(Side note: I used to make these muffins for retreat participants at a silent, contemplative retreat center in the mountains of western North Carolina. On the last day of their 5- or 8-day silent retreat, I would whip up these flavorful sourdough goodies to congratulate them on sitting with their sh*t.)
The exploration of sourdough continues! I love sourdough because it is an art, not an exact science like certain kinds of baking I find to be rather snobby. Sourdough is a messy art allowing you to tap into mysterious ‘wild’ yeasts and such.
Check out this recipe and refer to my other blog on sourdough on how to cultivate your own sourdough starter (I used old cereal). There are also other ways to kick-off your sourdough starter.
To store and keep my starter alive, I put a heaping spoonful of flour and equal amounts of water in my batch I keep in the fridge every few days or so…giving it a good stir.
This recipe below is a marriage of the bounty from the North (grains, flax, and such) and the South. Thank you South for your lovely, tropical bananas and cacao beans. Such amazing food stuffs — you can thank them even more by buying these items fair trade!
And, if you are so inclined, pretend you are the star of the movie Chocolat, making sensual morsels for a gray and sad town somewhere…deprived of earthly goodness.
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Chocolate Chip Banana Sourdough Muffins
28-32 muffins
*requires overnight soaking
At night:
2 cups of sourdough starter
5 cups of spelt flour
3 cups lukewarm water
Put flour into bowl. Place sourdough starter on top (do not stir). While adding water, slowly stir mixture. Cover bowl and place in a quiet place.
Grind 2 tablespoons of flax seed and put in 5-6 tablespoons of water in a glass jar. Shake the jar and let sit in the fridge overnight as well. You will use this in place of 2 eggs. (Or, use two eggs! I prepared this recipe for a retreat center that had a vegan/vegetarian kitchen. Not my preference…however, the standard was set before I was there.)
In the morning:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Put 2 cups of sourdough starter from the overnight batch back in the jar.
Cut up 6 bananas.
In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients:
2 cups spelt flour
2 teaspoons sea salt
3 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
½ cup raw sugar, rapadura, or maple sugar
In yet another bowl mix wet ingredients:
½ cup melted butter or coconut oil
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
3 teaspoons vanilla
Add the flax and water mixture (or eggs)
Very lightly stir dry ingredients into the sourdough batter. Lightly stir in the wet ingredients. Lightly stir in the 5-6 chopped bananas and 1 cup of dark chocolate chips. Try not to stir too much. Place batter in greased muffin tins. Place in 400 degree oven for 25 minutes. Let cool in tins and then serve!
This is a great recipe as you do not have to let the sourdough rise. The baking soda reacts with the sourdough and adds great lift to the muffins.
Lindsay Kolasa 