The Pancake Saga Part IX

This has been a busy pancake week.  My sister came to visit and we had pancakes at least three times while she's been here.  The first time was the most sourdoughy I've made and my wife was a fan.  What I tried that made the difference.  This time instead of using 1 teaspoon of soda I used 1/4 and I made enough for another adult so the batch size was bigger.

The problem.  Less soda=less fluffy.  So I'm getting more sour but the fluff is going down.  I've also started getting up, adding all of the ingredients, egg and sugar and then placing in a warm spot while I take a shower.  This is similar to the concept when making sourdough bread when you add the flour and let it sit for an hour before making the dough and letting it leaven.  My thought is that the 30-45 min from adding sugar (high energy) until I cook the cakes should energize the yeast.  I'm not sure if it's worked as I haven't repeated the process.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to take my sister to Sam's Sourdough Cafe and I tried to eek their secret out of the waitress with the resulting comment of "it's complicated".  Perhaps if I eat enough pancakes there, they will have sympathy.  Then again I think I may have stumbled on the solution but I won't mention it until I've tried it.

Until next time.

Jumping Right In

Over the past few weeks in particular, since arriving in Fairbanks and getting settled--a term I use loosely as we have been here for a month and a half and are still living off everything out of our travel trailer since we have not yet received our household goods shipment--we have been diving right in to life in Interior Alaska: sourdough starter, berry picking, fresh rhubarb from the garden, and many fun new experiences and events.  These new experiences for us, especially the failures and triumphs in the kitchen, have inspired me to start this journal of our journey to become sourdough.

Many of you may be asking yourselves, "what in the world does it mean to be 'sourdough'?"  During our first month here, we lived in the Alaska Heritage House Bed & Breakfast, the former home of Mary Lee Davis, who authored several books about life in Alaska.  It was there, talking with the proprietor one day, that we ourselves were first introduced to the term as she explained the difference between a Sourdough and a Cheechako.  A few days later, thumbing through Davis' book, "Sourdough Gold," my husband found her definition of what it means to be a Sourdough.

54°40'  North is the southernmost border between Alaska and British Columbia, a fact I, admittedly, had to look up as I wrote this.  Fairbanks sits at 64°50', Anchorage is at 61°13', Juneau is at 58°26', and Ketchikan, the southernmost city in Alaska, is at 55°21'.  As newcomers to this last frontier, we are, in the words of the locals, Cheechakos.  Merriam-Webster online actually has an entry for the word and defines "cheechako" as "tenderfoot--used chiefly in Alaska."  

I hope you enjoy watching our journey from Cheechakos to Sourdoughs as much as we have been enjoying being on it.  We've only just begun.