As summer slowly fades to autumn, we are found in one of the busiest times of the year here on our off-grid homestead. Central Texas provides us with a fall gardening season and so many days this time of year you can find us planting kale seedlings, direct-seeding carrots and beets, picking dried beans, and preparing firewood for winter.
It’s also a time of year when I return to sourdough baking. The summer heat fading to the background, we can all breathe again and I am able to tend to things like kefir, kraut, and sourdough with regularity.
One of the great tragedies of sourdough baking, in my opinion, is allowing “discarded” starter to go to waste. I find it useful in feeding a husband who spent his day wielding a shovel, three children whose bellies are always in need of filling, and a nursing Mama who nourishes and needs to be nourished.
And so I put my discarded starter to work, most often in the form of sourdough pancakes, but sometimes as crackers, fritters, and these crepes. Because it requires no additional flour, the grains are fully fermented and don’t weigh us down after a meal, when we need that energy for keeping up with the chickens or the children.
Another tragedy of sourdough baking, again, in my opinion, is the under utilizatsorghum molassesion of rye. There is nothing light and airy about 100% rye breads, but even those who are turned off by a dense loaf can utilize rye in things like crepes, pancakes, and snack breads.
I love the deep and vast history of the usage of this grain, the nutty flavor and nutritional density it lends, and the relative ease it puts on the pocket book and digestive systems of those unable to eat wheat.
Sorghum Molasses
A perfect compliment to the rye and apples is sorghum molasses, a sweetener that comes not from sugar cane as we are familiar with, but a variety of "sweet sorghum" which is cousin to grain sorghum. It is made by cooking the juice from the stalk of the Sorghum plant into a sweet, thick syrup. Somewhere in flavor between molasses and honey, it contains nutrients such as iron, calcium, and potassium.
And combined with butter and apples, it makes a caramel apple-like filling for these delicious and simple crepes.
Where to Find Sorghum Molasses
Sorghum molasses can be found all across the southern United States, as well as in many health food stores. You can also find Amish-made sorghum molasses here.
Sourdough Rye Crepes with Sorghum-Cinnamon Apples
Ingredients
- For the Crepes
- 3 eggs
- 1 ½ cups sourdough starter
- ¼ teaspoon finely ground real salt
- ¼ cup whole milk
- 3 tablespoons butter plus extra for the pan
- 1 tablespoon sorghum molasses available here
- ½ teaspoon ground ceylon cinnamon
- For the Apples
- ¼ cup butter
- 2 large apples cored and sliced thin
- 2 tablespoons of sorghum molasses
- Pinch finely ground real salt
- ½ teaspoon ground ceylon cinnamon
Instructions
- Place a 10" cast-iron skillet over medium heat.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk the eggs. Add the sourdough starter, sea salt, milk, melted butter, sorghum molasses, and cinnamon and whisk well to combine.
- Once the cast-iron skillet is pre-heated, add a teaspoon of butter and allow to melt. Quickly pour half of a soup ladle full of crepe batter into the pan in a swirled circle pattern, starting in the center of the pan. Grab the skillet handle with a gloved hand or hotpad and tilt the pan in a circular motion, allowing the batter to form a thin, circle on the bottom of the pan.
- Allow to cook 3-4 minutes, or until the edges are completely dry and the center is firm, and carefully slide a spatula beneath the crepe. Carefully flip and allow to cook 3 more minutes. Move cooked crepes to a waiting plate.
- Continue cooking remaining crepes, adding a teaspoon of cooking fat before each one.
- Once all of the crepes are cooked, add 4 Tablespoons of butter to the pan and allow to melt before adding the sliced apples. Cook for several minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Spoon in the sorghum molasses and sprinkle over the salt and cinnamon. Stir and cook for 3-5 minutes, or until the apples are just starting to soften and the butter-sorghum mixture has coated the apples in a caramel-like sauce.
- To serve, layout two crepes per person and divide the apples amongst the plates. Roll up and drizzle the syrup in the pan over the crepes.
Shannon is a home cook, fermentation enthusiast, homesteader, and sustainable food advocate. She has written two seasonal cookbooks, writes the real food and sustainability blog Nourishing Days, and works as Blog Editor and Content Writer for Cultures for Health. She lives on an off-grid homestead with her husband and four young children.
