Who doesn’t love freshly baked… well, anything, really? Baking can be fun. Eating baked goods is even better. That’s why I’ve continued experimenting with Stanley, my sourdough starter, and have some new recipes to share with you. 

Although I’ve gone beyond just baking bread, I first wanted to share a recipe that is for bread, albeit a sourdough pumpkin bread. I’m one of those people who enjoys pumpkin-flavored foods any time of year. It doesn’t have to be autumn to break out the can of pumpkin puree for some muffins, pancakes, or bread. I used this recipe. However, I did not go through the effort of making my loaf look like a pumpkin. Kudos to those who want to take the time to make the loaf look pretty, but, as long as it’s tasty, that’s good enough for me. This bread has a powerful punch of spice-filled flavor without being sweet like other pumpkin breads I’ve made.

The next recipe I wanted to recommend is super easy. These rectangular-shaped, sourdough biscuits use discard, so you don’t have to make them ahead of time. You can throw them together quickly for breakfast or dinner. I’ve done both, and they are delightful!

If you want to impress some dinner guests, you can try this recipe for the crusty, sourdough dinner roll experience. The insides of the rolls were light and fluffy, and the outside had the crisp crust you expect from sourdough. However, you definitely have to plan ahead to get your timing right for these rolls, as there is both a rise and ferment time involved. 

Just for fun one day, I made some sourdough cinnamon muffins. They were easy to make, but did not have a sourdough flavor. Some of the sourdough discard recipes you’ll find, like this one, don’t yield that sourdough taste that you get from using active starter and letting the dough ferment.

My most recent baking adventure was to try my hand at some English muffins. It had never crossed my mind to make my own English muffins, until, I’m sorry to admit, I saw the cast do so on an episode of The Great British Baking Show. Also, to set the record straight, these “muffins” are not actually baked but grilled. I found that intriguing. When I ran across a recipe for some sourdough English muffins, I just had to give it a go. 

I will not lie and say I pulled off a flawless rendition my first time. Although, I was quite happy with the result. The muffins were very tasty and, eventually, they cooked up nicely. However, I had two slight problems. First, I used a cast iron skillet and had trouble getting my first batch (of four) cooked all the way through. It took longer than it should have as I tried to get the pan at the right temperature. The other problem is that when I cut open one of the muffins, it did not have the holey look that usually distinguishes an English muffin. I’m not sure why this happened. I’m sure Paul Hollywood from The Great British Baking Show would have looked at my muffin with a scowl and told me exactly what I did wrong. But, I was happy with my first crack at it, and taste always matters more to me than appearance. No worries, Paul, I don’t plan to be on your show.