Unexpected use for sourdough

The very kind person who gave me the sourdough starter said that she had heard you could substitute the starter for buttermilk in some recipes.  I thought that this sounded too good to be true!  This would make a very easy way to use the starter, plus would make recipes using buttermilk more accessible.  Buttermilk isn't an ingredient that I have on hand usually, but I always have my starter!

Well she was right!  When I was home, I decided that it was necessary to revive the starter I gave my parents (that they hadn't touched since the last time I was home).  I brought the necessary ingredients to make bagels, but that became unnecessary when my dad made a trip to Panera and got a dozen and a half.  I looked at some of my favorite sourdough blogs, but most recipes involved ingredients that my parents didn't have, and that I didn't think to bring home.  Then I found a recipe for sourdough scones!  Wild Yeast had the perfect recipe - we had all of the necessary ingredients (except I substituted AP flour for the white whole wheat and oat flours).  We even had a scale at home - I gave my parents a really cheap dinky one I used to use before I got the digital scale.  The fact that the scones turned out well shows how versatile the recipe must be, since I know most of the measurements were not exact!  And we didn't have a food processor, so I mixed everything by hand, cutting in the butter with two knives.

So if you have a sourdough starter and don't know what to do with it, this is a really simple recipe to start with.  Besides feeding it 8-12 hours before starting, it requires much less time than most sourdough recipes.  And who doesn't like scones??
Oh, and the "small scones" were pretty darn big!

Recipe: Cranberry Oat Sourdough Scones (from Wild Yeast)
Ingredients:
50 g dried cranberries
87 g white whole wheat flour (can use AP)
40 g oat flour (can use AP, or grind oats into a fine powder)
17 g nonfat milk powder
1.5 tsp baking powder
3/8 tsp baking soda
5/8 tsp salt
50 g sugar (I used 1/4 cup)
1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest (optional - I didn't use it because we didn't have any lemons)
1 stick cold unsalted butter
40 g rolled oats
340 g mature 100% hydration sourdough starter
milk and coarse sugar for topping

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 F.
Cover the cranberries with warm water and soak for 10 minutes, then drain well.
In a large bowl, mix the flour(s), milk powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar, and lemon zest (if using).  Cut the cold butter into 1/2-inch cubes, and cut in using a pastry blender or two knives, until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal with a few larger pea-sized pieces of butter remaining.
Mix in the oats and drained cranberries lightly.
Add the sourdough starter and mix quickly and lightly, just until the dry ingredients are incorporated into it.  The dough will be wet and sticky.
Turn the dough out onto a well-floured counter and pat into a rectangle about 5x9 inches for larger scones, or about 4x11 inches for smaller scones (what I did).
With a dough cutter (or a metal spatula), cut the dough into two rectangles (three for small scones, what I did), and each of those, on the diagonals, into four pieces.
Place the scones on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Brush with milk and sprinkle with coarse sugar.

Bake for about 20 minutes, until golden brown.

Strawberry fields forever...

I have been waiting for what I like to call "the picking season" for months.  I'm pretty sure that dreams of ripe strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and cherries are what got me through this past semester.
Last weekend I finally got to go strawberry picking, and it was amazing!  The drive there was really pretty - it's not that far from Charlottesville, but you feel like you're in a different world.  Picking was surprisingly fun.  And their strawberry ice cream was amazing.  (If you live in Cville, you have to go to Chiles Orchard in Crozet.)  Of course my camera battery died after I got one measly blurry picture.

Which just means I'll have to go back.
After picking 3.5 pounds of strawberries, I had to figure out what to do with them.  Besides just eating them, of course.  I had a few salads, this time with the full dressing.  I wanted to do something special though.  And my first idea was to make strawberry scones.  I found a lot of great recipes, and picked one.  They were great!  Really moist, and not too sweet.  I added a little extra sugar (since I figured 3 tbsp might not cut it for my sweet tooth).  I didn't have any cream or buttermilk on hand, so I used light coconut milk instead.  I wanted to use something that had a little fat in it, and the only real milk I had was skim.  It didn't add much of a coconut flavor, but I thought it turned out well.  I cut the dough into 8 wedges, instead of 6, and they were still really big.  Next time I would maybe make two small rounds, and cut them each into 6 wedges.

Recipe: Strawberry Scones (adapted from Confessions of a Tart)
Ingredients:
1 cup diced strawberries
1/4 cup + 1/2 tbsp sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter, cubed
2/3 cup (cold) light coconut milk
raw sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
Sprinkle fruit with 1/2 tbsp sugar, set aside.
Combine 1/4 cup sugar with flour, baking powder and salt.  Add butter, and use a pastry cutter or 2 knives (or your fingertips) to cut in the butter.  Stir in fruit; then add coconut milk all at once.  Use spatula to gently stir dough until it holds together.  It will be pretty wet.
Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead a few times to incorporate dry ingredients.  Be gentle so you don't break up the berries and don't overwork the dough.  Sprinkle dough with flour if it gets sticky.
Pat the dough into a circle 3/4 inch thick.  If any berries peek out, push them into dough.  Cut circle into 6-8 wedges, then transfer wedges to the cookie sheet, leaving at least 1/2 inch of space between them.  Sprinkle with the raw sugar.

Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the tops are beginning to brown and spring back when you push them.