These sourdough buns are quick to make and a great way to use up your discard when you don't want to wait for your bread. The buns are soft, fully of tangy cottage cheese and sourdough flavor, and studded with bright green pieces of snipped fresh chives (it's okay to substitute chopped green onions, if you don't have chives). You can make the buns in a muffin tin in the regular oven, if you'd like (bake them at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes), but I like to make the buns in the air fryer. Instead of a muffin tin, I use small ceramic ramekins, which fit well in the air fryer basket and make the finished buns look a little like mini-souffles. You can also just drop the dough/batter onto parchment paper for a more free-form bun. Although simple to make and requiring fairly common ingredients, the warm buns are addictive. Try them with or without butter alongside a salad or soup. The buns also are great for breakfast and reheat well in the air fryer. Enjoy!
Sourdough Cottage Cheese and Chive Buns -- Makes about 8
1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup of white whole-wheat flour (or use regular wheat or all-purpose flour)
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of sugar
1/3 cup of canola oil
1/2 cup of cottage cheese (I use 1 percent, and it's fine)
1/3 - 1/2 cup of snipped/chopped fresh chives
1 cup of sourdough starter/discard
In the food processor or large bowl combine the flours, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Drizzle in the canola oil and process it in for a few pulses (or mix it into the flour in the bowl). Pulse/mix in the cottage cheese and chives until combined. Pulse/mix in the sourdough starter/discard until combined. You will have a very damp/wet dough. Spritz 8-10 small ramekins (depending on the size of the ramekins) with non-stick cooking spray. Divide the dough among the ramekins. Put 3-4 ramekins in your air fryer basket, put the basket in the air fryer, and air fry the buns at 360 degrees for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown on top and firm to the touch. Remove the ramekins from the air fryer basket to cool and repeat the cooking process with the remaining dough. When the ramekins are cool enough to handle, remove the buns to cool completely. You also can bake the dough without ramekins. Just drop about 2 tablespoons of dough on small pieces of baking parchment paper, put the dough-topped parchment in your air fryer basket, and air fry the buns at 360 degrees for about 15 minutes.
