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Strawberry shortcake and cherry clafoutis!

Last year was yet another attempt to get strawberries to grow in my garden.

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Due to the heat (and my unfortunate decision to place my garden beds in direct sunlight, as recommended by all the books), my plants struggled. Thankfully, I decided to stick an extra one in a shady spot right next to my house—this one is thriving.

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This year we finally have a bushel of strawberries, and I'll tell you, there's nothing like a home-grown strawberry. The problem is it's tough not to eat them straight off the plant in the garden...

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With whatever berries we can save, I'm going to put them to good use this weekend with some freshly made sourdough starter discard drop biscuits. This is such an easy and delicious recipe!

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Read on!

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In this week's newsletter:

• Recipes: Sourdough discard shortcake, clafoutis, pane Siciliano
• Baking Tip: How to revive a sluggish starter
• What I'm Reading and Watching: Transforming an old wartime buoy into a roaring hot pizza oven

🍓 Strawberry shortcake with sourdough biscuits

This is perhaps the best way to use strawberries! Use your discard to whip up a few easy drop biscuits, whip some cream, and you're already there to an incredible dessert.

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GET SHORTCAKE RECIPE →

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🍞 Sourdough clafoutis

Another fantastic way to put any berries or stone fruit to good use, this clafoutis comes together in minutes.

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If you have some crème fraîche, it would be fantastic on top, too.

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GET CLAFOUTIS RECIPE →

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🍞 Pane Siciliano

This is an excellent bread for lighter sandwiches, especially as the temperatures start to climb. It's fantastic as a BLT (once tomatoes arrive), but also delicious as a tuna or chicken salad sandwich.

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GET SICILIANO RECIPE →

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💬 Member Discussion of the Week

Try feeding it with a bit of whole-grain rye flour for a few days. Those temps are good and promote high fermentation activity. It might also just be the flour you're using; sometimes, when you get a new batch, it won't rise as high, and that's okay. I don't usually judge strength or readiness by height.

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🛟 2 Ways I Can Help You Today

• I recently talked with a reader about how to top bread dough and what toppings work well. See my guide to adding seeds, nuts, cereals, and more to bread dough.
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• See how I feed my starter to keep it strong and healthy (even when it's hot outside).

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📙 What I'm Reading and Watching

• ​Buoy, what a life (WSU Mag). On my recent baking trip to Chimacum, Washington, we got a chance to make wood-fired pizza in an old ocean buoy, much like the one in this article. What a clever way to reuse something that might otherwise go to the scrap heap (and it made excellent pizza!).

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Until next week, happy baking!

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Maurizio Leo