Fried sourdough with chocolate & orange sauce.
grownandgathered
‘What else can we do with this excess sourdough culture?’
There is a comfort right now, in these potentially everyday mundane thoughts—as if nothing has changed, even though the world around us seems to be changing so quickly and beyond our control. We are connecting, and relying on our everyday human movements that speak to the core of our existence—play, routine, creating, thinking, growing, gathering, seasons, cooking, eating, sharing. These experiences and thoughts that fundamentally make us all human, that connect us and are fundamental to our existence.
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We are finding ourselves adjusting in the space where we sit, jiggling, moving, re-defining what we see as valuable and re-evaluating that word, ‘purpose’.
And we are finding ourselves more grateful for, and more comforted by, the simplest daily human routines than ever before. Our daily tasks of seed planting to grow future crops; of pressing wine to ferment; of soaking and souring and cooking and eating.
Can we use this time as humans, to learn, to re-learn, to re-define, to re-consider, to become better?
So we are sitting here, reaching out to you, from the comfort of our human seats, to you in yours. With an invitation to celebrate our everyday’s together—what is fundamental to our everyday experiences right now? Can we celebrate our mundane everyday human moments and thoughts together? And name the fundamental joys our everyday’s are bringing us.
Because we think these are, in reality, the most beautiful moments of life. And this is an invitation to enjoy them and embrace them, whatever they mean for you. We invite you to jump on the comments and share your everyday isolation joys.
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And in this spirit, here is a recipe that isn’t particularly pretty, but it comes from our everyday routines around our sourdough culture feeding and bread baking right now.
Do the photos make you want to eat this, in all it’s deliciousness? No, us neither.
Are you wondering what you can create with your leftover sourdough culture though? We were too.
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We’ve been asked so much about sourdough lately, the shop’s never seen so many orders for bread proving baskets, and our emails have never received so many requests for grain mill recommendations, as these last few weeks (PS. we use a Hawos Billy 200)!
If you have any sourdough questions of your own, please ask them in the comments below too. And perhaps this can become a nice place to turn to for those in need.
Wishing everyone wellness and strength during these strange times that are full of opportunity to reconnect with the simple things in life.
The inspiration for this dish comes from our travels years ago to Calabria, in the deep South of Italy.
Serves 4
Time: 20 minutes
Recipe.
INGREDIENTS
Ghee (or unsalted butter), for frying
Batter
300 g sourdough culture (see Grown & Gathered for how to start your own at home)
1 tablespoon unprocessed honey
1 tablespoon full-cream milk
1 teaspoon unrefined salt
Easy-as chocolate sauce
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons raw cacao powder
About 100g good quality dark chocolate chopped super small* (optional, simply makes a thicker sauce)
2 teaspoons unprocessed honey
1 teaspoon orange zest
2 teaspoons heavy cream
Pinch salt
To serve:
1/2 cup ricotta or fresh cacioricotta (see The Village for cacioricotta recipe)
Orange zest
METHOD
Fried goodness:
Add all the batter ingredients to a medium bowl and stir thoroughly to combine. Your batter should resemble a thick pancake batter (see picture above). Everyone’s sourdough culture is a little different, so if your batter seems too thick, add a touch more milk, if too thin, add a little flour of your choice.
Heat a pan over medium–high heat and add a generous knob of ghee. When the pan is very hot, give your bowl of batter a good stir, then add it a heaped spoonful at a time, laying it into the pan in long lines, as many spoonfuls as fit. Cook for about 30 seconds each side.
They should be crispy and dark golden to brown on both sides with lots of little holes. Place in between two plates to keep warm until ready to serve.
Repeat until all the batter is cooked, adding more ghee to the pan as needed to maintain consistent crispy-golden-ness.
Sauce:
Add all the ingredients to a small heavy-based saucepan and combine/melt over low heat (low heat is key).
Whisk to combine and remove any lumps. Do not let the sauce boil. After about 5 minutes, you should have a thick sauce, being able to drag a spoon over the base of the pan and make it all the way across before the sauce closes back over.
Remove from the heat and set aside until ready to serve.
Serve:
Place the fried sourdough onto serving plates in layers, sprinkling a little chocolate sauce between each layer.
Dot the fresh cacioricotta or ricotta all over the top, drizzle all over with remaining chocolate sauce and sprinkle with orange zest.
Great served with a fortified wine.
