• Use extra sourdough starter – make these quick blueberry muffins.

• Make blueberry muffins at home for less fat and sugar, but much more flavor!

I have been on a sourdough bread making streak this winter. The whole family loves the flavor and texture of tangy sourdough. In fact, the other day my grand-daughter chose another slice of Oatmeal Sourdough bread over a piece of peanut butter ice cream cake!

But sometimes I feed my starter, Helga, (yes, I named my sourdough starter – she’s about 5 years old) for a few days and then don’t have time or space or energy to make a loaf of bread. That’s when I turn to a sourdough quick bread recipe. You can find many sourdough quick breads on this site, and I will be posting more as the month progresses. There’s zucchini bread, banana bread, crepes, and lots more (see the recipe listings above).

Ripe Sourdough Starter

This time I turned one of my favorite muffin recipes into a sourdough recipe. All these recipes use a ripe starter. That means they have been fed and are bubbly. Sometimes this takes a day or two, sometimes only an hour or two. It depends on:

• Are you just starting out? Then follow the directions for How to Make Your Own Sourdough Starter.

• Has your starter been hibernating in the refrigerator for a few months? Then check out How to Revive a Dead Starter.

• Has the starter been hanging out in the fridge for a week or less? Then it may only take a day to bring it back to life.

• If your kitchen is quite warm, the starter may be bubbling by the afternoon. But if it’s really cool, it could take longer to activate.

Wild Blueberries vs. Cultivated Blueberries

Wild blueberries are little powerhouses of flavor. They grow in the rocky northern soil, primarily eastern Maine and Nova Scotia. For this particular recipe, I used wild blueberries because I made miniature muffins. The little berries distribute through the batter better (say that three times fast!) than larger berries. Wild blueberries have more intense flavor than their cultivated cousins, but they aren’t available everywhere. Look for them in the frozen fruit section at the grocery store. Hopefully you will find them!

Cultivated blueberries are easier to come by. Even though I am a Down East Maine native, I have to admit I like cultivated blueberries too. Their flavor isn’t as dominant, but the larger size makes them juicy. Either type works perfectly in this recipe.

Sourdough Blueberry Muffins

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Cook Time 20 mins

Servings 12

Ingredients

  

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup ripe sourdough starter
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
• zest from 1 large orange

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, and baking powder.
• Add sourdough starter, egg, milk, and oil. Stir quickly untildry ingredients are almost completely moistened.
• Gently stir in blueberries and zest.
• Fill greased muffin pans 2/3 full.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes.
• Remove from oven, tip muffins out of tins, and enjoy!
• Makes about 12 regular sized muffins or 18-20 mini muffins.

Why Use Sourdough?

I use ripe sourdough starter in quick breads for two reasons:

1. I can’t stand to waste the extra starter! My Yankee heritage forces me to use every bit of food I possibly can. Thus, sourdough quick breads.
2. The starter adds not only an extra tangy flavor, it also changes the texture somewhat. Quick breads, or muffins in this case, become less crumbly and similar to a yeast bread texture. It’s similar to the difference between cake doughnuts and raised doughnuts.