SOURDOUGH BANANA MUFFIN RECIPE

The two constants in my kitchen are overripe bananas and excess sourdough starter. I prefer banana muffins to their denser companion, banana bread, which I always struggle to cook through. Plus, these are easy to freeze and then thaw individually when you need a sweet treat for breakfast!

Recipe yields 12 muffins.

MUFFIN INGREDIENTS

• 3 overripe bananas (about 400g)​
• 4 tablespoons (60g) melted butter
• 1/4 cup (60g) yogurt or sour cream (or more butter)
• 1 cup (250g) ripe sourdough starter
• 2 eggs (about 100g)
• 3/4 cup (175g) brown sugar
• 2 cups (225 - 275g) whole wheat flour*
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• 1/4 tsp allspice
• 1/2 cup (125g) walnuts

STREUSEL INGREDIENTS

• 4 tbsp (60g) melted butter
• 3/4 cup (95g) all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (115g) brown sugar
• 1 tbsp cinnamon

​For a dairy-free alternative, replace the butter and sour cream with vegetable oil, and use 1/2 cup honey in the streusel instead of the butter and brown sugar.

SOURDOUGH BANANA MUFFIN PROCESS
 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease or line your muffin tin.
2. To start the muffin batter, mix together the flour, spices, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a separate bowl.
3. Mash up the browned bananas in a medium to large mixing bowl. Using a fork works just fine!
4. Add the butter, sour cream or yogurt, brown sugar, sourdough starter, and eggs to the mashed bananas, and mix thoroughly if mixing by hand, or for 1 1/2-2 minutes if in a mixer.
5. Mix in the dry ingredients until no dry bits remain.
6. Fold in the walnuts.
7. To start the streusel topping, mix together the flour, brown sugar, and cinnamon.
8. Add the melted butter and mix together with a fork until chunks of streusel emerge. If it's too paste-like, add more flour, starting with 1 tsp and working your way up in small increments. If it's too dry, do the same with more melted butter.
9. Ladle the muffin batter into your pre-greased or lined pan, filling nearly to the top.
10. Sprinkle the streusel liberally on top.
11. Bake for 18 - 22 minutes, checking halfway through to spin the pan if your oven is anything like mine.

*Updated on 6/13: home-milled whole wheat flour is much lighter than store bought, so this range was updated after some more recipe testing with both kinds of whole wheat flour.

OLIVE AND HERB SOURDOUGH RECIPE

This olive and herb sourdough is packed with salty, herby flavor, plus a subtle nuttiness from whole spelt flour. It even entranced me, a firm olive hater. I'm still far from an olive advocate, but after baking this bread for my olive-loving partner for a few years now, I finally see the merits of this briney fruit.

LEVAIN

• 15g ripe sourdough starter
• 30g wholegrain rye flour (I use Migrash Farm's Rye No. 18 or home-milled rye from Castle Valley Mills; can be substituted for wholegrain wheat flour of bread flour, if needed)
• 30g bread flour
• 60g water

FINAL DOUGH

• 135g levain (from above)
• 260g water
• 265g bread flour (I use a mix of King Arthur's Sir Lancelot and Migrash Farm's Hard Redeemer Wheat No. 60)
• 110g wholegrain spelt flour (I use home-milled spelt from Migrash Farms; this can be substituted with wholegrain wheat flour or bread flour, if needed)
• 110g rinsed and pitted olives (Use your favorite variety or varieties; I use Kalamata or Picholine or a mix of the two)
• 10g herbes de Provence (or a blend of savory, thyme, rosemary, basil, tarragon, marjoram, and oregano)
• 7g salt (non-iodized kosher or sea salt is best)

OLIVE AND HERB SOURDOUGH BAKER'S PERCENTAGES (a universal, slightly more technical way to share recipes that is well explained here, but you can also just ignore this)

​LEVAIN
100 percent hydration
50 percent rye
50 percent bread flour
25 percent ripe starter (aka 1:4 ratio)

TOTAL DOUGH FORMULA
73 percent hydration (15 percent pre-fermented in levain)
67.5 percent bread flour (7.5 percent pre-fermented in levain)
25 percent spelt flour
25 percent olives
7.5 percent rye flour (pre-fermented in levain)
2 percent herbes de Provence
1.5 percent salt

EQUIPMENT

• Medium bowl
• Large bowl
• Dutch oven, oven-safe pot, or a baking sheet plus cast iron pan or other oven-safe pan
• Scale
• Bench knife (optional, but helpful for shaping)
• Banneton (optional, but helpful for proofing)
• Parchment paper (optional)

OLIVE AND HERB SOURDOUGH PROCESS

MIXING

Evening

1. Weigh out 15g of ripe sourdough starter in a medium bowl.
2. Add 60g of water (room temperature or slightly chillier), 30g of wholegrain rye flour and 30g of bread flour, and mix well.
3. Cover loosely with a lid or tea towel, and let rise at room temperature overnight (about 8 hours) in a cool spot.

Morning

1. In a wide bowl (or in a mixing bowl, if you have both a mixer and a dough hook), weigh out 260g of water. Your levain should have some nice air bubbles, have doubled in size, and pass the float test. Scrape your levain into the bowl and break it up in the water. 
2. Weigh out 265g of bread flour, 110g of wholegrain spelt flour, and 7g of salt, and add to the bowl. 
3. Mix together thoroughly, until all the flour is hydrated and there are no clumps remaining. You can perform a series of "slap and fold" kneads in the bowl to give the dough some initial strength.
4. Perform a set of folds in your bowl by grabbing the underside of the dough, stretching it out one way (but not allowing it to tear), and folding it over on itself. Rotate the bowl and do this in each direction for a total of four folds. Cover the bowl and let rest for 1 hour.
5. Sprinkle 10g of herbes de Provence and 110g of olives over the top of your dough, and work them into the dough by squeezing gently and performing a set of folds. Let rest for 1 hour.
6. Repeat the folds two more times, over two more hours. Over the course of the folds, the dough should become stronger, more elastic, and smoother. If it still seems floppy or too sticky, increase your final folds to four instead of two, at 30-minute intervals instead of 1-hour intervals.

Afternoon

1. Four hours after you mixed your dough, and one hour after your last set of folds, flour your countertop or table to begin shaping.
2. Preshape your dough by gently pressing down on the dough and stretching it into a rectangle. Stretch out a corner of the dough and fold it into the center. Use a bench knife to scrape the dough off the surface if it's sticking, and reflour. Repeat with each corner, until you have a little package of dough, and then roll it over. Let it rest for 10-15 minutes.
3. Final shape your dough into a batard, first by turning the preshape over so the smooth, floured side is facing down and brushing off excess flour. Lightly press the dough out into a rectangle, and fold the bottom two corners up and into the center, like a bicycle seat. Roll/fold the dough over on itself, starting with the slimmer bottom and working up to the far end. Tuck the outer tails in and stitch up the seam if needed.
4. If you have a banneton, lightly flour it (using rice flour is best, but all-purpose will do too; just flour more liberally if using AP) and place the batard into it with the smooth side facing down. If you're using a different vessel or surface for proofing, cover it with a sheet of parchment paper and place the dough on the parchment with the smooth side facing up. Let proof on the counter for 30 minutes to an hour, then store in the fridge for the night or preheat your oven for baking.

BAKING

1. The next day, preheat your oven to 475 F for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, place an oven safe pot, Dutch oven, or combo cooker in the oven to preheat for the final 30 minutes, with the lid on. If you don’t have a sufficient oven-safe container, you can put a pot or kettle of water on to boil and place a cast iron pan or other high-heat stable pan (not glass) on the bottom rack of your oven. 
2. Remove your dough from the fridge and your Dutch oven from the oven. Take off the lid, and, if you used a banneton, turn it over to let the bread slide gently out onto the bottom of the pot or onto the baking sheet. If you proofed your bread on parchment, pick up the sides of the parchment while wearing oven mitts and gently transfer it to your baking surface. Score the top of the loaf with a quick, decisive, and long slash, using a razor blade, a sharp knife, or even a box cutter. 
3. Place the lid on your pot, if using, and put it into the oven. Without a pot, place the sheet or pan on the second rack of the oven. Carefully pour the boiling water into the cast iron pan to create steam, while wearing oven mitts to protect your hands. 
4. Bake for 20 minutes, and then remove the lid of your pot or remove your steam-making pan. Bake for 10 minutes, rotate the loaf 180 degrees, and then bake for 10 to 15 more minutes, until the crust is golden and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped. If you have a thermometer, the center of the bread should register a temperature of 200.
5. Remove the bread from the pot to cool. Wait at least two hours before slicing!