Quick mushroom sauce made from dried and fresh mushrooms thickened with sourdough

The best mushroom sauce for me is this creamy mushroom sauce from my grandmother.

Besides being very quick, it's a little holiday in our house. Every time I make this mushroom sauce, I'm taken back in time to my childhood Sunday lunches. And because I love using up leftover sourdough , this creamy version was created, which in my opinion makes it the best mushroom sauce ever.

This creamy sauce with my grandmother's potato pancakes fried in lard is absolutely delicious. But if you're pressed for time, potato gnocchi also goes great with this mushroom soup.

This mushroom sauce thickened with yeast is simply the best mushroom sauce in the world, and I agree with you. I want to share this rare recipe .

Recipe for mushroom sauce with cream

Servings: 3–4

Ingredients:

50 g dried mushrooms
250 g fresh mushrooms, sliced (boletes are best)
80 g onion
2 tablespoons lard
500 ml of water
250 ml whipping cream (minimum 33%)
35 g yeast (heaped spoon)
10 allspice balls
3 bay leaves
1 teaspoon whole or crushed cumin
1–2 tablespoons vinegar
salt
freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons soup seasoning (can be replaced with 1 cube of Masox)
thyme for garnish

Procedure:

1) Place the dried mushrooms in a bowl, pour 250 ml of boiling water over them and leave them to soften for 20-30 minutes. Then drain them and set the infusion aside.

2) Finely chop the onion and fry in a pan with lard until translucent. Add salt, cumin, pepper and sliced fresh mushrooms. Fry for 5-10 minutes until the mushrooms are soft and golden. Add the drained dried mushrooms and fry briefly.

3) Add the dried mushroom extract and the remaining 250 ml of water. Season with salt, pepper, homemade soup seasoning, bay leaf and allspice and let the mushroom mixture simmer gently for 10 minutes.

4) Meanwhile, mix the yeast in a little water, pour into the sauce, stir and let it bubble for another 10–15 minutes.

5) Remove the bay leaf and allspice from the mushroom sauce. Add the cream, let it bubble briefly and season with vinegar. If the sauce seems a little thick, you can add a spoonful of flour mixed with cream to the sauce.

And that's it. Serve this best mushroom sauce ideally with my grandmother's potato pancakes baked in lard, Italian gnocchi (read gnocchi) or fresh bread. Garnish with fresh thyme.

What to look out for with mushroom sauce

Dried mushrooms deserve time – the liquid from them is the basis of the mushroom sauce's flavor, so please don't throw it away.

Using kvass guarantees that the result will be the ultimate creamy mushroom sauce, which will also gain a pleasant sourness and naturally thicken. Just be careful that the kvass is not old or too acidic. It could overpower the flavor of the mushrooms in the sauce.

Sauté the fresh mushrooms until golden brown, otherwise this best mushroom sauce won't have the right depth and will be more like a bland mushroom sauce.

And the potato pancakes? Don't bake them too far in advance, so they're really fresh for the mushroom sauce. They're crispiest right after being baked in lard, and they go perfectly with this sauce. And you know what they say - the best sauce is always the next day. That's also true of this best mushroom sauce - even in the creamy version with kvass.