I am clearly on a kick with baking with sourdough starter. About two months ago I discovered sourdough and the starters became my babies... I fed them weekly and instead of discarding the starter when feeding them, I started researching how I could use this amazing ingredient in my everyday baking instead of throwing it in the trash or down the drain like so many do. The addition of the starter gives the baked goods lift and helps bind as well. It also makes the item less sweet, I’m assuming because the naturally occurring yeast eats some of the sugar in the recipe. The texture created by the starter is light and tender. It keeps the baked goods soft for days. I really love it and I’ve started to research if this method of adding starter can replace eggs in some recipes all together. In this one it worked fabulously! This recipe is not vegan because I did use butter and milk chocolate chips but I’m guessing you can sub in a neutral oil for the butter if you want it to be vegan and also make sure your add-ins are vegan as well.
Ingredients for the Blondies:
6 tablespoons of butter
1/2 cup brown sugar (light or dark)
1/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon distilled vinegar
1 cup sourdough discard
1 1/2 cups AP Flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of chocolate chips (I used milk)
1/2 cup nuts or other add-ins
Instructions for Blondies:
1. In a small saucepan melt butter over medium heat, stirring, until the bubbles slow down and it starts to smell nutty and milk solids start to brown. Watch it carefully. When the butter is ready set it aside to cool for 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 350. 2. In a large bowl mix together the browned butter, the sugars, the vanilla and the vinegar. 3. Add the sourdough starter and blend in as well as you can. You can use a stand mixer if you’d like. 4. Add in the flour, baking soda, cornstarch and salt. For this I went in with my hands and made sure everything was mixed together really well. It’s almost like kneading dough. 5. Add the chocolate and your add-ins and again mix very well. I again used my hands.
6. Spray an 8 x 8 inch square pan with cooking spray and line with parchment so that it sticks up on two sides to be used as handles when removing the Blondies later. Spray the parchment as well.
7. Dump the blondie dough into the pan and spread out with a spatula or your hands.
8. Let the blondie dough sit at room temperature in the pan for half an hour then place in the preheated oven and bake for 25-30 minutes.
9. Let the Blondies cool completely on a cooling rack before pulling them out using the parchment paper handles and cut carefully into 16 squares.
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