Well, I took Breadchick’s advice and made some pancakes with the starter I’ve got. They produced fluffly pancakes, but they were quite a bit denser than regular pancakes leavened with baking powder and soda. Nevertheless, a good start, and proof that it is edible:D. I followed instructions posted by Bud Mathews at the Sourdough Group at Yahoo.

Take 1 cup of starter out of the refrigerator several hours or the night before you plan to use it to bring it to room temperature. To the starter, add

2 tablespoons canola or other cooking oil
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons sugar
3/4 cup or flour, more or less according to thickness of batter desired
1 teaspoon baking soda mixed with 1/4 teaspoon salt in 2 tablespoons milk or water

Let stand for 30 minutes. Bake pancakes on preheated skillet or griddle, lightly-greased.

I don’t know, the pancakes did not have a trace of sourness about it. I’m thinking that’s still normal, but I really would have been more encouraged by a little tang. Wonder what I should try next…. I don’t think I’m mentally prepared for a sourdough loaf yet (or perhaps just afraid of possible failure).

Inspired by a Dave Lieberman recipe, #1 of 3 salmon recipes I’m posting.

Very basic, very easy recipe:

Take a bunch of cherry tomatoes, halve them, put them on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 15 minutes or so at 400 degrees F.

Cut a large salmon fillet into 2-inch-wide pieces and roast at 350 degrees, seasoned with dill, salt and freshly ground black pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Take a couple of lemons (organic preferably), slice them thin, and pan-fry them in a bit of olive oil while the salmon is cooking, until edges are browned (do not overdo this though, or the pulp will fall out like it did in my pic) — really rapid frying is the key so you’ll want your flame on the high end.

Layer on the plate:

The cherry tomatoes. The salmon. The lemon slices. Finito!

Experiment #2. Quite successful, I guess. No recipe here, just a bit of the starter, added some flour, a bit of salt, some olive oil. I mainly just wanted to see if it would rise — I don’t think it quite doubled after 2 1/2 hours (it’s also 16 degrees outside so that may be a factor as the house can get quite chilly even with the heater on). I went ahead and baked it anyway, and it developed a nice substantial, but not too dense, crust. Quite crispy actually, which surprised me. I think I’ll feed it, let it sit another week, and try a real loaf next week. Wish me luck!

PS On the inside is a bit of emmentaler, a bit of manchego (leftover cheeses) and some Volpi sopressata.

Meredith just started a Carnival of Menu Planning — so exciting! — round up is here — hopefully this will help all of us with planning our meals with a little less stress. So I’m taking a half-hour this evening to bloghop and see if I can incorporate some of the other gals’ meals into ours….

As usual, I’m embarrassingly late. Posting this this am instead of yesterday. I’ll try to do better next time.

This week’s a little different, as I’m not preparing food daily — hubby’s leaving for a bit soon, so I’m doing most of the cooking and baking today, packing and freezing stuff. This is so he doesn’t have to eat out (except for the occasional dinner out with colleagues) while he’s there. He’ll take his bento with him and pack himself a lunch daily, and he’s also got enough for dinner, and a bit for breakfast to give him a break from cold cereal. If he doesn’t get to eat the stuff for breakfast he can always have it as a snack after work or as dessert after dinner. We’re keeping the extras, so I don’t have to cook for the next few days.

Breakfast/Snack/Dessert Items:

1. Filipino champorado
2. Allergy-Free Brownies
3. Allergy-Free Blueberry Crumble
4. Cold cereal and Rice milk
5. Soy-Ube Pastillas
6. Carrot Sticks
7. Peaches and Pineapples (canned)

Beverages:

1. Green Tea Kombucha from Yogi Tea

Lunch/Dinner Items:

1. Allergy-Free Minestrone
2. Pot Roast with Green Beans
3. Kabayaki (Eel) and Cucumber Sushi
4. Cambodian Mee Souah
5. Crockpot Chicken
6. Eggplant something, still deciding
7. Hearts of Palm salad
8. Daikon and Carrot Salad
9. Broccoli something, still deciding
10. Roasted Salmon with Cherry Tomatoes

Other Items on the Menu this week (may or may not be allergy-free):

1. Yogurt Cake
2. Jello Playdough (not for eating!)
3. Thai Breakfast featuring tapioca and grass jelly
4. Refried Bean Burritos with Rice Cheese
5. Jackfruit Popsicles
6. Tinkyada Spaghetti with Tuna Arrabiata or some other spicy variation

Oh, and re the variety — we don’t always eat like this. It’s just that I have a bunch of stuff in the freezer and pantry that needs using up! I’ll be updating this post with links to the recipes…

This was the starter, bubbling away, after the previous post — about 6 hours after refreshment. It’s now waiting in the refrigerator for another feed. Another week of this and I think we’ll be good to go for baking. Can’t wait!

Previous post here.

Cooking spray and flour for Bundt pan
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1/3 cup poppy seeds
the zest from 1 lemon, finely chopped or grated
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs
the juice from 1 large lemon
1 cup non-fat plain yogurt

1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray and flour Bundt pan and set aside. Whisk flours, poppy seeds, lemon zest, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside. Cream butter and sugar together in mixer bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add lemon juice and yogurt and beat well. Beat in dry ingredient mixture until well-combined.

Transfer to Bundt pan, spreading batter evenly, and bake for 50 to 65 minutes or until cake tests done. Set pan, inverted, on a rack, to cool for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a platter to cool. While cake is cooling, prepare glaze: In a saucepan, heat sugar and lemon juice over low heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar is completely dissolved. (Tip: You can also do this in the microwave.) Stir in optional butter until well-incorporated. Pour over warm cake and cool completely. Can be left at room temperature for 24 hours, or refrigerated 2 days.

Note: Another experiment, hoping for a somewhat healthier version using whole wheat flour. Turned out great, except I’d like it a bit moister…. next time!

The only thing is, you probably shouldn’t leave it out, especially if you’ve got little hands and little hungry mouths just waiting to devour it!

This is what happened to mine, even before I had a chance to glaze it.