I originally hadn’t intended to share more than one mother dough during the 8th Annual Sourdough Month in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. But I’ve been playing with a second dough recipe this year that received such accolades when I shared it with friends and family that I couldn’t sit on it until next January. What started as a homemade yeast dough recipe that I then converted for sourdough was popular not just with sourdough lovers but also with those who grew up eating pop-can dough baked into crescent rolls.

I wasn’t one of those kids. When I was young, the only time we twisted open a can of poppin’ fresh dough was around a campfire, where it was a special treat to wrap it around a thick stick, hold it over the open flame until it baked and browned on the outside, and then slide it off and fill the finger-size gap left in its center with jam or cheese. So my memories of the flavor of store-bought crescent roll dough are overpowered by the smell of woodsmoke and a taste closer to wood-fired pizza. I was quite prepared to shape my Sourdough Brioche Dough into crescents and leave it at that.

When my taste testers compared crescent rolls baked with brioche mother dough and ones baked with the soft, slightly sweeter mother dough in this week’s column, both were deemed delicious but the latter was clearly closer to their crescent-style expectations. But that’s the beauty of these mother dough recipes: either one can be shaped into dinner rolls, burger buns, crescents, and more.

Learn more about baking with mother dough and get the complete recipe for Sourdough Crescent Rolls in my column.

You’ll need sourdough starter for my mother dough recipes. I’ve teamed up with other fermenters to share sourdough starter, scoby, kefir grains, and more through the Sharing fermented starters Facebook group. Join us in sharing the love of fermentation by becoming a member of the group and offering or requesting starters.

If you’re not a Facebook user, you can contact me with your request for sourdough starter. For a more personal project, learn to make sourdough starter from scratch. Once you start baking, be sure to share your creations.

Make it, share it.
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Twice as Tasty

We’ve been baking so much bread this month that it’s high time I shared some of my favorite recipes that pair well with sourdough. You can take the flavor of these rich, sweet doughs further by covering them in homemade jam or coating them in batter for French toast. I tend to offset them with savory flavors. Split a roll or bun and pile on poached eggs with fresh vegetables and Small-Batch Hollandaise. Turn brioche loaf slices or a bun into a sandwich stuffed with Apple-Sweetened Yellow Onions and Gravlax (Salt-Cured Salmon). Or simply pair crescent rolls with a savory spread and Homemade Farmer’s Cheese.

Here are just a few other recipes on the blog that I particularly enjoy with sourdough brioche or crescent dough bakes. You can find more in the recipe index.

• 30-Minute Tomato Soup
• Arugula Salad with Asparagus and Shaved Parmesan
• Black Bean Veggie Burgers
• Grilled Portobello Mushrooms
• Smoked-Beet Sandwiches
• Three-Egg Omelet

My inspiration for sourdough crescent rolls came from an article I wrote for the Taste of Home website. If sourdough’s tanginess takes you too far from the pillowy, yeasty rolls of your memories, give the recipe in this article a try instead. You can find more of my work off the blog here.

Need starter? Join the Sharing fermented starters Facebook group to request sourdough starter, scoby, kefir grains, and more, any time of year. If you are not a Facebook user, contact me by January 31, 2025, with your request for sourdough starter.