How to use the toss off . . .

#27 - 2008

If you follow the BBB’s (where the BBB is a stand in for many options - Bread Baking Babes being our public name), you know that come May we’re going to be doing bread using a sour dough starter (recipe given to us by who else but BreadChick herself from the SourDough). Find the recipe for the starter at TheSourDough.

For something like 24 days now I’ve been feeding and changing this baby’s diaper: in the beginning twice a day, now only once a day.

This is where “Duddette” lives under that diaper. After living with an angel all this time even though most starters I’ve heard are given male times, this one just seemed to be a gentle female and so Duddette it is. Yes, it’s more of that Claybank’s Pottery I told you about here.

Feeding this baby is 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup water. Changing this baby’s diaper is the toss off, half of the batter before feeding. That’s a little less than a cup of batter. It hurts to throw so much away. And it’s hard to find wonderful things to do with the toss off. You’ll either love me or hate me for this one.

Even without butter and sugar or chocolate, even without being healthy, make these and you’ll be singing “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” while sending me a thank you if you can stop yourself before making the second batch.

Sour Dough Onion Rings

adapted from: Breads from the La Brea Bakery

sour dough toss off mine 150g

feed it a scant

1/2 cup all purpose or white whole wheat

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup (2 ounces) cold sparkling water

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 sweet onions, peeled & sliced as thick as you want

1 cup white whole wheat flour

seasoned with:

1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper

1 teaspoon hot hungarian paprika

Feed the sour dough toss off and refrigerate. This should be well chilled. *** The most economical way to do this is probably to save two nights toss off instead of feeding the one night’s toss off. And you’ll have about the right amount.

Cut the onions to the thickness you’d like the rings to be. I separated the rings by twos: leaving each ring with two layers of onions and I was pleased that they were not hard to keep together in the flour, the liquid starter or the oil.

Toss or drag the rings in the flour to coat.

Use a heavy (cast iron works very well) 4 to 6 inch deep pan or deep fat fryer to heat at least one inch deep of oil to 375°F.

Add the 1/4 cup sparkling water to the starter toss off and mix gently. Dip each floured ring into the starter mix and then into the hot oil. I didn’t think a lot of flour stuck to the onions but it seemed fine.

Always keep the oil temp at 375°F. If at any time the temp drops below the 375°F allow it to return to that temp before adding any more rings. Fried at the 375°F temp will keep the onion rings from absorbing extra oil and then tasting greasy.

Remove the rings as they turn golden brown with a mesh strainer or slotted spoon; takes maybe 3 minutes to turn golden.

Salt them while hot and keep warm in a 220° to 250°F oven.

I used only one onion for the two of us and had enough batter to do another two onions if I’d wanted to. I saved the left over seasoned flour for next time. The batter won’t keep once you’ve added the sparkling water. But, no fear the baby will need a tossing and a feeding tonight.

Now, I know I cooked these myself. I love onion rings. I order them out when I can and always love them. I’ve never done them at home.

These are the best onion rings I’ve ever had!! I may never order them out again. And I’ll try not to fix these every week at home.

Love me or hate me, these are incredible. Good enough to make and keep the starter for and never use it for bread! But I think you’ll want it for bread.

Sour Dough Toss Off Onion Rings

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

No those are not calamari! But that might work as well.

There are twelve of us, a happy little group with a passion for bread baking. What we share is a love for fun, baking bread and doing so together. Across country, across boundaries, across the internet. We are about the new coffee klatch in our virtual kitchens, the new over the fence talk taking place on the Internet, sharing knowledge, helping each other out.

The modern kitchen table may look just like grandma’s except for that laptop sitting next to the coffee cup. Through the magic of Instant Messaging all of us are chatting over coffee at the kitchen table, baking bread. All our different houses, all our different kitchen tables, same group. You know; a bit like these communities in Eastern Europe where all the women of the village bake their bread on one day, share the communal oven, meet at the hearth, gossip and teach each other, sharing their knowledge. Some of us have known each other for different times; some of us have even met in person. Our experience with bread baking may vary but we all share a great passion and fascination for bread at the moment. And so once a month you can find us together in one of our kitchens: yakking, baking and laughing.

Same recipe, different kitchens, using local flour and sharing what we found. You can read all about our monthly recipe at the Kitchen of the Month, our individual posts to be found at our respective personal blogs.

If you would like to join us being a Bread Baking Buddy here’s how:

* You have one week from our posting date to bake the bread and post about it on your blog with a link to the Kitchen of the Month’s post about the bread.
*E-mail the Kitchen of the Month with your name and a link to your post OR leave a comment on the Kitchen of the Month’s blog that you have baked the bread and a link back to your post.
*Kitchen of the Month will do a round-up of our Bread Baking Buddies at the end of the week and send you a BBB badge for that month’s bread.
*No blog, No problem - just e-mail the Kitchen of the Month with a photo of the bread you baked and you’ll be included in the round-up.