OK, when I started my written ramblings in a recent post about rhubarb muffins, I stated that I wasn’t particularly enamored with either muffins or coffee cake because I often found them too dry. But in my quest to supply you with a superfluity of recipes that contain a sourdough starter, I stumbled upon some recipes for sourdough coffee cake. So I gave out a loud sigh, bit the bullet, and cobbled this recipe together.

Now in all honesty, I wasn’t expecting very much from this venture. But surprise, surprise. This coffee cake is one of the best baked goods I have ever made. It’s moist, delicious, crunchy, not too sweet, and just about everything you could ask for in a breakfast treat. And yes, I like to make our breakfasts as delicious and well planned out as our dinners. I enjoy changing things up a bit every morning by serving a variety of breakfast meats (not all in the same meal you realize), Greek yogurt, homemade granola or cereal, different kinds of home-baked items containing gluten, and fresh fruit. We almost always have an over-easy egg, but that’s about the only constant at the Carr breakfast table. I just happen to believe it’s important to start the day with a hearty and delicious breakfast. Kind of sets the tone for the whole day.

Anyway, my point is that breakfast is important. That variety, even at the breakfast table when all in attendance might not even be fully awake yet, can make a difference in setting their (and your own) mood meter on positive rather than towards the other end of the scale. I’m not saying that everything will be perfect if you serve your family a nice breakfast. But it sure as heck can’t hurt!

So to all of you for whom breakfast is your responsibility, I salute you. It’s not easy being creative when you’re still half asleep. I know. When I was a single working mom, with three kids to feed, a hot breakfast was on the table every weekday morning promptly at 7:15 a.m. OK, it wasn’t fancy, but it was hot and nourishing. And it was a constant in my kid’s lives. And that was very important. Mom = love = safety = food = shelter = emotional security. (BTW, I did feed the kids breakfast on weekends too. They were just more elaborate meals and served much later than 7:15 in the stinkin’ morning!)

As always, keep fixing great food for yourself and your family, keep trying new recipes, and don’t forget to take time out for yourself whenever you get the opportunity. You deserve a break as much as anyone. Probably even more when it comes right down to it!  

Topping:

4 tsp. unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ c. brown sugar, packed

unsalted butter (I cut off the third cup of butter I need for the coffee cake batter, and simply use the rest of the stick for this topping.)  

½ c. chopped walnuts

Using your fingers, mix all of the topping ingredients together. Set aside while you prepare the cake batter.

Coffee Cake:

1 c. sourdough starter discard, room temperature

1/3 c. semi-melted butter (I only nuke until some of the butter has melted and the rest is just very, very soft.)

1 egg  

½ tsp. vanilla

1 c. unbleached all-purpose flour (remember to fluff the flour)

½ c. granulated sugar

¼ c. brown sugar, packed

½ tsp. kosher salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg

Whisk the sourdough starter, semi-melted butter, egg, and vanilla together. Whisk the flour, sugars, salt, soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg together. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, just until combined. Scoop dough into a lightly greased 9-inch square or 11×7-inch rectangular pan. Even off the top as much as possible. Sprinkle topping evenly over the batter.

Bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. (A toothpick stuck into the coffee cake should come out clean.) Do not overbake. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack before serving. Warm slightly if serving the next day.

A note about sourdough starters:

There is a lot of information about sourdough starters on line these days. Great information, but some of it paints a sourdough starter as just a little too precious for me to handle. I’m of the KISS (Keep It Simple Sister) principle. Especially since I only use my starter 2 or 3 times a week. I consider a sourdough starter as simply an ingredient, not an honored guest in my home. Yes it must be fed regularly because it contains living fungus – Saccharomyces cerevisiae. (At least my starter does, because I used active dry yeast to start my starter.) But feeding it twice daily as some references would suggest? Not this kid. Plus I insist that I be able to use my sourdough starter any old time I want, regardless of whether it has been recently “fed” or has happily been residing in my refrigerator for the last 7 days!

So most of my recipes, like this one, are based on a very liquidy, not just fed starter (often referred to as “discard”) that has come straight from the fridge. In this recipe however, please allow the starter to come to room temperature before adding other ingredients.