Leftover Starter - you want me to what??

Discard. This is the terminology that is often used when refreshing your starter. When it comes time to feed (refresh) your starter, you 'discard' all but *about* a tablespoon - and this is now what you keep, and feed, to maintain your starter. Now, as a Dutchie, I really don't like to waste much. So I've gotten really creative at using up my leftover starter. Ruby has created so many other goodies besides bread and she's quite happy going along with all my experiments. *Have I been in isolation too long?* I'm talking as if Ruby's a living thing; oh wait, she is!
So here's some of the lovely things Ruby's discard has created for me over her short lifetime at my house. Thanks to Ruby, we are quite well feed around here:)

From the beginning, I've been making Sourdough Flour. Pretty simple - take discard, spread onto a sheet and let dry. Or if you have an Excalibur (one of my many kitchen babies), then you can dehydrate your leftovers. Because I'm a little obsessive about maintaining highly digestible and tolerable loaves, I use the sourdough flour to dust all my surfaces, bannetons (lined bread baskets), and as toppings for all the loaves. The process looks like this:

Spread discard thinly onto parchment sheets to dehydrate - or leave in warm spot to dry over several days.

Into the dehydrator they go!

Mmm, comes out all crackly. 

Pop the flakes into the Vitamix (my #1 kitchen baby) and blend till smooth. 

FYI: when my baby moves, she travels in the front seat with a seatbelt on. #truestory

Store flour in jars until ready to use. I tend to make A LOT of sourdough so it gets used up fairly quickly. However, lately I find myself with an excess of flour so I've been doing quite a bit of experimenting. I've made muffins, cupcakes, brownies and today...Carrot Cake! My ALL time favourite. 

I haven't had carrot cake in years!!! It turned out to be a very good day today:)

Here's how that turned out...

Found a recipe in one of my many cookbooks - one that's gluten free. My biggest beef with "gluten free" is the amount of sugar used in recipes! We have been sugar free (refined that is) for years, so I tend to use all the alternatives (coconut sugar, maple syrup and honey) and then cut the sugar amount in half. For this recipe I used coconut sugar - and maple syrup for the icing. Anyone who's seen me cook or bake knows a) I never follow a recipe, b) I'm a dumper - as in "yup, that looks about right" type of measurer, and c) by the end of it, I've pretty much created my own recipe. So, I like to use recipes as a guide - changing things as I go; AKA make up a new recipe. That's just how I roll. 

This recipe required 3 1/2 cups of gluten free flour so I thought I would try 'dried up Ruby' and give it a go. 

As with most Carrot Cake recipes, they require pineapple for added moisture. I don't have canned pineapple for several reasons so I thought I'd experiment with dried apricots (of which I am well stocked). Soak, chop, replace. 

Mmm, looking pretty good outta the oven...smells heavenly!

Ok, so I'm not a baker. I bake bread. And I love to cook! But what I do credit myself with, is making food that is super delicious. I'll borrow the term from one of my favourite Netflix shows (obviously it's a food show) - 'Ugly Delicious.'

And my taste tester for all my food experiments? He rarely complains ;)

So focused! Does he even know how lucky he is? #tastetester

So I might have had a few things on the go this morning...

Sourdough & pizza dough making, baking give-away loaves, a Russian Rye Sourdough *new* and the Carrot Cake - hence the kitchen abomination. 
I'm a multi tasker and enthusiast - it's in the blood. 

Thanks everyone for following along! I'm thoroughly enjoying sharing my experience with you all and hope that by sharing my passion, it's helping you all get through these tough days. Hang in there friends - better times are just around the corner...

With much love, 

xoheather