackers (i tried it once, and it was like the equivalent of eating double strength sea water).

to get an even distribution of everything seasoning, generously sprinkle the everything seasoning on the surface you plan to roll the dough on, and then directly roll the dough into the seasoning.

you can buy everything seasoning from the store or use the ratios i use for a DIY mix. the formula i’ve included will leave you with extra everything seasoning you can use for your next batch of crackers.

the proportions i’ve specified will make exactly one cookie sheet pan worth of crackers. this recipe can be easily doubled, tripled, etc. to satisfy any further cracker cravings.

the secret to the perfect cracker is rolling these thin enough to get a satisfying snap, but not so thin that it’s a chip. think wheat thin level thinness.

we are officially in the thicket of winter, which for most people means a miserable period of darkness and coldness and wetness and <insert your other gloomy adjectives of choice>.

but from misery breeds opportunity i say! an opportunity to indulge and find comfort in all the warm, lovely carbohydrates. an opportunity to crank your oven up to the highest setting and to hover by it as the aromas and heat waft out of the kitchen.

that doesn’t so bad right?

this recipe for seeded sourdough is perfect for those who, like me, also reach for heartier, darker whole grains during the winter. packed with flavor and seeds, serve this loaf warm with a thick slab of butter or with your favorite instant pot stews.

notes

at first glance, the hydration might seem alarmingly high (85%), but the wheat flour absorbs it all and yields an extensible, pliable dough that isn’t sticky or hard to work with. i promise.

i’ve added a hefty portion of rye in addition to the whole wheat to add even more depth of flavor and to balance out water absorption a bit. when i think of my favorite seeded loaves (mostly dutch and german breads), rye is always there.

lastly, the seeds i’m using in the recipe are merely suggestions — i’ve opted for pumpkin, sunflower, hemp, and fennel seeds (the fennel in particular adds a beautiful flavor and i’d highly recommend if you are a fennel fan), but feel free to use whatever fits your fancy. i would recommend 40g of larger seeds and 20g of smaller seeds.

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.

flour bakery in cambridge, ma was the first bakery i truly fell in love with. in college, i’d walk the 15 minutes from my dorm on tuesday late afternoons to order my usual breakfast sandwich and a pot of tea, sitting by window doing homework until whoever was closing that day had to politely ask me to leave (also can we agree that breakfast sandwiches are not just reserved for breakfast, and deserve to be eaten at any time of day?).

as an asian american woman who also grew up in flyover states and also went to university in boston, i consider joanne chang to be one of the greats, one of my life heroes.

i’ve adapted her original sticky bun recipe to include ripe sourdough starter rather than yeast. sourdough and brioche sweet bread might seem counter intuitive, but the sourdough doesn’t negatively affect the flavor at all.

whenever i eat these i first get hit by the melt-in-your-mouth gooey goodness, and then by a huge wave of nostalgia. i’m not sure which feeling i enjoy more, and i hope these do the same for you.

notes

like many brioche doughs, this is a fairly wet dough. don’t panic if it seems unwieldy! the dough strengthens with folds and refrigeration.

you could swap the heavy cream in the goo for whole milk, though you will end up with a much thinner (albeit still tasty) goo.

sticky buns are best eaten warm, within 4 hours of baking. share with friends and after a bite, you’ll be their favorite friend.

you can store them in an airtight container for up to 1 day and reheat with microwave or oven. i’ve also stashed them in the freezer for longer term storage. i swear they taste just as good straight out of the freezer, microwaved for a couple of minutes.

baker’s percentage & basic timetable

baker’s percentages are percent weight relative to total flour, and refer to the dough only (excludes goo topping)

ingredients	baker’s percentage
all purpose flour	86%
bread flour	14%
levain	65%
whole milk	48%
granulated sugar	14%
egg	32%
sea salt	2.3%
butter	16%

step	time
levain build	8 hours
bulk rise	4 hours
cold proof	6 – 12 hours
final proof	2 – 3 hours

my only childhood bagel experiences were the day old, half priced bruegger’s asiago bagels my friends and i would sneak out of statistics class to buy at our high school cafeteria. when i moved to nyc, i entered the bagel mecca itself, and oh i had much. to. learn.

i learned not to toast the good ones (the sacrilege!).

i learned that pumpernickel had no association with leprechauns (ok but doesn’t it conjure up the image?).

i learned that the bagel could, and should, be used as a vehicle to consume many other delicious things, like peanut butter, or smoked salmon, or scallion cream cheese (but absolutely no vegetables allowed except for red onions, nuh uh).

this sourdough is an homage to nyc, my home for the last 4 years. it’s encrusted with the everything seasoning we know and love, with a higher percentage of rye and spelt for that familiar tang.

for maximal stickiness, cover the sticky dough with the seasoning post-shape and pre-flour. if you find the seasoning falling off, you can try wetting it a little bit before covering the dough with seasoning by spraying a bit of water.

brooklyn in the summer is a magical place.

this granola recipe is my tribute to summer — tinted yellow from the ground turmeric, with coconut, sunflower seeds, golden raisins, and crystallized ginger as mix-ins. these flavors remind me of the things i love about warm weather and sunshine.

earlier this summer when i discovered you could make granola using sourdough discard (using it as one of the liquid binders), i went into an experimenting frenzy.

y’all, granola is one of my favorite things to make — i find store bought granola much too sweet, so i’m constantly whipping up new combinations. adding in a bit of sourdough discard helps me achieve a few more clumps than i would otherwise when i reduce the amount of sweetener used. note: if you like sweet granola, you’ll definitely want to increase the amount of honey or add more dried fruit.

notes:

• i like mixing the dry and wet ingredients together directly on the tray with a fork and my hands instead of ahead of time in a bowl. i find that i get the clusters and consistency i like with this method, but feel free to play around with what works best for you.
• if you’re adding dried fruit like we’re doing here (crystallized ginger and golden raisins), make sure to add those mix-ins after baking.
• wait at least 10 minutes before flipping the granola during the bake! flipping too early will break up any premature clusters

i make a large batch pretty frequently and love adding a few hearty spoonfuls to my morning greek yogurt for breakfast. it’s a low-sugar, nutrient-packed, flavorful addition that can accompany fruit (yum summer berries) and also standalone.

peanut butter and jelly. apples and cheddar. chocolate milk shakes and fries. these are the three iconic sweet savory duos from my american childhood.

as i’ve had the opportunity to travel and try new foods in the past 10 years, i’ve discovered a variety of other iconic sweet savory duos: tahini and date spread in israel, matcha and red bean in asia, guava and cream cheese in latin america — the inspiration behind this lovely loaf.

guava is a small tropical fruit, with a light green waxy exterior and a soft, seeded, pink interior, with a texture similar to a soft pear. guava paste tastes kinda like strawberry jam with a hint of pear, and is usually sold in rectangular brick form. thankfully, this makes it way easier to cube.

the savory from the cream cheese beautifully counteracts the sweetness from the guava, all of which is encompassed in a soft, fluffy bread.

best enjoyed on its own as a dessert, snack, or breakfast. be prepared to audibly react to the deliciousness. don’t sleep on this pro-tip: makes for an amazing base for french toast after a couple of days.

notes

i use king arthur bread flour, trader joe’s all purpose, bob’s red mill rye, and farmer ground flour einkorn. i got guava paste from food bazaar, but it’s also available on amazon.

please adjust your levain and bulk times for when your kitchen is colder or warmer, about 1 hour more during the winter and 1 hour less during the summer.

i’ve included a video of the lamination technique, using @fullproofbaking’s lamination method.

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.

*can sub einkorn for whole wheat

deb perelman is a true queen.

amongst the kitchen goddesses of the internet, smitten kitchen reigns supreme in my heart (read: stomach. they’re the same thing right?). when i came across her recipe for double chocolate banana bread last month, i knew i had to make it. and i knew it was going to be delicious.

sourdough discard and overripe bananas are two things in constant supply in my brooklyn apartment. i love whipping up a batch of banana bread or banana baked oatmeal over the weekend and bringing it to work for breakfast for the remainder of the week — it makes the entire kitchenette smell heavenly and i never fail to get compliments from coworkers as i’m warming it up 🙂

i’ve adapted the smitten kitchen recipe a bit to create a sourdough discard version. i’ve swapped out…

• some flour for a hearty portion of sourdough discard
• butter for coconut oil to make this lighter and dairy-free
• all the brown sugar for a tiny bit of honey

most internet recipes are far too sweet for my personal taste, so i’ve decreased the amount of sweetener substantially (1-2 tbsp honey). feel free to adjust the honey to the sweetness of your liking.

when i make this for breakfast, i add walnuts to the party for a healthy kick of omega-3’s, and significantly reduce the amount of chocolate chunks. this is completely optional. turn up the chocolate and omit the walnuts if that’s how the banana bread spirit moves you.

venturing into the unknown world of mix-ins and non-flour/water/salt ingredients has always intimidated me. i get nervous about the crumb closing, or the additional ingredients weighing the dough down, or the dough becoming way too sticky.

i didn’t approach experimentation as a way to be creative, as a way to keep developing my craft, a way to learn more about sourdough. i was more nervous about messing up a few times.

i let these thoughts hold me back from trying a bunch of new, fun things — until this year 🙂

the inspiration behind this loaf comes from a baker i really admire in this regard, @fullproofbaking. her beautifully curated, colorful instagram feed showcases many, many unique flavor combinations, the kinds that i’m always dying to try, but scared to.

when i saw this loaf on her feed, it gave me the final push to adapt and bake this yellow, punchy turmeric onion sourdough. this bread is soft, fragrant, and carries so much flavor on its own. i’d recommend eating it plain, the same day it’s baked, untoasted.

here’s to doing all the things that scare us — especially (i’d like to think) if the thing that scares us involves baking lovely, delicious things into bread.

notes

don’t skip the lamination step — it builds strength and yields a wonderful open crumb and soft, light texture. for lamination pointers, check out the video in my guava cream cheese recipe.

you could use oil instead of butter to sautee the onions, but i’m partial to butter (self explanatory).

as always, tweak levain and bulk times for when your kitchen is colder or warmer. for me this means closer to 9 hours in the winter, and 7 hours in the summer.

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.

ingredient	baker’s percentage
bread flour	65%
all purpose flour	25%
whole wheat flour	10%
levain	25%
water	78%
salt	2.5%
turmeric powder	0.7%
caramelized onion	25%

step	time
levain build	8 hrs
bulk rise	8 hrs
folds	3 folds 1 lamination
cold proof	12 – 16 hrs
bake	45 – 50 min

2019 has been the year of einkorn. i am nothing short of obsessed.

this is how serious it is: i haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since trying a 100% einkorn sample loaf from bread alone at last year’s growNYC home baker’s meetup in march 2018. i even splurged on a 2 lb bag of nice, local flour milled from farmer ground flour. $7 is not chump change when it comes to a small bag of flour.

einkorn is an “ancient grain”, in the same family as emmer and spelt. it’s known as the oldest variety of wheat, and also for its friendliness to folks with gluten sensitivities. i love it for its nutty taste (which comes through very strongly in higher percentages), and the softness it gives my bread.

speaking of which, this bread is SO soft — and i would really recommend eating it at least once un-toasted.

i love eating a slice of this with an egg for breakfast, dipped in a butternut squash soup, or honestly just with a pat of butter. it eats well plain, but also holds up well to toppings. i bet it would be amazing with some hummus and vegetables.

i have also cut this bread into cubes, let it dry out over a couple days, and made a savory kale, mushroom, parmesan bread pudding.

this recipe assumes you’re familiar with some basic processes already, and already have your own starter. i plan to write about both of these things in future posts, but haven’t gotten there quite yet. thanks for your patience!

bakers percentage & recommended schedule

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

a note on seasonal adjustments: tweak levain and bulk times for when your kitchen is colder or warmer. for example, in the winter, i increase levain to 29%, bulk to 8/8.5 hrs, and in the summer, i decrease levain back to 25% and bulk for shorter — maybe 7 hrs. this will totally change depending on how your kitchen carries heat.

ingredient	baker’s percentage
bread flour	60%
einkorn flour	30%
all purpose flour	10%
water	80%
salt	2.5%
levain	28%

step	time
levain build	8 hours
bulk rise	8 hours
folds	4
cold proof	11 – 12 hours
bake	45 minutes

in my opinion, you don’t need fancy or expensive tools to make good sourdough bread. it’s possible to start with zero (or very few) tools — i proofed my first loaf in a salad bowl and baked it under a tin foil tent (heh, true story).

however, nice tools will help you bake at a higher quality more consistently. from the experience of slowly building my collection to where it is now, i’ve learned that certain tools can, and will, significantly elevate your bread game, while some are just nice to have.

i want to show you that you can get your basic sourdough toolkit cheaply and easily, all sourced from your local grocery store, stuff you already own, or amazon. my hope is to help you start your bread baking journey as a beginning baker.

note for transparency: this post does have affiliate links to products.

the essentials

1 | high protein flour

ok, ok, so this isn’t really a “tool”.

however, flour is arguably the most important thing to bread baking — and for obvious reasons. the main ingredient in bread is flour, so there’s really no hiding. pay close attention to the protein content when selecting flour: look for a higher protein content, which will mean better gluten development. aim for something close to 12-13% (your run of the mill all purpose flour probably sits around 10%).

this doesn’t mean you have to break the bank getting high quality flour. i’m a massive fan of king arthur flour for delivering on quality while keeping prices affordable, and recommend it to any beginning bread baker. to start, i’d recommend keeping a bag of all purpose flour, bread flour, and whole wheat flour on hand.

3 | kitchen thermometer

we use so few physical ingredients when making sourdough — flour, water, salt. the magic comes together when we view time and temperature as ingredients as well.

a thermometer will help measure and control temperature like a scale helps control proportions of physical ingredients. the fact that these intangible concepts have such a strong effect on the flavor profile, texture, and success of a loaf still completely blows my mind.

in the world of kitchen thermometers, the thermapen reigns supreme. i have the thermopop, which is its younger sibling. just as powerful, a little slower, but way way cheaper.

2 | kitchen scale

if you’re an avid baker, chances are you probably already have one of these. volume is a pretty unreliable, inconsistent form of measurement compared to weight because when we measure ingredients, we are also measuring some variable amount of air.

you can make do without a scale and approximate using measuring cups, but your bread will become a lot more consistent and precise once you make the switch to a kitchen scale.

get a small one that has at least gram-level precision.

very strongly recommend

8 | dutch oven

my favorite part about a sourdough boule is the crust — thin, crisp, and chewy with a deep caramel color. this crust is produced by producing steam, which you can do a few different ways.

first, you can create steam by leaving either a cast iron with about a cup of water or a shallow dish of rolled, clean wet towels on the bottom of your oven. second, you can place your loaf in a covered dutch oven, which will naturally trap steam inside.

i find dutch ovens to be the easy, foolproof way for home bakers like me to achieve a bakery-grade crust without much effort. i recommend getting one that’s 5 or 6 qts, in either cast iron or enamel.

nice to have

5 | proofing basket

there are a many ways to proof dough without getting an “official” proofing basket. any large enough bowl-shaped item lined with a clean, floured tea towel, around 8-9″ in diameter and around 5″ deep, can serve as a proofing basket in a pinch. you can also DIY one for $2 with a basket from michael’s. these will all do the job!

buying one with the standard dimensions will run you $10-15.

7 | dough divider/knife

dough dividers serve two purposes: 1. to split dough in multiple sections if you’re making enough to make multiple loaves and to 2. help move dough from one area to another.

4 | lame

get a lame to add a decorative flourish to your boules! functionally, cutting the top of your loaf pre-bake isn’t totally necessary (especially if you’re going for a natural, rustic look), though it does help control where the air escapes.

6. silicone oven mitt

my favorite non-sourdough specific kitchen item. baking bread requires really high temperatures (close to 500 degrees farenheit) and these mitts help me effortlessly maneuver the dutch oven.

happy baking, and shoot me a message if you found this helpful!

oh doug. he’s the neediest entity in my life. he’s all bubbly when it’s warm, all sad and frumpy if it’s too cold. he demands feeding once, if not twice a day. he likes to be taken out, and can’t be left alone too long.

doug is my sourdough starter, but if he sounds like a pet, you wouldn’t be too far off (fun fact: the name comes from ‘dough’, but with the ‘h’ dropped. other contenders included ‘dunior’ and ‘jane dough’).

i, like many sourdough bakers before me, accumulate a ton of sourdough discard from daily feedings — aka naturally fermented dough that can’t be used to bake sourdough bread anymore. throwing away massive quantities of flour seemed wasteful and unnatural to me, so i went in search of recipes i could make with it.

it just so happens that crackers are one of the easiest things to make with discard.

unfortunately for me, crackers have never been my favorite thing. to me, they are the thing you eat when you really actually want to eat chips instead, but also want to feel healthy.

so what’s a cracker-skeptical girl to do?

my version on a classic wheat cracker is reminiscent of a much better cracker, the cheez-it. it’s got a generous amount of parmesan for cheesiness, the tang from the starter, umami from the seeds, and a collection of other spices to add a kick at the end.

notes

for an updated discard cracker recipe, please refer to my rosemary crackers.

the rise time on this is not precise. i usually let it rest for at least 4 hours, but have forgotten about it for up to 8 hours without impact.

you can either choose to cut them before you bake bake into neat shapes, or break off pieces post-bake after they’ve cooled for a more rustic feel (or you’re like me and are just a bit lazier).

careful not to over-bake! the cheezits will either burn or turn out a lot harder than intended, which will make them difficult to bite into.

some fun variations

• for even cheesier cheezits, i’d recommend increasing the amount of shredded cheese to 1/2 cup. would recommend halving the amount of salt to balance out the saltiness of the cheese.
• for nuttier cheezits, sometimes i add 2 tbsp of seeds, a blend of flax and sesame seeds

store them in tupperware or glass jar or keep them in the freezer for almost ever. though to be honest, they’re so good, mine never last that long.