Sourdough Waffles and Pushups

Now what in the world could possibly bring together sourdough waffles and pushups into a coherent and intelligent blog posting? Well, nothing. But if some vaguely entertaining incoherent rambling will satisfy you then read on.

First up, tonight marked the end of week 2 of the pushup challenge, and that meant it was time for another exhaustion test - how many pushups could I do in a row? A few weeks ago I managed 31 good form pushups and I thought I'd made some good progress since then, so I was looking forward to seeing how far I'd come. Well, I managed 60(!!!!) which keeps me well on track going into week 3. A hundred still seems a long way off though.

And on the flip side, it's Friday night which means it's time for the sourdough starter to rise from the dead (well, the fridge) and feed. Took it out, proofed it with a cup of flour and a cup of warm water and left it to reactivate. Last weekend I cobbled together a simple recipe for sourdough waffles which I really enjoyed, so I'm going to write it down before I forget it - and what better place to keep it than right here.

Ingredients
2 cups proofed sourdough starter (left overnight to activate)
1 extra large egg
1 TBSP olive oil
1 TBSP sugar
1 tsp baking soda

Pour 2 cups of starter (make sure to leave enough behind for next time) into a bowl, add in the egg, oil, sugar and baking soda and stir well.

Cover loosely and let sit for 20-30 minutes

Heat your waffle iron and use the waffle batter as directed by your manufacturer (I have a Belgian waffle maker and this batch makes about 3 lots of waffles).

Serve with syrup, yogurt, strawberries or whatever floats your boat.

And finally, I downloaded a new song for the jukebox - "Sittin' at a Bar" by Rehab. Heard it on the radio while driving home last night and liked it. Don't really know why - if I did it would probably explain a lot :-)

It's all Greek to Me

So I used the "son of the bitch" starter tonight to make the crust for my sourdough Greek pizza. Here's a photo of the pie before it went into the oven. Making the dough was very simple - 1.5 cups starter, 1.5 cups flour, some olive oil and a pinch of salt. No commercial yeast was used anywhere. I mixed everything together and then kneaded it by hand, shaped it into a ball and let it sit covered for about an hour (I'm thinking all this kneading is excellent practice for the pushup challenge - bakers must have arms like Hercules). Then I pressed the dough out, tossed and spun it into shape and rubbed it with extra virgin olive oil. The toppings were mushroom, red onion, grilled chicken and spinach, with mozzarella and feta. I did not use any tomato sauce. Popped it into a 450F oven for 15 minutes and hey presto.

Here it is resting on the peel before slicing. It made the house smell delicious and brought back really good memories of our time in Greece.

I gave the remainder of the starter another feed and it's bubbling away very vigorously at the moment - a healthy sign. I was going to refrigerate it, but I'm thinking I may proof it again in the morning and make some more bread tomorrow night. I am so happy I finally managed to cultivate it.

For those of you who are interested in trying it yourself, there are many resources for sourdough starters on the internet but I found success with this one (it's also one of the easiest). The pizza dough recipe I got here. The rest of the pizza came out of my own head. For general bread information, you couldn't find a better place to start than here (hint : their pita bread recipe is excellent). Happy baking.

Pushup Challenge : week 1 day 1

Plan : 10, 10, 8, 6, at least 7
Actual : 10, 10, 8, 6, 20

Started out the pushup challenge this morning after my run. I know at least a few of you have told me you're going to do it too, so let me know how you're getting on and we can pull each other through. I plan on making my pushup days Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Everything felt pretty good this morning, but I know the program ramps up pretty quickly so we'll see how it goes.

Yesterday was the memorial run for Rick Gastelum, a club member and ultrarunner who died in a flash flood during a night run on the greenbelt a year ago. About 10 of us met up at the hill of life and ran to spyglass where we met up with another group, making about 25 people in total. We all ran/walked to the spot Rick's body was found. It is a secluded place off the main trail, and some club members had erected a memorial - a large cross with his name and a photo. It was very moving. I never knew Rick, but I wish I had - many people spoke about him with a lot of affection.

I fell in with Ryan and Carl for much of this run. They are both really strong runners and we pushed a good pace throughout. Carl is another Welsh guy I met on a Saturday morning run a few months back, and I know Ryan from the Rocky Hill Ranch race. I managed to get in a good 14 miles, which I was happy with and was not tempted to go back for more.

Then this morning I was supposed to meet up with some folks to do a hilly road run at 5am, but I overslept and missed it - whoops. I did show up for the trail portion of the run at 7am and got a lot of stick for my non-appearance. We did a double Ken's loop and it was hot, humid and still. Did the second loop with Gabe and Henry and we had a good time - it was the last big weekend of running for both of them before the Headlands 100, which looks like a really nice race. Maybe one for next year?

In completely unrelated news, I made a loaf of "son of the bitch" bread last night from my sourdough starter. This starter has been a lot more successful than my other one, and the bread was very flavorful. I reproofed the rest of the starter and fed it some more this morning to make pizza dough for tonight. The remainder will be fed again and refrigerated. I will post pictures later.

And finally, a quick mention of cricket, the official summer sport of us Brits. I've been listening to the England v South Africa test match on the internet. Just when we thought England were coasting to victory, the South African batsmen put up a real fight to save the game. This is good test match cricket, and I like the South Africans - they have some interesting characters.

The Sock Crusade

I ran Ken's loop this morning and the ankle felt a lot better. I still babied it on the majority of the trail, but it felt much stronger and I was a lot more confident in trusting it. However, I have discovered a very worrying situation - my running socks are being kidnapped. Yes that's right, innocent wicking foot servants are being systematically and ruthlessly taken from my sock drawer never to return. I have yet to receive a ransom note, but what else could it possibly be? I struggled to find a pair to run in this morning and I have no idea where they have all gone.

For years I did all my road running in Ultimax Ironman socks and loved them - zero blisters. But I have discovered that some corrosive element inherent in trail running makes these beloved old warriors very brittle and I have torn at least three pair in the last few months. So I have been experimenting with Injinji Tetrasoks (the ones with the toes) instead. I have heard a lot of good things about them but I don't know if I like them or not, so this morning I browsed the Running Warehouse (one of my favorite online running stores) and bought a selection of different types of sock to try out. The great sock experiment - I will let you know how it goes.

And while I was browsing, I found a great deal on trail shoes at the Sierra Trading Post. Their Montrail Hardrocks and Vasque Velocity shoes were on closeout, there was an extra 20% off for July 4th weekend, and I found a coupon for an additional 15% off that. Result - I ended up with two pairs of really good trail shoes for around $90. I've been running in Hardrocks for a while, but I've been wanting to try out the Vasque Velocities for less technical trail, so I will get to play with them too.

And finally, some good news from the great sourdough experiment - the bitch is bubbling. I didn't expect to find any activity so soon, but took a peek this morning and those lovely little yeast seem to be having a burp party. Not getting too carried away in case it's a false fermentation, but I'm very hopeful of success.

Growing a new pet

"Walking the new pet" while enjoying another yeast-based product

Late last year I started experimenting with making a Sourdough starter from scratch. Basically the idea was to create an environment that is conducive to capturing wild yeast and then helping it grow and multiply. Once alive and thriving, the starter can be fed and used as a sponge for making sourdough breads, pizza crusts, pancakes etc etc. It's amazing that "starter" cultures have lived and been maintained for hundreds of years. My prior efforts failed when we went to the UK for three weeks over Christmas and forgot all about it.

So today I decided to try again. The initial "recipe" is simple enough - 1 cup of bread flour and 1 cup of warm water. Store in a plastic or glass container in a warm place (do not use metal containers or cutlery). Every day for about the first week throw out half the mixture and add back in 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of flour. I have dubbed this process "feeding the bitch" (it's just like having a pet). If I've done it right, after 2 or 3 days I should start to see a lot of bubbles and notice a pleasant, sour, "beer-like" smell. At that point I will move it to the fridge and feed it once a week until it's needed (I'll cover the "proofing" process if I ever get there).

This is a picture of the starter just after mixing - the surface is pretty smooth with no signs of activity. Hopefully that will soon change. I'm going to store it loosely covered on the kitchen bar and see what happens. Nancy says I can't keep referring to my new pet as "the bitch", so any suggestions for another name are welcome.

And finally, after posting yesterday's blog entry which highlighted the cultural, intellectual and historical significance of the Welsh, I came across this. I think I need some more wine :-)