Whole Wheat Sourdough Beignets Fried in Olive Oil

Lessons from a beach walk early this morning: a small miracle it is when surgical residents, fragile shells, survive the rough tumble of training onto the shore of their careers unbroken. Near impossible, I’d say, to ever find one intact. There is beauty, however, in a lustrous fragment of what once must have been a stunning set of angel wings, or an opalescent scallop—to imagine the whole of it out in the ocean, before the waves, bobbing among fish and kelp—and now, to think whose hands elsewhere carry the other pieces of it.

  

I didn’t elect to make whole wheat beignets fried in olive oil because they were a healthier alternative, though I wish I could claim that kind of righteousness. I made these because I had a liter of olive oil and 5lb of whole wheat flour I didn’t want to pack in my suitcase to take home when I leave Florida for New Orleans the middle of this week. I always thought olive oil would make these taste bad—so wrong!! I’ll never use canola again.

Whole Wheat Sourdough Beignets

Adapted from Dessert For Two

½ cup sourdough starter

1.5 TB butter

1 TB sugar

3 TB whole milk

1 large egg white

3 TB boiling water

1¼ cups whole wheat flour

2 cups olive oil (or however much makes an inch or two in whatever size pan you use to fry)

1 cup powdered sugar

Combine the butter, sugar, milk, and egg white in a small cup. Whisk together well, then add the boiling water. Add the sourdough starter and mix together. Add the flour to the bowl, and stir gently to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for several hours.

Heat an inch of oil in a pot on the stove.

Meanwhile, divide the dough in half, and roll it out on a floured counter into a square about 6″ wide. Use a pizza wheel to cut it into 5 or 6 squares.

When the oil is hot and shimmering (I didn’t have a thermometer, but be careful because olive oil has a low burning point) drop in 3 square of dough. Do not walk away. The first side fries for 1-2 minutes. When golden brown on one side, flip the squares using a fork and continue to fry.

When that side is golden brown (about 1 minute more), remove from the oil onto a cooling rack lined with paper towels.

Roll out the other half of the dough, cut into squares, and fry all the squares.

Sprinkle the beignets with powdered sugar. Serve with all the extra powdered sugar piled on top.

Haiku #17

January sun

Shines for the girl whose soul froze

Of hospital bite.

As featured in Sourdough Surprises www.sourdoughsurprises.blogspot.com