Sourdough and ways to use it

If you read my column from yesterday, I shared information about making the 1970's classic, "Sourdough Starter". This was a very popular hobby with many bakers and continues to be popular today. If you missed the column to get the introduction to sourdough starter and how to prepare it, here's the link so you can get in on it:

http://www.examiner.com/article/sourdough-a-1970-s-favorite

As promised, I'm sharing two more recipes that use the starter. The first one is for "Sourdough Biscuits". While this is a biscuit, the flavor is a cross between a biscuit and a yeast roll. It also uses packaged biscuit mix, so that certainly makes easy work of preparing them. Since it only calls for two ingredients, even the newest of bakers can prepare these biscuits successfully. It does require one hour after mixing for the dough to rest before cutting the dough into biscuits, so you'll want to plan accordingly as to the time you want to serve them.

The next recipe enables you to take this same biscuit dough and make a real coffee break treat, "Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls". Once the basic biscuit dough is made, the dough is rolled out into a rectangle, then sugar, cinnamon and raisins and/or nuts are layered over it. It's then rolled up and sliced into rolls. After baking, they're iced with a confectioner's sugar glaze. This would be a good one to make on the weekend when you have more time to prepare and enjoy them.

A good while back, while we're on the subject of biscuits, I shared a recipe for "Bread and Butter Sticks", which are biscuit strips that come already butter after they're baked. In case you missed it, here's the link:

http://www.examiner.com/article/bread-that-s-already-buttered

Enjoy the benefits of sourdough.....if you feed it, it'll feed you back!

SOURDOUGH BISCUITS

• 1 cup Sourdough Starter
• 2 cups packaged baking mix, such as Bisquick
• a small amount of milk or water, if needed

Mix together the starter with 1 cup of the baking mix and let stand at room temperature for 1 hours. Add the second cup of the baking mix and a small amount of milk or water, if mixture appears dry. Mix and turn out onto a surface dusted with additional biscuit mix. Knead for about 30 seconds. Pat or roll out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into biscuits and bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Serve immediately.

SOURDOUGH CINNAMON ROLLS

• 6 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 cup raisins, chopped nuts or both

Prepare the Sourdough Biscuits as directed, rolling out the completed dough into a rectangle. Brush with melted butter and layer the sugar, cinnamon, raisins and/or nuts on top. Starting with a long side, roll the dough tightly as for a jelly roll. Cut into 1/2 inch thick slices and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees until browned on top. Remove from the baking sheet and let cool. Spread with the following Confectioner's Sugar Glaze:

• 1 cup confectioner's sugar
• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 1 tablespoon milk

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl until smooth.