Sourdough granola bars

...or should I say "Granola Bars à la Susan"? Because it is on Susan's blog, Wild Yeast, that I got the awesome, fantastic, super clever idea of using leftover 100% hydration levain to make granola bars! It simply had never occurred to me before. Here is Susan's original post.

Like her and like most bakers I know, I just hate pouring starter down the drain (or in the compost bin). It smells yummy, it's all set to get to work rising amber waves of crusty bread, so why, oh! why must I throw it out?

But of course I understand that if I kept feeding it the amounts of flour and water it needs to continue to thrive, I would soon have enough levain to fill a swimming pool and then where would I be? So yes, I do throw some out more often than not but when I happen upon a great way to do otherwise, I just jump on it, and yesterday morning when I read Susan's post (it dates back to the end of May but I was traveling then and it had escaped my attention), I quickly took stock of what I had on hand and went to work.

Since I didn't have all of the ingredients that Susan used, I substituted a few things: almond butter instead of peanut butter, maple syrup instead of honey, dried blueberries instead of golden raisins, dried apricot instead of dried cranberries and almonds instead of walnuts. I put in ginger as suggested in one of the comments to her post but, mindful of the calories, I used a bit less less pumpkin seeds and I halved the amount of sweetener. However, keeping in mind that my family has more of a sweet tooth than I do, I put some brown sugar on top to even things out a bit. Also, since Susan found her bars a bit too thin, I used more levain than she did and I baked mine in a biscotti pan.

Ingredients

285 g 100% hydration levain (sourdough starter)

100 g smooth unsalted almond butter

100 g rolled oats

75 g dried blueberries

75 g dried apricots, chopped

50 g maple syrup

50 g pumpkin seeds

50 g almonds, coarsely chopped

50 g pecans, coarsely chopped

15 g candied ginger, finely chopped (this could easily be doubled as the taste of ginger was rather faint)

6 g salt

brown sugar to taste (as a topping)

Method

I followed Susan's instructions except that I toasted the pumpkin seeds, pecans and almonds at 350° F in the oven prior to chopping them and that I baked the mixture for 30 minutes instead of 20 since it was thicker.

Square Energy

The Man is taking advantage of the upcoming long holiday weekend to go open our little camp on the big river. He'll drive north for hours, will arrive at dusk when the mosquitoes start buzzing out looking for dinner and will have to fight his way through frogs, mice, chipmunks, snakes and otters (sometimes minks and beavers too) to reach our shores. There'll be no water yet (and, yes, that's why I am not going!), no refrigeration and, gasp!, no Internet!
So the least I can do is pack some comfort food in his bag, especially considering the fact that the nearest store is 13 miles away, that the engine on the old workboat may give up the ghost and that he might have to row himself home.
These energy bars are my way of saying "Thanks for doing this, year after year, lovey!". They'll give him something to munch on as he huffs and puffs. And, best of all (from my point of view), they'll be reasonably good for him since they contain no fats, are packed with fruit and almonds and feature some whole wheat flour.
The recipe comes from Bars & Squares by Jill Snider, a book which is choke full of mouth-watering treat ideas.
Ingredients:

• 150 g unbleached all-purpose flour
• 115 g whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 egg 
• 175 g liquid honey (the recipe calls for twice that amount but that would be too much in my opinion)
• 75 g unsweetened applesauce
• 2 tsp grated lemon zest
• 120 g finely chopped dried figs
• 120 g finely chopped dried apricots
• 1/2 cup chopped dry-roasted almonds (the recipe calls for pecans but I didn't have any) 

  Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F/180 C and prepare a greased cake pan (the recipe calls for a 13 x 8 inch but since I only had an 8 x 8, I went with that and just baked the whole thing a little longer)
2. In a bowl, combine all-purpose and whole wheat flours, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg
3. In a separate bowl, whisk egg, honey, applesauce and lemon zest until smooth. Stir into dry ingredients, mixing well. Stir in figs, apricots and almonds. Spread evenly into prepared pan
4. Bake in preheated oven until top is set and lightly browned, 20 to 25 minutes (mine stayed in 30 minutes). Let cool completely in pan on rack. Cut into bars. Pack in watertight container. Smile and kiss. Send Man on his way.

Pear-ginger-barley muffins on a bed of poppy seeds

I saw in a bookstore in Bob's Red Mill Baking Book a recipe for barley, ginger and pear muffins which pretty much had my name on it! I remember it contained butter, sugar and fresh pears. I couldn't wait to try it my way. I did away with the butter and the added sugar and I used dried pears instead of raw ones. I added poppy seeds as I love their crunchiness. The result is exactly what I was looking for, a light slightly spicy muffin with delicious fragrance and taste. Excellent with breakfast but also as an afternoon snack with a cup of tea. These muffins can be eaten as they are but they would be good too with cream cheese or, if you like sweet-and-sour, with a thin slice of Gruyère or Comté. Nutritionally speaking, I like the fact that they are made with close to 60% whole grain flours and that, between the applesauce and the pears, they are loaded with fruit.

Ingredients (for 8 oval muffins and 2 5-inch loaves): 150 g unbleached all-purpose flour 150 g whole wheat pastry flour 50 g barley flour 6 g aluminum-free baking powder (I use Rumsford) 4 g salt 50 g candied ginger, finely chopped 80 g dried pears, chopped the zest of one lemon (Myer if available) 66 g unsweetened applesauce 30 g roasted almond oil or canola or sunflower oil 400 g buttermilk 1 egg poppy seeds

Method:

1. Turn on the oven (375 F/190 C)
2. Mix flours, baking powder, salt, ginger and pears in a large bowl
3. Add the lemon zest and mix again
4. In a smaller bowl, mix the buttermilk, the egg and the oil
5. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ones
6. Mix delicately until the flour is incorporated
7. Prepare muffin or bread molds. If using silicone, no need to oil the molds. If using metal, the molds need to be greased and floured
8. If using muffin molds, pour a scant teaspoon of poppy seeds on the bottom. If using bread molds, reserve the poppy seeds
9. Pour the batter into the molds (up to 2/3 of the height). If using bread molds, scatter poppy seeds on top
10. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick or a blade comes out dry (watch out towards the end as the muffins might be done faster than the loaves)
11. Let cool for 5 minutes on a cooling rack then remove from the molds
12. Let cool completely before savoring.

Rustic rye mini-loaves with anise seeds

I know that spring has arrived in Europe but here, my gosh, March came in roaring like a lion (to paraphrase Mayor Bloomberg of New York City). It snowed huge clouds of white fluff, the wind is howling in the creaking trees and tonight will be bitterly cold.
So our little primroses remain inside on the window sills from which they like to contemplate the frost. For us, who don't like it as much (although it is pretty, I must admit), I whipped up my magic wand (my 4-year old granddaughter was watching Cinderalla at the time and I felt I had to do something to impress her) and made rustic mini-loaves or honeycakes. Their fragrance filled up the house with dreams of other times, other seasons, other places...

The little ones loved them. Sophia (the 4-year old) even put big pieces in her cereal bowl and said they were delicious with milk. I tried and she's right. It's an awesome combination. The grown-ups like them too, especially the Man who, being born in Belgium, is a big fan of pain d'épice in all its guises. And what are these little loaves if not the rustic cousins of the French and Belgian honeycakes we grew up with? They are very comforting with a hot cup of tea.

Ingredients:

• 140 g dark rye flour
• 120 g all-purpose unbleached flour
• 20 g of white whole wheat flour (if you don't have any, don't replace it by regular whole wheat flour. In combination with the rye, the taste would be too strong. Just add another 20g of the all-purpose flour)
• 2 tbsp roasted almond butter
• 200 g honey
• 100 g liquid starter (100% hydration)
• 100 g almond milk
• 5 g ground anise seeds
• 2 g each ground pepper, ginger, clove and cinnamon
• 3 g salt

Method:

1. Heat up the milk and melt the honey in it
2. Turn on the oven ( 350 F/177 C)
3. Add the almond butter to the milk and honey and mix well
4. Mix the flours, the salt and the spices in a big bowl
5. Add the starter
6. Add the milk-almond butter and honey mixture. Mix until all ingredients are well incorporated
7. Spoon the batter into tiny pans (I used a mini-loaf pan sheet which I bought in France but I could have used mini-muffins pans). Mine do not need to be greased but muffin pans sometimes do. So check before spooning the batter
8. Bake for 30 or 35 minutes. Turn off the oven. Take the loaves out of the pans and put them back in the oven for 5 minutes in case the sides are still a bit pale
9. Cool down a bit on a cooling rack before devouring them with a nice spoonful of fragrant honey