Cilantro and Curry Gougères with/without Sourdough Starter

My dad is obsessed with enjoys to make un plan de table when there are a lot of us sharing a meal, even a casual lunch in the country. There is a whole étiquette about how to sit people : how do the host and hostess sit, who sits next to the hostess, etc. etc. I don't know all of it but have been used to be assigned to a specific seat often enough to master the basics. In our family, with the plan de table always comes the chair vs. stool assignement as well. The basics are here even more straightforward:  my mother will always get a chair and my brothers will most likely get the stools! Who get the remaining stools is always left at my dad's discretion!
When we got married, my husband made a short speech as we were all sitting for dinner. While I can't remember all of it (désolée, that was more than 9 years ago!), I do remember a comment he made about sharing meals with my family. It had caught his attention that the more meals he was sharing with us, the more comfortable my parents were with him (and wanted him to feel comfortable), the more likely he was to be assigned a stool (as opposed to a chair!) I found that comment hilarious and still laugh about it today! I thought about it because last night, we had friends over for dinner and because we were late feeding the children (our children plus my daughter's best friend C. who had come for a sleepover), we decided to have them sit at the coffee-table for dinner while we, adults, were having a drink. It was a great moment to share with the children (who were even happier to be able to share the apéritif with us to be honnest ( for once I did not make gougères but I have made this recipe for l'apéro in the past.)
One thing leading to another, the kids successfully asleep in bed, we, adults, ended up having dinner sitting around the coffee table as well. We did offer small IKEA chairs or my husband's grand-father's homemade stools... but eventually, we all sat down. Very casual! Very cozy... and very enjoyable! I'd love to do it again... but please, don't feel that we are not enjoying your company if you are not asked to eat at the coffee table!! Bon Appétit! 

Ingredients
- 40 gr (1.41 oz) butter
- 70 gr (2.47 oz) fresh sourdough starter (100% hydration) (if no starter, see note)
- 90 ml (3.04 Fl Oz) water
- 35 gr  (1.23 oz) flour
- 80 gr (2.82 oz) cheese
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 ts salt
- 1/4 ts curry powder
- 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped

• Pre-heat oven to 400F (200C)
• Bring water to a boil and melt butter in water.
• Add sourdough starter and stirr
• Add flour and stir; remove from heat.
• Let cool for 2 minutes
• Stir in eggs, one at a time
• Add cheese, cilantro and curry powder and salt.
• Scoop the dough (about one teaspoon at a time) and place the dollops on parchment paper
• Bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown
• Let cool and eat.

My Personal Comments

• If you don't have a fresh sourdough starter, you can just add an extra 35ml of water and 35 gr of Flour instead.

Mini Buckwheat Galettes with Smoked Salmon - Sourdough recipe

My French children take bread for granted (well, they are French afterall!!) The fact that I started making my own baguettes and boules with sourdough starter (aka levain in French) did not strike them as crazy strange. We have to have bread, so either we purchase it (our two favorite places in Philadelphia are Fork Etc. and Metropolitan Bakery) or we make it. The choice is easy, n'est-ce-pas?
They actually think that making baguettes or boules is fun, especially when Bubulle (nickname of our sourdough starter) makes too many bubbles and overflows its container! They know that I use Bubulle to make bread. It's part of their daily diet. Nothing to write home about!
Because I don't make bread everyday, I have sometimes too much starter and because I don't like disregarding this little wonder, I have been looking for more recipes to use Bubulle. I have also given some to friends of mine who wanted to take the leap into homebread making and we are all looking for more recipes (it's sort of an obsession!!)
Mini buckwheat galettes are one of our favorite recipes with sourdough starter beyond bread. My children do find it great that we can make something different with Bubulle. They love this recipe, which reminds them of pancakes and savory galettes. Mini galettes topped with smoked salmon and cappers. Un vrai régal. I could feed them the mini galettes everyday... and I know that it's going to be a smooth dinner if I offer them! No reason why not to make Bubulle double or triple in size when we can have mini-galettes in no time (and no effort!)! Bon Appétit!

Ingredients:
For 8 mini-galettes:
- 100 gr sourdough starter
- 160 gr  buckwheat flour
- 80 ml buttermilk
- 240ml  milk (or water)
- Pinch of salt

• Combine the sourdough starter with buttermilk and flour. Add milk and stir until you get a smooth dough (like pancake). Set to rest for one hour. Add pinch of salt.
• Over medium heat, spread a laddle-full of dough onto a pan.
• Cook for about 2-3 minutes on one side. When you feel that you can flip it over without shredding the mini galette, flip it over and let cook for another minute.
• Serve with smoked salmon.

My Personal Comments

• I don't like them cold... but my children don't mind so I put some in their lunchbox the next day.
• If you make tiny tiny ones, you could use them as munchies for a cocktail/aperitif
• You could put something else on top: cheese, mushrooms, etc.

Mes Baguettes au Levain (with Sourdough Starter)

Bread is important to us. CRITICALLY important, I should say. We eat bread at every meal and one of our pleasures back in France was to be able to get excellent breads at really affordable prices. In the tiny village where we spent most of July, there is a very good boulangerie for the 400+ inhabitants!! (yeah, I know!!) French people don't realize how lucky they are to have such an offering of good breads until they travel overseas. And taste the difference! I never thought I would bake bread myself even though I think that everyone should be able to make bread.

Then, as I already talked about in my last post on bread, I thought that among all the different breads, baguettes were to be off-limits to me. Until I read articles on home-made baguettes with sourdough starter and thought that I should give it a try. I have been making my own baguettes for a few months now using a sourdough starter we nicknamed "Bubulle". Bubulle can be quite active as long as we keep feeding it. My children love to watch Bubulle overflow the way-too-small glass jar it has to double/triple in size. Making bread is now part of our cooking experiences and my daughter makes sure that I never forget the salt (it happened a few times and unsalted bread is really not good!) The results? Ma foi, pas mal (who, in my family's own terms means quite good!!) It's not me who says it but my husband and my children or other French people who have tasted it at our place... or the friends I give some when the baguettes are just out-of-the-oven and taste best!
Sure, making baguettes requires more planning and timing than the boules I otherwise make... but once you have done it a few times, you know your baguettes will be good enough for you to stop purchasing OK-bread at $$$$.
I don't have my own recipe, I pretty much follow Clotilde's or Flo Makanai's (in French) and played with the recipes to reach something I like. I am always amazed that the only things I need are : flour, water, salt, and some sourdough starter! That's it! Incroyable!
I don't have enough time these days to read more about sourdough starter breads to improve the quality of my baguettes (I'd love the baguettes to be lighter but maybe it's just the sourdough starter?) but it's on my "to-do" list for the coming weeks. Until then, I'll keep improvising a little bit just to see whether this or that have a positive impact! Bon Appetit!

Ingredients:
- 200 gr (7 oz) mature Sourdough Starter (100%)
- 400 gr (14 oz) filtered water
- 600 gr (21 oz) All purpose flour
- 15 gr (0.5 oz) salt
- Flour to dust (all purpose, brown rice or rye)

• Day 1 - Morning
• Feed starter to have 200gr (+leftover to keep your starter alive) of mature starter to use
• Day 1 - Afternoon
• Mix in 200 gr of starter with water for 1 minute on medium speed (the mix will become fluffy)
• Add flour and mix again on lowest speed just to "moist" the flour.
• Leave on the kitchen counter for one hour (Autolysis)
• After one hour, add salt and knead for 7-10 minutes on lowest speed. The dough should be very smooth. Transfer into a lightly oiled bowl.
• Leave on the kitchen counter for 2- 3 hours. The dough will rise.
• Day 1- Evening
• Cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 8-15 hours
• Day 2 - 2/1.5 hours before baking
• Take the bowl out of the fridge and leave it on the kitchen counter for at least one hour. The objective is for the dough to get back to room temperature.
• Day 2- 1 hour before baking
• Take the dough out of the bowl and dump it on a floured baking sheet/cloth/silpat. Cut the dough in 4 pieces. Roughly shape the pieces into logs.
• Take a cloth and add flour to it : take one log, shape it into a baguette (you want to make sure that they can fit into your oven!!). Place it on the cloth and make a "wave" with the cloth near the baguette so that the baguette keeps it shape. Take the other logs and repeat. At the end, you'll have four baguettes laying on the cloth with some cloth "wave" separating them.
• Put a baking stone on the middle rack of the oven.
• Put a cast-iron skillet (or any deep metal baking dish) on the lower rack of the oven.
• Pre-heat the oven to 500F (250 C).
• Bring some water to a boil.
• Day 2 - Baking
• Just before putting the baguettes in the oven, slash them with a sharp knife.
• When the oven is hot, place the baguettes on the baking stone.
• With great caution (and long sleeves or cooking gloves) pour the boiling water in the skillet. Close the door immediately. It will create a steam bath for the baguettes.
• Bake for 30 minutes at 450F (225C)
• After 30min, check the color of the baguettes, they should be golden brown. Take them out of the oven with great caution and put them on a cooling rack.
• Cool them completely before eating them.

 
My Personal Comments: 

• I generally leave the baguettes an extra 10 minutes in my oven because I like them really crusty.
• I used Flo Makanai 1.2.3 recipe so if you could make it with less/more starter and adjust the quantities for water and flour. Salt is 2% of flour weight (I add a little bit more because my husband likes it saltier!https://sites.google.com/site/wayfyktdrecipes/home/mes-baguettes-au-levain-with-sourdough-starter)
• This recipe might not be the most professional one because I am just starting to make baguettes... but it has worked for me. I like the way it works out for my timing. I can start in one afternoon and make the baguette anytime really the next day. If you want to see a professional version, go on to this video.

Chesnut Bread with Roasted Chestnuts

Note: This chestnut sourdough bread was made to participate in a French bread challenge : Concours Votre Pain.  The French version of this post is available ici.

Even though my experience with sourdough bread making is fairly recent, I have been making bread for my family regularly. I always use Florence Makanai's 1.2.3 recipe (recipe in English is here) and have only use my glass cocotte to bake my loaves so far. With great success I have to say!  My children  love trying new bread; they are also fascinated with the whole process... and since I am only using simple ingredients, I feel that I am eating healthier bread than the ones I could purchase otherwise (I have never been a big fan of molasses in bread!!)  That's what I love about cooking from scratch...

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Sourdough Boule - Boule au levain

I believe that everybody should know how to make bread. I know, it's a strong statement, especially coming from a French woman. I grew up eating good bread. As years passed, bread went two opposite ways in France. On the one end of the spectrum, supermarkets started making cheap previously-frozen baguettes. While I can understand the financial incentives for some families, it was not something I was going to support. I'd rather eat good bread every other day than bad bread every day. On the other end of the spectrum, some professional boulangers started making really good breads beyond the traditional baguette, bâtard,  and pain de campagne. New delicious breads were in. At a price. But in. And because French love their breads so much, it is not unusual to walk passed the closest boulangerie to go and try the breads of the other boulangeries around. And because of that, bread machine (Machines à Pain or MAP in French) have become fairly fashionable!!! You know, there is nothing worse for French people than loose their beloved boulanger.

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