Back sometime in June a fishy conversation with the marketing guru for a large rod manufacturer turned from a possible ad placement for Swing the Fly magazine to chatting about several recipes he’d taken from the Friday Feast here on Chi Wulff.
Seems he’s a big fan of grilled chicken recipes (as we are obviously) though he said the recipe that had probably changed his river bank meal experience forever was ME’s Beer Rye River Bread posted way back in January.
He then asked what we had in terms of sourdough recipes and where we’d sourced our starter. I admitted we had a few basic sourdough bread recipes tuck away but that I didn’t keep starter in the fridge at the time.
After an appropriate scolding, my new buddy then pitched that the summer and early fall is the best time to grow your own sourdough starter given the amount of yeasts naturally blowing here and yonder in the air we breath every day.
The very next day research mode kicked in, I found this treasure trove of good information about making your own starter and promptly went to town.
It took a couple of weeks to really get the starter cranking though it’s been bubbling and fermenting away all summer, slowly getting better and better.
The bread we’ve baked from the starter has been good but these Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls we crafted this week were out of this world, probably the best I’ve ever tasted (and that includes the ones at the Polebridge Mercantile up near Glacier National Park, considered by many to be the best on the planet…)
If you’ve been thinking about nursing sourdough starter through the winter these rolls are the best reason to do so.
2/3 cup sourdough starter (fed or unfed)
3 cups AP flour
2 tsp. instant yeast
1 tbsp. sugar
1 and 1/4 tsp. salt
1 large egg
5 tbsp. butter, softened
2/3 cup lukewarm water4 tbsp. melted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1-2 tbsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Make a dough. Combine the first eight ingredients in your trusty mixer bowl; mix well and knead for 6 to 8 minutes using the dough hook to make a soft, tacky dough.
Proof time. Place the dough in a lightly greased proof container and allow to rise until doubled in bulk; about 90 minutes for us.
Shape it. Gently move the dough to a lightly greased work surface and roll out to a 12 x 16 inch rectangle. Brush with the melted butter and sprinkle the brown sugar, cinnamon and chopped pecans over the dough. Starting with one of the long sides, roll into a log and cut into 1 inch slices (try kitchen string or dental floss for cleaner cuts).
Proof again. Place the dough slices into two lightly greased 8 inch cake pans; cover and let rise for 45 minutes or so.
Bake. Bake in a preheated 350 oven for 22-24 minutes after brushing the tops of the rolls with a bit more melted butter (hello Paula).
Serve ‘em up. Serve warm as is or with a simple glaze.
Enjoy.
