Sourdough Baking - Coffee Cake edition.

I'm completely handling the current situation in the world with distractions.  I'm not going to talk about the marathon I am registered to run, that didn't happen yesterday, but I will run in September.

Lets talk sourdough.  I created a starter because well I needed the square on my stay at home bingo card. I love bread, it's one of my favorite foods, but I can't eat it anymore. I'm allergic to yeast and have gluten sensitivity. Just because I can't eat it, doesn't mean other members of my household can't enjoy it.

The Township of Joe(my son's starter), I don't
have a good picture of the RYD.

Now I have an active starter, well two of them, my oldest son wanted one too. My starter is named The Republic of Yeast Dunstable. I've been researching recipes and while I've made a few loaves of bread, they are still very dense. I've also tried to figure out what to do with the discard sourdough(the stuff you throw away when you feed the starter). Many of the recipes require cooking with milk and butter, as my allergy to dairy requires an epi-pen, and stirring a pot of hot milk, is a bit too "get to ride in an ambulance" risky for me, I've been struggling. I'm not quite ready to try almond milk instead, that might be in a few weeks.

Then I discovered this recipe for Sourdough Coffee Cake. It looked awesome. I read it and then promptly ignored it. The results were fantastic, at least according to my husband. Warning, you want to use the result to make french bread, but only do so if you can nap in a recliner after.

Here are the changes I made to the recipe.

I completely ignored the whole feed the starter first and such instructions.  I had fed the starter the night before, I think and left it in the fridge, so I scooped out a good cup or so with a 1 cup measuring cup. I then re-fed the starter and let it sit for over an hour before returning it to the fridge.

Into the bowl with the starter I added a 1 cup scoop of flour(I guess, there was little precision in this measuring), grabbed a 1/4 cup measuring cup and added 1 scoop of organic cane sugar and then 2 scoops of dark brown sugar(mostly packed), totaled around 3/4 cup, maybe more. The change in sugar was a decision based on what type of sugar we have lots of in the house and what I like in my morning coffee. Added in an egg(another food I can't eat), actually measured the baking soda and salt, completely guessed on the cinnamon, then used the 1 cp measuring cup to approximate the oil. I'm well aware of how many baking rules I have violated. At one point in my life the only measuring cup I could find was a 1/3 cup. I could have bought more, but this was at a time when online shopping wasn't a thing and I never remembered I only had the 1/3 cup at home when I was out shopping. I baked many items from scratch with that single measuring cup, no one ever complained. Then again they were eating baked goods made by a sugar addict.

Before rise, after rise it filled the pan.

I stirred everything together by hand, as I sold my stand mixer several years ago. It took up way too much space on my counter and I had other things I wanted to spend the money on(like bills). I don't regret that decision, but it means all my bread adventures are by hand. I think I just stirred it with a spoon, but I may have gotten my hands involved. I poured it into the loaf pan, and then made the crumble with oil, because I can't touch butter(see comment about epi-pen) and now is not the time to waste gloves.

The loaf then sat on the stove to rise, while I made myself GF vegan chocolate cake from a box, and yes I use their measurements as suggestions and do my own thing.

I baked the chocolate cake first and thne the coffee cake after 1.5 hours of rise time. My youngest thought it was ok, but not sweet enough, the husband thought it was perfect and my oldest ate half the chocolate cake, or would have if I let him.

Next discard recipe will likely be pizza crust.

Navigating Food allergies as an Adult

We all hear scary stories in the news about children with food allergies, but what is it like to navigate food allergies as an adult?

I have 2 dangerous food allergies. I’ve been sensitive to dairy since my late teens, and some time in my early 20’s the allergy worsened to a severity that requires I carry an epi-pen. The other allergy cropped up when I was pregnant with my second son and I busted out with hives from filberts or hazelnuts. Avoiding these two foods, and honestly most nuts, is relatively easy. My other food sensitives make most processed food a no-go due to labeled ingredients. With hazelnuts, I have to ask the question “Have you ever made hazelnut coffee?” to figure out if someone’s well-meaning offer of a cup of coffee could turn into a few weeks of hives.

The last two times I was “tagged” (as I call it) with dairy, I can admit that I made mistakes, or that I was less than vigilant as I normally am. 

Long run selfie, before all this happened. 

This past Sunday night was different. I was relaxing, happily in the state of “eat all the things” since I ran a long 7 mile run that morning, when I realized one of my safe happy comfort foods, potato chips, tasted distinctly like a sour cream and onion chip.

The whole situation is comical now, I paused and my husband looked at me funny. As I grabbed a tissue, spit out the food, and went to start rinsing out my mouth, brushed my teeth, and drink a ton of water. In an attempt to remove any lingering trace of the dangerous allergen.  I took a rare for me, benedryl, contacted a paramedic friend who has to deal with their own serious allergies. Then came the hard part, as I had to try to not panic, and pay attention to all my symptoms.  To make sure that I made the right judgement calls. I didn’t want to over react, and use my epi-pen, or drive to the ER and bog down the nurses from patients with real emergencies, but I also didn’t want to minimize my own health crisis and put my life in danger.

In the end, I was ok. I’ll most likely develop some hives and I’ll have general muscle/joint aches for a week or two, I’ll need to be extra careful with food.

Have you ever opened a box of crackers or cookies and discovered a surprise something else. Maybe it was the bonus onion ring in your fries?

Potato chips are one of my comfort junk food. The bag is clearly labeled with the ingredients and no warnings about trace amounts of other foods, or shared equipment.  I will say that this time, I accept zero fault in this mistake. It could have only been avoid by not eating potato chips or by inspecting each and every chip before putting it in my mouth.  

I share this because mistakes happen, the people working at the factory didn’t cross contaminate the line thinking “I’m going to try and kill that runner in south Nashua”. The store that stocked the bags, didn’t sell it to us which any malicious intent to harm me. Mistakes happen.

No more chips for me.
Image from Pixabay

Which is why, if you offer me food, I may ask very detailed questions about it, or to see ingredient lists. I may say “sounds good” and then look at the food and change my mind. Truth is a day before I thought there was something off about the potato chips, but I ignored it because I didn’t want to admit that maybe I was going to be adding potato to my food sensitives. Please do not take offence if I bring my own food to your cook out, or pass on your cooking. I know my friends are not trying to cause harm to me, but being polite and having a little could cause me weeks of discomfort while I recover because one time last week someone stirred the milk into their coffee, and then put the wet spoon into the sugar bowl.

Do you struggle with food allergies? Share your stories or maybe some of your survival tips.