After refreshing my starter in preparation for baking, there is usually some left over starter that gets discarded. Today I thought that it might be useful to make English muffins directly from the mature starter. It was just an experiment as I only had about 130 grams of starter (100% hydration) to discard.
I prepared my cast iron griddle and muffin rings just as you would ordinarily for making Englis muffins and allowed everything to heat up on a medium low flame. Meanwhile, I took the starter and added 1/4 tsp. baking soda and 1/4 tsp. salt dispersed in 1 tsp. water. I gave it a few stirs to mix and waited for the griddle to heat. I sprayed the griddle and rings with oil and dusted well with corn meal, then poured/scraped each English muffin ring about half full of starter and covered the griddle with a lid. I let them bake about four minutes and then turned to bake anouther 4 or 5 minutes on the other side. The result was quite good. The muffins had a good open crumb as an Englis muffin should and the taste was great. The experimental muffins were better than the recipe I use when I am trying to make Englis muffins. Next time I think I'll try to have even more 'excess' starter to make a bigger batch.
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Even though I'm not making a sourdough, I use excess sourdough starter (up to 10%) when I'm making other yeast dough items. Also use it in quick bread baking (corn bread, biscuits, pancakes, waffles) etc.