Gathering Summary: Sourdough, A Panel Presentation, May 18, 2011

by Catherine Haug, May 29, 2011

(photo by C. Haug)

This is just a short synopsis; you can find more detail in the complete, printable Gathering Summary: Sourdough, a Panel Presentation. See also related posts and handouts:

Cat's First Sourdough Loaf

Presentation Topics

Panel members Veronica (Ronny) Honthaas, Kathie Lapcevic and Fran Wade led discussion on the following topics:

  • History and health benefits of sourdough
  • About sourdough starter
  • How to make sourdough starter
  • Forming bread – Ronny’s demonstration
  • Resources & references

After Ronny mixed up a loaf ready for its first rise, audience members put their names in Cat’s hat, for the winner to take home the dough to bake bread. Jean H. reports it was delicious.

Stephanie made a delicious Chocolate Sourdough Cake for dessert, served with dark chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream. This had everyone asking for the recipe. Unfortunately, at this time, we are unable to share that recipe because it  is protected by copyright. You could buy the book: Wild Sourdough, the Natural Way to Bake, by Yoke Mardewi, New Holland Publishing; see Amazon for more.

In the mean time, one member of our community, Sherry T., found a recipe for Sourdough Chocolate Cake on the King Arthur Flour website. This is not the same as the one made by Stephanie, but as Sherry reports:

“The cake turned out really good – very moist and cake-like, not as dense and loaf-like as the one served at the gathering”

Sources

Grain mills

Grains

Sourdough info and recipes

ESP articles and handouts

11 Responses to “Gathering Summary: Sourdough, A Panel Presentation, May 18, 2011”

  1. Sherry T says:

    Hi there, my mom and I attended the sourdough gathering…would love to have the recipe for the chocolate cake. Also, I did get the 404 message a couple of times when I clicked on links!

    [Cat’s note: This comment transferred from the gathering notice to the gathering summary, so the notice could be deleted.]

  2. Catherine says:

    Sherry,
    The recipe for the chocolate cake is from a cookbook and covered by copyright. Stephanie is seeking permission from the author for us to share the recipe, but we cannot share it until that permission is granted. You could, however, purchase the book: “Wild Sourdough, the natural way to bake” by Yoke Mardewi, New Holland Publishing. See Amazon for more about this book.

    Regarding the 404 message: I need to know which links (url) give this error in order to fix the link. I will update our homepage to include this need. Thanks.

    [Cat’s note: this comment has been transferred from the gathering notice to the gathering summary, so the notice could be deleted.]

  3. Jean H. says:

    I made Fran’s Sourdough Applesauce Cake, modifying it to be a rhubarb coffee cake as follows:

    I added about 1 cup rhubarb, 1/4 cup honey, some chinese 5 spice, and ground flax and sesame seeds.

    It is very good. In fact, we have eaten 3/4 of it already. It’s spicy – wanted to make sure the sourdough sourness couldnt be detected otherwise I would be eating it all myself. It has a nice texture. Could have added more rhubarb as its taste doesnt come thru much.

    This sourdough is kinda fun. Thanks for putting those recipes on the ESP site (but I wish I could print out each one individually).

  4. Sherry T says:

    Hi there, my mom and I attended the sourdough gathering…would love to have the recipe for the chocolate cake Also, I did get the 404 message a couple of times when I clicked on links!

  5. […] (one of the presenters at the Sourdough gathering) and I have been conversing about my experimentation with my new sourdough starter, for making […]

  6. ravi says:

    … trouble is, there is no data available showing how long and with which cultures you must sour the grains to rid them of all the gluten, wga, anti-nutrients, phytic acid, and so on.

    a better choice is simply to not eat bread – radical i know…..

  7. Catherine says:

    Ravi,
    If indeed you want to avoid any amount of all those things, you are right. But then you would also have to avoid all fruit and vegetable foods as they all have anti-nutrients, especially in the seeds, to protect the seeds from birds. Consider that many leafy green veggies have oxalic acid or other anti-nutrients that block mineral absorption, especially when eaten raw. And you’d have to avoid animal products, too, as they also have anti-nutrients. We’d have to give up food altogether…and then where would we be?

    We must consider that we are only scraping the surface of what can be known about the nutrients, anti-nuturients, and energy of living foods.

    I think the better approach is moderation in all things, and to do the best you can to ensure the food you do eat is prepared in the most healthful way it can be.

    Sourdough breads do have many wonderful health-promoting qualities, including vitamins, enzymes and probiotics – yes, I do believe these survive the baking process, especially in the interior of the loaf. But these things are lost in unfermented grain breads.

    Cat

  8. […] essentialstuff.org/index.php/2011/05/29/Cat/gathering-summary-sourdough-a-panel-presentation-may-18-… […]

  9. […] text is from Essential Stuff Project’s Sourdough Panel Presentation; blue text is notes from Wild Fermentation and Nourishing […]

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  11. […] Ronny H, ESP Sourdough Panel Presentation; Gathering Summary (essentialstuff.org/index.php/2011/05/29/Cat/gathering-summary-sourdough-a-panel-presentation-may-18-…) […]