deep fried – The Sourdough Baker https://stagging.thesourdoughbaker.com Staging The Sourdough Baker Sat, 09 Nov 2024 01:14:17 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://stagging.thesourdoughbaker.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/cropped-logo-png-1-32x32.png deep fried – The Sourdough Baker https://stagging.thesourdoughbaker.com 32 32 Tempura Fry Batter https://stagging.thesourdoughbaker.com/recipe/tempura-fry-batter/ https://stagging.thesourdoughbaker.com/recipe/tempura-fry-batter/#respond Sat, 09 Nov 2024 01:14:13 +0000 https://stagging.thesourdoughbaker.com/?post_type=recipe&p=1356 About This Recipe

Who knew two ingredients could come together to create a light and crispy tempura batter? The elimination of unfermented flour in this recipe means my stomach is not upset after indulging. Choose a healthy frying oil, and you will have a new, guilt-free pleasure.

What Is Tempura Batter?

Tempura fry batter is a light and airy batter used in Japanese cuisine to coat vegetables, seafood, and other ingredients before deep frying. The batter is typically very thin, which results in a more delicate coating. Tempura fry batter can be just flour and cold water, though sometimes an egg or other ingredients, such as starch, are added.

What I Love About This Recipe

This tempura fry batter is so light and beautifully crisp, it tops just about any other fry batter I have made with my discard. Not to mention how simple and incredibly versatile this recipe is – use it for: vegetables, seafood, beef, chicken – you name it!

sourdough discard tempura vegetables

All The “Why’s”

Coating In Starch

Coating in starch serves two purposes. First, it helps pull any additional moisture from the vegetable or meat being fried. By doing this, the starch also helps the batter stick much more effectively. Starch is preferred here over flour, in order to keep the gluten content low, which aids in a crispier end result.

Cold Ingredients And Limited Mixing

If the bacteria in your starter have already completely broken down the flour in your starter (you can tell by the consistency of your starter – if it is thin and runny, it is broken down), this point is less important. That’s because cold ingredients and limited mixing are measures taken to limit the development of gluten, but with a flour that has already been broken down completely, gluten is not going to reverse its way back into being. In fact, it may be preferable in this recipe to use a very broken-down starter (as long as the flavor is good, of course).

Gluten and fry batter do not mix; too much gluten and the end result becomes chewy and oily. Warm water and excessive mixing encourage gluten formation; therefore, it only makes sense that cold water limited mixing keeps gluten’s development at a minimal.

Sourdough Discard

Tempura batter is made simply from flour and water – so of course it can be made with sourdough discard (which is also made from just flour and water). The sourdough discard in this recipe takes the place of flour and some of the water. Because tempura batter is typically very thin, we do need to add more water, which we will discuss in a moment. The awesome thing about this, though, is that we do not have to have any unfermented flour in this recipe: a major bonus for some.

It is important to note that with sourdough discard being the main ingredient in this batter, the result may or may not be sour. It all depends on your maintenance routine and the health of your starter. You can taste your discard (just a smidgen) before making this recipe – it’ll tell you what the results might look like! I have made this recipe many times and have never had a sour outcome, while others cannot even imagine making a recipe like this because their discard is so sour. Sourness comes from the bacteria in your starter. When they overpopulate, you can taste it.

For this recipe (as I mentioned above) it may preferable to use discard that is older, thinner, and broken down. Despite older discard being more acidic, I still have never found the goods I make from it to be overly sour. If your starter is healthy and well-maintained, your discard should be just fine.

Bubbly Water

Carbonated water helps create an airy, light, and crisp batter. CO2 gases in the bubbly water expand when fried, just like CO2 in your bread dough (which is a byproduct of yeast) expands during baking. This explosion of air leads to a less-dense, light and crisp fry batter, making it the perfect choice for thinning out the sourdough discard.

Frying

You can use any preferred frying oil to fry with tempura fry batter.

It is important to note that when cold ingredients are added to the oil, the temperature drops drastically. This is why it is important to heat the oil above the desired frying temperature when making this recipe. I usually fry my vegetables and meats at 350 F (175 C), so an oil temperature of 375 F (190 C; sometimes I even go up to 400 F [205 C], though this might be a little excessive) to begin with is incredibly helpful. Ideally, the maximum amount of time the vegetable or meat is in the oil is three minutes.

The batter should not absorb too much oil during frying, or else it will become soggy and greasy, rather than crisp. Soggy, greasy batter is caused by frying at too low a temperature. Vice versa, too high a temperature will make it difficult to cook your vegetables or meat all the way through.

Last, this batter stays relatively light in color even when cooked through or cooked at high temperatures. That’s because there aren’t any ingredients that promote browning in the batter (i.e. sugar, milk, etc). The use of starch to help dry out the vegetables/meat also keeps the batter lighter in color. Therefore, keep this in mind and only fry until what you are frying is cooked through; do not look for the batter to turn brown.

A Fine Seasoning

Last, use a fine, rather than coarse, seasoning at the end. This will stick to the coating much better, resulting in less waste and better flavor.

sourdough discard tempura vegetables

📌 Quick Tip: Read the recipe in its entirety before you start cooking. This will help you understand the ingredients, steps, and timing involved, and allow you to prepare any necessary equipment or ingredients beforehand.

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Corn Dogs https://stagging.thesourdoughbaker.com/recipe/corn-dogs/ https://stagging.thesourdoughbaker.com/recipe/corn-dogs/#respond Thu, 07 Nov 2024 17:30:17 +0000 https://stagging.thesourdoughbaker.com/?post_type=recipe&p=1348 About This Recipe

Crispy, fluffy, savory (and a little sweet!) – did you even know you could make corn dogs with your sourdough discard? It takes a little practice coating and frying them just right, but hopefully my tips can help you succeed.

What Is A Corn Dog?

Often enjoyed at fairs, carnivals, amusement parks, and as a convenient meal at home, corn dogs are a popular American food item consisting of a hot dog sausage coated in a thick layer of cornmeal batter and then deep-fried until golden brown. The term “corn dog” typically refers to the entire snack, including the sausage and the batter. They can be served with various condiments such as ketchup, mustard, or even mayonnaise.

What I Love About This Recipe

This recipe for corn dogs is completely unique in that it contains no unfermented wheat flour. In fact, it is probably the only recipe on the internet of its kind. This corn batter can be used as a frying batter for anything you like – not just hot dogs! You can even fry it up on its own, dropping in spoonfuls into the frying oil, to make an almost-hushpuppy (no onion!).

sourdough corn dog

All The “Why’s”

Cornmeal

Cornmeal is what makes these corn dogs! Now, in my area, options for cornmeal are limited. I simply use a fine to medium-grind generic cornmeal – you know, the ones that are meant for baking. To be specific, I have tested this recipe using United Supermarket’s brand, Signature Select, as well as Quaker’s Yellow Cornmeal. I have not tested this recipe with corn flour or other corn flour varieties, such as masa harina. Sometimes the consistency of this batter can be a little finicky, so make sure that you watch my YouTube video to better understand what the batter should look like.

Sugar

Corn dogs are made from a sweet batter, which is the main reason why sugar is important in this recipe. But, even if you aren’t a fan of sugar, I would not recommend skipping it. Sugar promotes browning, contributing to the golden brown color of the corn dogs. This may not seem like a big deal, but let me tell you – the results can look quite different without it!

Baking Powder

This is a quick recipe, so I use baking powder, over sourdough, to leaven these corn dogs. I prefer chemical leavening for sourdough discard recipes because we are using starter that is not in its prime state, and may not leaven well. While it is true that the addition of flour feeds the yeast, and you may get a slow rise, sourdough-discard-leavened quick breads have the potential to be more sour, due to the ever populating bacteria (which are responsible for the sour flavor) and still may not rise properly.

Salt

Salt brings out flavor in any dish – and that is its exact purpose here. Don’t skip it.

Sourdough Discard

The sourdough discard in this recipe takes the place of flour and some of the milk. The main goal: to use as much as possible and still get great results. In corn dog batter, it serves as a source of moisture and as a binder that brings the dough together.

It is important to note that with this much sourdough discard, your corn dogs may or may not be sour. It all depends on your maintenance routine and the health of your starter. You can taste your discard (just a smidgen) before making this recipe – it’ll tell you what the results might look like! I have made this recipe many times and have never had a sour outcome, while others cannot even imagine making a recipe like this because their discard is so sour. Sourness comes from the bacteria in your starter. When they overpopulate, you can taste it.

Check Your Consistency

Sourdough discard can vary in thickness, depending on how long it has been sitting in the refrigerator. A thinner, runnier discard may produce a runnier batter, which is likely to slide off the hot dogs. The batter should be thick enough to coat the dogs without running off, but thin enough that the hot dogs are still easy to dip. This can be offset by using extra cornmeal to thicken the batter or extra milk to thin it out.

Milk

Milk adds moisture, just a smidgen, to balance out the sourdough discard and the cornmeal. Milk, like sugar, also contributes to browning, helping these corn dogs to have a beautiful golden brown color.

Egg

Eggs make baked (or in this case, fried) goods light and fluffy. They also add moisture, contributing to the overall balance of wet/dry to create the right consistency in the batter.

Coating The Dogs

Coating your hot dogs is definitely the hardest part. If the consistency of your batter is not quite right (too thick or thin), things will be quite difficult. Besides that, here are a few things that can help:

Cold Batter

I make the batter first and refrigerate it before I do anything else (including heating the oil or preparing the hot dogs). This gives the batter a chance to chill in the refrigerator, which will help it stick to the hot dogs better. (Seriously, it makes a huge difference!) It is best to chill the batter for at least thirty minutes, but I have made this batter up to three hours in advance without issue. If your baking powder is double acting, I do not see why you couldn’t go even longer – up to twelve hours.

Drying The Hot Dogs

Wet hot dogs mean extra moisture, which can cause the batter to slip right off. This means we have to dry the dogs as best as possible. I pat them dry with a paper towel, as well as lay them out to air-dry while the oil is frying. You can also coat them in cornmeal or extra flour to help the batter stick.

Frying

You can use any preferred frying oil to fry these corn dogs. I’ve found 350 F (175 C) is the perfect temperature for cooking the batter all the way through without burning the outside. Any lower, and the corn dogs would absorb too much oil. Much higher, and they would brown too quickly. Because the batter is cold when I drop the corn dogs into the oil, I sometimes like to heat my oil a bit hotter, to around 375 F (190 C), since the temperature of the oil falls immediately when the dogs are dropped into it.

sourdough corn dog

📌 Quick Tip: Read the recipe in its entirety before you start cooking. This will help you understand the ingredients, steps, and timing involved, and allow you to prepare any necessary equipment or ingredients beforehand.

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