Basic French Bread Batards — New Boulangerie Parisienne Starter 

You will need freshly fed sourdough starter, bread flour, sea salt, sugar, food oil and a small amount of cornmeal for dusting pans.

Liquids:

350 grams (1-1/2 cups) freshly fed and active sourdough starter at room temperature
50 grams (2 TBS) oil, melted lard, or butter
115 grams (4 ounces) of warm water

Dry Solids:

500 grams (4 cups) bread flour
10 grams (1-1/2 tsp) sea salt
25 grams (2 TBS) any kind of sugar

Mix the ingredient thoroughly, and knead, stretching and folding, until slightly shiny.

In a bread machine, add the liquids first, then the dry solids. Set the machine for the ‘Dough Cycle’ and start the machine. You will need your spatula to ‘help the machine along’ at the beginning of the cycle. Once all the ingredients are incorporated, close the lid and let it work.

Adjustments to doughball texture after the ball comes together can be achieved with tiny sprinkles of flour if too wet, and a spritzer/mister if a bit too dry. You are looking for a shiny texture, not too damp, not too dry.

Plop the doughball into a big bowl that has been greased liberally. Flop it over, and turn it around until all sides are coated. Cover with a damp cloth or cloche (I use a very large plastic bowl as a cover for the dough bowl) and leave in a warm place to proof. When the dough is doubled in bulk, or when you can push a finger into the dough and it does not immediately spring back, punch it down and remove the dough from the bowl transfering it to a lightly floured work surface. You may now shape the dough for final rise. You have a bit more than a kilo of dough, 1110 grams, if you follow these weights exactly, so now would be the time to divide your doughball for shaping. That amount of dough would make one very large family-sized batard or boule, two 555 gram (24 ounce) batards, two 555 gram (24 ounce) loaf pan loaves, or three 370 gram (16 ounce) baguettes.

Prepare your baguette or batard trays with oil and cornmeal to avoid sticking. For loaf pans, rub the inside of the pan with food oil, then sprinkle lightly with cornmeal to avoid sticking. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise a second time.

You will need to preheat your oven to 230-260 degrees C (450-500 degrees F) just before the shaped loaves have finished rising. The second rise for the dough will not take as long, in a warm kitchen, perhaps only 60-90 minutes. When the dough has again doubled in bulk, or a bit more, use a lame, a single sided razor blade, a razor box knife, of other very sharp implement to slash the tops of the loaves. Be artistic! This will allow the loaves to bloom in the hot oven and not rip at the sides, or across the tops.

Before sliding them into the hot oven, spritz the tops with water. You will also need to provide steam inside your hot oven. You can do that by spritzing your oven walls vigorously, or by putting a shallow cake pan, or similar with an inch or so of water on the floor of the oven. If you use the spritzer method, respray the oven three or four times during the first 15 minutes while the oven is at the highest temperature. This will give the crust a nice crunchy bite.

Set the timer for 15 minutes. At the end of that time, the loaves should be fully expanded, and the crusts will have set permanently and have coloured slightly. Turn the oven down to 175 degrees C (350 degrees F) and reset your timer to 25 minutes.

At the end of that time, your bread should be done. Tap the crusts with your finger nail to be sure that they make a nice hollow ‘TOCK’ sound. If they are done remove them from the oven. (If you are not sure they are done, you can use a needle thermometer to check that the interior temperature of the loaves is a bit less than 100 degrees C (200 degrees F). My personal criticism of that method is that the loaves will start out-gassing steam through the puncture, and part of the internal structure will collapse. The crust tapping method works just fine. Color is a matter of taste. I happen to prefer a slightly less brown color. Others like the color to be a reddish tan color, or even a very rich, dark brown colour. ‘De gustibus …’ and all that, is what I have to say on the matter.

I do not use a milk or egg and water glaze, as that is, in my opinion, gilding the lily, and it detracts from my minimalist approach to ingredients and methods. It is purely a cosmetic addition, done near the end of the baking time, but if *you* like that pretty, shiny glaze, go ahead and use the wash.

After a minute or two out of the oven (if you used loaf pans) overturn them onto a cooling rack. They should drop out and fall free after just a moment or two. Cool at least twenty minutes to half an hour before cutting your loaves, or what’s more likely, ripping off chunks to slather butter on and scarf down, hot. Let the steam inside cool INSIDE the loaf. I’ll guarantee that you’ll like the texture of the loaves a lot better.

Questions or comments are always welcome!

Miz Parker is an inquisitive old soul, who enjoys cooking and feeding her friends. Her maternal grandmother taught her to cook, with an emphasis on Central and Eastern European foods and methods. Miz Parker has enjoyed cooking and baking for her family and friends since she was very young.

Sourdough starters have been popular since the Sumerians, Egyptians, Mayans and other ancient civilizations discovered that ground up grains mixed with water would ferment. Every civilization that ever discovered bread, discovered beer and wine at the same time. They  found that the only practical way to use his magical living substance was to save a part of the leavening from today’s bread, and use it to start tomorrow’s. We now call that ’sourdough starter’. We’re not sure that our sourdough starters would make good beer, but we do know they make excellent breads, rolls, pancakes, waffles and biscuits.

A purchase of any culture includes the packet(s) of dry starter, activation instructions and a few basic recipes, along with the registration information to log onto our community websites.

Miz Parker is an inquisitive old soul, who enjoys cooking and feeding her friends.  Her maternal grandmother taught her to cook, with an emphasis on Central and Eastern European foods and methods. Miz Parker has enjoyed cooking and baking for her family and friends since she was very young.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil or melted shortening
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup pecans or walnuts
• 1 cup golden raisins
• 2 1/2 cups diced green tomatoes
• coconut (optional, but recommended!)

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350°. In mixing bowl, beat sugar, vegetable oil or shortening, eggs and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg; slowly beat into egg mixture. Blend well. Stir in pecans, raisins and tomatoes.  Pour into greased 9×13-inch pan. Top with coconut, if desired. Bake for one hour, or until a wooden pick or cake tester inserted in center comes out clean.  Serves 12.

3 large, ripe bananas, well mashed (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut oil, barely warm - so it isn’t solid (or alternately, olive oil)
2 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup almond meal
1/3 cup coconut, finely shredded & unsweetened
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
6 - 7 ounces chocolate chips or dark chocolate bar chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, racks in the top third.

In a large bowl combine the bananas, vanilla extract, and coconut oil. Set aside. In another bowl whisk together the oats, almond meal, shredded coconut, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks/chips.The dough is a bit looser than a standard cookie dough, don’t worry about it. Drop dollops of the dough, each about 2 teaspoons in size, an inch apart, onto a parchment (or Silpat) lined baking sheet. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes.

Wonder Woman is Miz Nosey Parker’s grown up daughter. She works for Starbucks in their corporate offices in Seattle.

Pasta Salad Jarlsberg

3 cups cooked pasta twists
1 lb raw shrimp (medium or large)
1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
1 cup jarlsberg cheese, cut into julienne strips
1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup green, red, or yellow pepper strips
1/3 cup sliced, pitted ripe black olives (drained from can)
1/3 cup red pimento strips
1/2 cup olive oil
1 TB vinegar
2 TB chopped parsley

1 to 2 cloves of garlic (pressed)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp coarsely ground pepper

Rinse shrimp and cook with shell on in boiling water sprinkled with Old Bay seasoning and garlic salt. Drain and let cool, then shell. Set aside. Cook pasta spirals according to package directions (about 7 to 8 minutes in boiling water). Do not overcook. I always use Eden Organic Kamut Vegetable Spirals. The pasta is colorful and cooks beautifully staying firm for a pasta salad. After cooking drain thoroughly while letting the pasta cool. Once, drained and cool, pour into a large bowl. Add all ingredients tossing gently as you go. Mix the olive oil (use real olive oil, not light because you want the flavor to come through in the salad), the vinegar, the salt, the sugar, the parsley and the pressed garlic. Wisk in a bowl to mix. Pour over the pasta, vegetables and shrimp and gently blend. Taste for correctness, you may want to add a little more sugar (but don’t go overboard). Cover with saran wrap and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled.

Note: It is important to use jarlsberg cheese because it adds a nice flavor. I have also made this pasta salad with leftover ham strips or chicken strips and it is delicious. But, the shrimp is always the favorite. And, of course, you can cook the shrimp anyway you prefer and add more or less of the vegetables, etc. to suit your taste.

RAISIN SOURDOUGH STICKY BUNS

As a teenager I just loved the cinnamon buns with white icing that were common fare among bakeries. Not knowing a lot about different kinds of bread, I often wondered what ingredients were used to make the bread part. It wasn’t like loaf bread, but it was obviously a raised product and not a quick bread.

Not long ago, I started taking an interest in making various kinds of bread and buns, thanks to some sourdough starter from Nosey Parker. Not too long after that, I saw a video on Cooks.com that explained how to make sticky buns and had to try the recipe.

The original plan called for a non-stick pan, which I don’t have, and made a 9” x 13” sheet of rolls, a bit more than I needed. In my recipe I also substitute raisins for the traditional nuts. I always have raisins around.. If you are using nuts, add them to the sticky topping for the buns so they will come out on top.

I adapted the recipe to my only non-stick pan, my 10-1/2” cast iron skillet, the original non-stick pan. I couldn’t cook without it. I also reduced the finished product to nine, instead of 12, large rolls. When I tasted the result, to my surprise, this was the type of rich egg dough that those old favorite cinnamon buns were made with.

For the buns, you will need:

1 cup of starter – I used the more buttery Columbia River type for this recipe
2 eggs
3 T melted or real soft butter
3 T sugar
2 T milk or cream, the heavier the better.
1 T lemon juice
1/8 t salt
2 to 2-1/2 cups flour

Mix all ingredients except the flour together until well blended. Add a scant two cups of flour and stir until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. You may need to add a bit more. Put a fat half cup of flour on a board or countertop and turn and fold the dough to incorporate the flour. Adding bit more flour if needed and continue until the dough looses most of it stickiness. The dough should be fairly loose.

Allow to rise until about double in size by leaving it on the board or putting it into a buttered bowl. Grease the top lightly so the dough won’t dry out as it rises.

FILLING

For the filling, you will need:

 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 T soft butter
2 t cinnamon
dash of salt and cloves

Mix well and save.

TOPPING

For the sticky topping, you will need:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup white Karo syrup
2 T mild or cream
dash of salt

In the bottom of the skillet, mix and stir all ingredients until the sugar dissolves and the mixture bubbles.<

On a floured surface, roll out the dough so that it makes a rectangle about 16” wide and a foot long, keeping it as even and rectangular as you can. Cover dough with filling, pressing it gently into the surface. Sprinkle with one cup of raisins, if desired.

Roll the dough, jelly roll style, into a 16” log. Cut the log into thirds and cut each third into three, making nine rolls. Put these rolls, cut side down, in the skillet on top of the brown sugar sticky sauce.

Allow buns to rise for about an hour or two.

When double in size, place in 350 degree oven for 40 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool for 5 or 10 minutes and turn onto a large platter. Enjoy!

Karen Herberman works as a columnist and writer for The Bisbee Observer in Bisbee, Ariz. She and her retired husband, Paul, live in the southeast corner of Arizona at Double Adobe where they raised eight children. Karen has enjoyed cooking since she was a child.

Honey Wheat Germ Sourdough Bread

For this small loaf, I use Nosey’s Humboldt County sourdough starter, thinking the slightly tangy flavor would be a nice contrast to the sweetness added by the honey. This is a nice everyday bread that lends itself well to toasting. The use of honey makes for a nicely browned finished bread.

You will need:
1 cup starter
 3/4 cup water
1 T honey
half teaspoon salt
4 to 6 T wheat germ
2 to 2-1/2 cups flour
2 T olive oil

I almost always start my sourdough the night before I plan to make bread by adding 3/4 cups each or water and flour to my saved starter. In the morning, before I make the bread, I put one cup of starter back into the storage container to be placed in the refrigerator until you need it next.

To one cup of nourished starter, 4 to 6 tablespoons of wheat germ, 3/4 cup of water, 1 tablespoon of honey, a half teaspoon of salt, and 1-1/2 cups of flour. Stir until the dough comes away from the sides of the pan. Turn onto a board with 1/2 cup of flour. The point is not to add as much flour as possible, but to fold, press and turn not so much to knead as to incorporate enough flour to take the dough just to the point where it loses its stickiness and is just slightly tacky.

Round up the ball of dough and place it in a bowl that contains about a tablespoon or two of olive oil. Turn it so that the entire dough ball is covered with a bit of the oil to prevent drying out while it rises.

Allow it to rise for at least an hour, or until double. It could be two hours, depending on the stiffness of the dough or the temperature of the kitchen; probably even the weather makes a difference.

When double in size, put a bit of olive oil on your hands, fold and turn the dough a bit to make it into a loaf shape. Gently place the dough into a buttered 4-1/2” x 8” loaf pan and allow to rise until it reaches the edges of the pan. Then turn on the oven to preheat.

By the time the oven is ready the dough should be a bit above the edge, but will rise more while baking. Bake in a preheated over at 425 F for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven to 350 and bake another 18 to 20 minutes until golden brown.

Karen Herberman lives in Double Adobe, Ariz.,  where she and her now-retired husband  raised a large family. She works as a writer and columnist for The Bisbee Observer in Bisbee.

Everyone loves oatmeal raisin cookies, and I found this recipe, clipped from a newspaper, and stuck in the ‘Cookies’ pages of my Searchlight Cookbook, printed in about 1940. It is interesting to note that some of the ingredients and methods are a bit different.  I never heard of soaking the raisins in hot water and draining them, and modern recipes use butter or margarine.  Modern flours are pre-sifted.  Oven controls (like the one on my oven) were not reliable, and needed to be watched.  My own solution to the problem is the same one they used.  I use a sixty year old tin oven thermometer that inherited from my mother, and then I fiddle with the gas control to regulate the oven heat.

But this recipe gives us some insight into what cooks 70 years ago were doing. Incidentally, the full title of the cookbook is The Household Searchlight Recipe Book, put together by the Household Searchlight Magazine, with its headquarters in Topeka, Kansas.  The cookbook I have came out in 1940, as part of a reprinting of 100,000 copies, but was written and copyrighted in 1931.

This is a pretty standard take on oatmeal cookies, with those minor differences I’ve already noted.

It calls for 1 cup of seedless raisins, 1/2 cup of shortening (Most modern recipes call for butter or margarine, but times were tough in the thirties.) 1 cup of granulated sugar, two eggs, 1/4 cup of milk, 1-2/3 cups quick-cooking oats, 1-1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour, 1 t baking soda, 1/2 t salt, and 1 t ground cinammon.

Rinse the raisins in hot water and drain. Cream shortening with sugar; add beaten eggs, milk, oats and raisins and mix will.  Add the flour, sifted with the soda, salt and cinnamon and beat.

Drop onto a greased cookie sheet and bake about 10 minutes in  a moderately hot oven (400 degrees F.)

Makes about 6 dozen medium-sized cookies.

Miz Parker is an inquisitive old soul, who enjoys cooking and feeding her friends.  Her maternal grandmother taught her to cook, with an emphasis on Central and Eastern European foods and methods. Miz Parker has enjoyed cooking and baking for her family and friends since she was very young.

As a child, my interest with cooking started with baking, mostly cookies and cakes. For some reason – perhaps because I don’t remember anyone in my family baking bread – I always assumed that making bread was really tricky and had given it up after creating a couple of loaves that could have been used as doorstops.

In reality, the trick to bread is to let it fully rise. Sometimes it takes longer than anticipated. Patience is a virtue, especially for bread makers.
Who can resist the smell of cinnamon bread baking in the oven?

Cinnamon sourdough bread, and throw in some raisins!

For this recipe I use the sweet and more buttery-tasting Columbia River starter.

For this smallish loaf, you will need:

1 cup of sourdough starter
3/4 of a cup of water
2-1/2 to 3 cups of flour
3-4 T sugar plus more for sprinkling
1/4 t salt
3 or 4 T of powdered milk (optional)
2 to 3 T ground cinnamon for sprinkling
1/2 cup of raisins, more or less, to taste
1 T of olive or other oil

To the cup of starter, add ¾ cup water, salt, sugar, and 1-1/2 cup of flour.
Mix until blended and thick enough to turn onto about 1 cup on flour on a countertop or board.
Turning and folding, mix in the flour until you get a somewhat loose dough that has lost almost all of its stickiness.
Put the dough into a mixing bowl that contains olive oil to keep it from sticking, rounding it up and turning it to cover the top with some of the oil. Let rise till it doubles, at least an hour, maybe two.
Dump the risen dough out of the bowl onto a board with about 1/4 cup of flour and pat it out to a rectangle about the width of the loaf pan you will use for baking and a foot or more long. The dough should be about a half inch thick.
Sprinkle generously with cinnamon, a couple of tablespoons of sugar, and about half cup or more of raisins.

Roll the dough jellyroll style and place in a 4-1/2” x 8” Pyrex loaf pan seam side down. I oil the top of the loaf with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle it with cinnamon and sugar for a nice top crust with a bit of crunch.
Let rise again, at least an hour, maybe 2, till it reaches the top of the loaf pan.
Preheat the over to 425 F. Put the bread in the preheated over and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350 and continue to bake about another 20 minutes of until golden brown. It should pop right out of the pan if it is done. Occasionally I run a knife along the sides to make sure it doesn’t stick.

Karen Herberman works as a columnist and writer for The Bisbee Observer. She and her retired husband, Paul, live in the southeast corner of Arizona at Double Adobe where they raised eight children. Karen has enjoyed cooking since she was a child

* * * *

Okay,  my family LOVES pies, especially Brian (our son).   This is a fool proof recipe for crust.  It’s nice and flaky and EASY!

For one 2 crust pie or two 1 crust pies.

2 Cups flour w/ dash of salt in bowl.
In measuring cup 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil and 1/4 cup milk. Beat with fork or wisk to mix well.

Add to flour. The consistency will be moist.  Roll out between wax paper.  If it doesn’t stick together add a little more oil and try again.   I’ve made probably hundreds of pies with this recipe and after you make a few you’ll feel the correct consistency.

For making a one crust pie such as key lime, chocolate, lemon etc. prick the crust with fork 5 – 6 times after putting in pan so air can escape and the crust won’t bubble.

Let me know how it turns out and if you need further instructions.

Good luck, B

Bonnie lives in the Atlanta suburbs and is retired but she and her husband Jim still keep their hands in, to keep busy. When Bonnie isn’t making pies for her family, she is involved in keeping track of all of our classmates and helping organize our reunions. She also keeps all the books for the family’s construction company.

This article is a departure from our main theme of breads and baked goods using sourdough. It does, though, fit in with our theme of celebrating and promoting good, healthy home cooking.  

When I was young, I used to sit on a tall stool in my grandmother’s kitchen, and watch her make chicken paprikash. Now that I’m older, I realize that her recipe is a lot different from others I’ve seen on the Web. I thought I should share it here.

She would always begin, "First you steal two chickens!", and then she’d laugh. She never tired of that joke.

For this dish you will need these materials: A chicken or two, paprika, a couple of big yellow onions, three or four of the tough outer green ribs of celery, a carrot or two if you wish, salt, black pepper, sour cream, or thick, plain yoghurt and a half cup or so of all purpose flour. Cooking utensils needed will be a roaster, or dutch oven a largish bowl, or gallon sized ziplock plastic bag and a colander or large wire sieve. Your oven should be set for 325 degrees.

However you acquire your chickens, you need to divide them into the ten standard pieces, two wings, two drumsticks, two thighs, split the breast, and break the back in half. Or you can do it the easy way and buy your chicken already jointed. I do *not* recommend boneless, skinless pieces for this recipe, because both the skin and bones add to the final flavors.

Mix the flour, two Tbs of paprika, a tsp of salt, and two tsp of ground black pepper in a large bowl, or in a large plastic bag. If you want to experiment with the wonderful flavor of real Hungarian paprika, and not the generic stuff from the spices and flavorings aisle, try ‘Szeged’, available at almost all American supermarkets. The cans look like this. Sweet or hot is your own choice.  I like the ‘Hot’.

Use a cookie sheet to lay out your chicken pieces after they are dredged in the paprika-flour mixture, to dry a bit, and set. We want the seasoning to stay on the pieces as we roast them.

Chop up the onions and celery, and the carrots if you use them, in largish pieces. Cut the peeled onions into quarters or eighths, and each rib of celery (and the carrots) into three or four big pieces. These are placed loosely in the bottom of the roaster, or pot. They are going to form a bed for our chicken. Arrange the pieces of chicken on the bed of vegetables. Put the drumsticks on the bottom. They need the most cooking to be tender, then the wings and backs, the thighs, and last, on top, the split breasts.

Roast covered, for about 30 minutes. Remove the lid, and continue cooking for another 30 minutes. Using a sharp-tined cooking fork, poke the thick part of the breasts, or the thighs to see if the juices run clear. If they are still pink, roast for another 15 minutes or so.

When your chicken is done, remove it with tongs to the serving plate, and return it to the oven, with the heat turned off. We still have another 10 minutes of preparation to do.

The vegetables in the bottom of the roaster, and the bright reddish-orange broth are going to become our sauce. Scoop out the celery, onions and carrots and put them into the colander, or sieve. Over the roaster, press out as much of the juices as you can, muddling with a big wooden spoon, or spatula. What’s left in the colander can go into your compost. We have extracted the goodies that we want.

Put the roaster on a top burner, on low heat, and add to it a mixture of 2 Tbs of corn starch, or 3 Tbs of the flour paprika dredging mixture stirred into a cup of cold water. Stir well. Add all at once to the simmering juices in the roaster. Heat until thickened. Remove to a serving bowl. Before putting it on the table, stir in a half-cup of sour cream or yoghurt. Don’t mix it too thoroughly, just swirl it a bit. The white swirl makes a beautiful contrast with the orange sauce.

This dish can be served with spaetzle, rivels, good egg noodles, rice, or smashed potatoes — any starch dish that has some texture. Serve the sauce on the starch dish.

Shmatzna!

Miz Parker is an inquisitive old soul, who enjoys cooking and feeding her friends. Her maternal grandmother taught her to cook, with an emphasis on Central and Eastern European foods and methods. Miz Parker has enjoyed cooking and baking for her family and friends since she was very young.

From Nigella Lawson’s “How To Be a Domestic Goddess”

(Best.  Baking cookbook.  Ever.)

"This cake is the essence of all that is desirable in chocolate: its dark intensity isn’t toyed with, nor upstaged by any culinary elaboration."

1 cup soft unsalted butter
1 2/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 ounces best bittersweet chocolate, melted
1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp boiling water
9 x 5-inch loaf pan

Preheat the oven to 375 F & put in a baking sheet in case of sticky drips later. Grease & line the loaf pan, trimming off any excess paper. The lining is important as this is a very damp cake; use parchment or one of those loaf-pan-shaped paper liners.

Cream the butter & sugar, then add eggs & vanilla, beating in well. Next, fold in the melted & now slightly cooled chocolate, taking care not to overbeat. You want the ingredients combined: you don’t want a light, airy mass. Then gently add the flour, to which you’ve added the baking soda, alternately spoon by spoon, with the boiling water until you have a smooth and very liquid batter.  Pour into the lined loaf pan and bake for 30 minutes.  Turn down the oven & continue to cook for another 15 minutes.  The cake will come out a bit squidgy on the inside, so an inserted cake tester or skewer won’t come out completely clean.

Place the loaf pan on a rack & leave to cool completely before turning it out. (Nigella says that she often leaves it for a day or so; like gingerbread, it improves.  I’m not that patient, but still urge the reader to wait until the cake is entirely cool before removing from the pan or slicing into it.)  Don’t worry if the cake sinks in the middle indeed it will do so because it’s such a dense damp cake.  Makes 8 to 10 slices.

With all the fancy bread recipes available on the Internet, and the glorious pictures we can find with a Google image search, I still prefer a simpler, more basic bread recipe. I’ve found a number of recipes, including Erma Rombauer’s version from an old copy of Joy of Cooking, circa 1975. The one I’ve settled on, and the one I use to make almost all my daily bread and hard rolls is one that takes the best ideas from each. On the artisan bread website The Fresh Loaf , there are several versions of this classic bread. Try any or all of them, and make your own choice.
  For my recipe you will need only sourdough starter, bread flour, water, a small amount of sugar, some salt, and a bit of oil. The sugars are the food the yeast uses to make gas to expand. This recipe is versatile.  It can be used for regular loaves, football shaped batards, long, thin baguettes, or hard rolls in various shapes.  The crumb, and bubble size can be adjusted by changing the number of proofings, or rises.  The flavor can be changed subtly by using different sugars, or oils.  The version that I offer here will be for a single large batard, with a fairly large bubble size — what we typically think of as ‘French Bread’.  It will have only one proofing, that is one rise, one punch down and rest, and a rise after shaping

Portion out in containers one and a half cups of active sourdough, four cups of bread flour, into which we add 2 T of a sugar, one and a half t of salt, (sea salt if you have it) one and a half T of oil.  I’ll use EVOO, but you can use whatever oil you prefer.
You will need to take your starter out of the refrigerator the night before to come to room temperature. Feed your starter by adding one cup of flour, and one cup of fairly warm water. (use the baby formula wrist test) Let the starter ferment in a warm, draft-free place. Your oven, with either the pilot light flame, or the oven light on will keep your oven at about eighty-five degrees.  It will bubble and foam in a relatively short time. A cup each of flour and warm water will give you enough happy, activated sourdough to let you take out the cup and a half of starter you will use for the bread.

To the sourdough add eight more ounces of warm water, and the oil.  Mix well with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. You will find that the sourdough, the oil and the water will all fit snugly, but comfortably in a 2 cup Pyrex measuring cup.  The flour and other two dry ingredients will fit comfortably in a four cup Pyrex cup. If you are using a stand mixer, or a bread machine set on the ‘dough’ setting, add the ingredients in the order your manufacturer recommends. The Sunbeam wants the liquids in first, and then the dry.  Make sure the machine is set on the ‘dough’setting. Turn it on, and let it mix your ingredients. Use your spatula to help it along at the beginning, so that all the materials are incorporated.
Let the dough mix and knead for 15 - 20 minutes, to allow the gluten in the flour to soak up the liquids and begin to stretch. If you are making your dough by hand, mix as much of the flour as you can easily manage in a large bowl. You will probably get all but about a cup of the flour incorporated just stirring. For the remainder, turn your batter out onto a floured surface, and try flopping the dough back and forth, from wet side to dry side, until all the flour is incorporated.

You can knead the dough for a few more minutes, but the flour in your dough has now been ‘hydrated’ and the gluten will now start to develop the stretchy network that holds the fermentation bubbles, and provides the texture for the finished loaves.

Use your mixing bowl, if it’s big enough as the proofing bowl. Wash it out, and oil it well. Gather your dough ball up off the work surface, tuck the odd corners and such underneath to form a ball. Flop it around in the oiled bowl until the surface is completely covered. Cover with a damp tea towel while it rises.

Go do something else for an hour or so. When your dough has doubled in size, about an hour, punch the dough down with your fists, pulling up the sides into a bag shape. Flop it out onto your floured surface again, cover it with plastic, and let it rest for fifteen or twenty minutes. It should have a smooth, elastic surface at this point.

We will now shape the loaf. You have about two pounds or so of dough. That will make one big free-form loaf, or two smaller ones. If you choose to make two loaves, cut the dough ball into equal parts, set one aside for the moment. Pat the dough out to a long rectangle, getting it as thin as you can. You may use a rolling pin, if you wish, for this step. Roll up the sheet of dough like a cakeroll, sealing the bottom seam by spritzing it with a little water, and pinching it closed. Tuck the ends under, sealing them the same way. When you are satisfied with the shape, move it onto a baking sheet that you have prepared by sprinkling a light dusting of corn meal onto it. This will prevent the loaf from sticking. If you have room on the cookie sheet, form and place the second loaf. If you are making one large artisan loaf, the same cakeroll method works just as well for a single loaf.

For decoration, you can use poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dried onion flakes, kosher salt flakes, or coarse sea salt, caraway or fennel seeds, or whatever takes your fancy. You ‘glue’ them on by spritzing the top (and sides) of the loaf with water, and sprinkling on your toppings. Cover the loaf or loaves with your handy-dandy sheet of plastic or damp tea towel. The last rise will not take very long. After rising, and just before the sheet pan goes into the oven, use a sharp knife, or box cutter, and slash the tops of the loaves diagonally several times, or long ways once, or even make a design.
There are a number of ways to make steam in your oven to toughen the crust, but far and away the easiest is to simply spritz the oven floor, and walls with water from your spritzer bottle, when you slide in the baking pan. Close the door. Set a timer for twelve minutes. After a minute or two, open the door and quickly spritz the inside of the oven again. When your timer dings, open the oven, turn the baking sheet around front to back, and close the door. That helps the bread brown evenly. You will notice that your loaves have bloomed considerably, and started to brown slightly.

Reset the temperature control to 350 degrees, reset the timer to eighteen minutes. Your bread might not be done in eighteen minutes, but we will look, and decide if the loaves are brown enough for our taste. By choosing the shorter time, we can be sure not to over cook, or even burn the loaves. After all, we can reset the timer.

When you are happy with the way your bread looks, you can test for doneness in one of two ways. Tap the top and sides sharply with your fingertips. If you get a nice solid ‘tock’ sound, it’s done. If you happen to have a chef’s instant read needle thermometer, poke that into one end. It should read 200 degrees internal temperature.

Pull out your pan and turn the loaves out onto a wire rack, or just turn them over onto their tops, to cool. Resist the temptation to rip off and butter a chunk for at least ten minutes, or the steam will escape too quickly and the texture will not be as airy inside.

OK, we have produced a pretty batard loaf, that can be ripped apart and eaten out of hand.

If you wish to produce a more conventional loaf, suitable for slicing for sandwiches, or toast, we will use an extra proofing period. After the first punch-down, instead of letting the dough rest for just fifteen minutes before shaping, cover the dough again and let it rise until doubled in size again. Punch down a second time and let rest. The second proofing does two things to your dough. It makes the bubbles, the holes in the bread, smaller, and makes the bite chewier. At the same time, you are allowing the little wild yeastie-beaties and their lacto-bacterial buddies to develop a stronger, and heartier sour taste.

When the dough is doubled in bulk again, punch it down, roll or pat it out flat, roll it, and put it into loaf pans. For this particular recipe, yielding two pounds or so of dough, you will need two loaf pans, or your bread will look like a huge golden brown mushroom, with a funny-looking little rectangular base. Trust me! Make two loaves!

Miz Parker is an inquisitive old soul, who enjoys cooking and feeding her friends. Her maternal grandmother taught her to cook, with an emphasis on Central and Eastern European foods and methods. Miz Parker has enjoyed cooking and baking for her family and friends since she was very young.

You’ll need sourdough starter, flour, eggs, oil, sugar, baking soda, and water.

Sourdough is not just another ingredient you cook with. It’s a living thing, and while it requires less attention than a plant, and far less than a pet, it does take some discipline. The care and feeding of your sourdough adds a new element to the rhythm of your life.

A few years back I started setting aside a couple of hours on Sunday morning to do some baking. The nourishing of my newly discovered adventure with sourdough fit easily into that schedule. Some days I have other baking planned, and when it’s one of those Sundays, I usually make waffles because it is one of the simplest ways to renew your starter and quickly fix a bit of breakfast for two. Here’s how I do it.
On Saturday night before I go to bed, I add ¾ cup each of flour and water to my cup of starter saved from when I used it last. I’m all for using the fewest possible number of implements so as to make cleaning up really easy. To that end, I use a quart size Pyrex cup to mix up the starter. Measure the water in the big cup then put some of it into the saved starter to thin it out and get the last drop out of the storage container. (I find the plastic containers that cottage cheese comes in to be ideal. After emptying, I just rinse the container in hot water and invert it for re-use in the morning.)
Once you have the starter and water in the cup, add the flour. (I keep a half-cup measure in my bags of flour and sugar so that it is easy to get the right amount and return the measure to the bag.) Stir it up. Cover the cup with a damp paper towel, which clings nicely to the cup, and let it stand overnight.  On Sunday morning, start warming up your waffle maker. Pour one cup of the newly nourished starter back into the storage container and put it back in the refrigerator.
Now there should be a cup or so of starter in the big Pyrex cup. To that, add an egg, two tablespoons of brown or white sugar, and two tablespoons of oil — believe it or not, olive oil works quite well in this recipe, but you could use any. Back before we worried about cholesterol, Mother used the bacon grease right out of the frying pan. Last add a teaspoon of baking soda and a few dashes of salt. Start adding flour until you have a thick batter; it will take a half-cup or slightly less. That’s it! Best of all, you’ve only dirtied a measuring cup, measuring spoon (for the oil, sugar and soda) and a stirring spoon.
Pour into waffle maker and bake till golden brown. Serve. This recipe makes about 4 small waffles. I make waffles because the leftovers heat up better in the toaster or microwave better than pancakes. But, you can use the same batter for pancakes, just cut the amount of oil down to one tablespoon.

If you are cooking for more than two, double everything you add to the starter – use two eggs, four tablespoons of sugar and oil, and two teaspoons of baking soda. Use 3/4 cup of milk or water along with enough flour, slightly less than a cup, to make a nice batter.

For variety, before adding the flour, add a tablespoon or two of cornmeal, milled flax seed or wheat germ. I sometimes use a couple of tablespoons of powdered milk for a richer flavor. One recipe I recently read used a teaspoon or two of pumpkin pie spice. I haven’t tried it, but it sounds good.

I like to serve waffles with applesauce or strawberries. Any fruit that is in season is good. Breakfast meats, sausage, bacon or ham, are a tasty addition; their salty flavor compliments the sweetness of the fruit and waffle quite nicely.

Karen Herberman works as a columnist and writer for The Bisbee Observer. She and her retired husband, Paul, live in the southeast corner of Arizona at Double Adobe where they raised eight children. Karen has enjoyed cooking since she was a child.

I I love flax seed. It’s one of my favorite things to throw in just about everything. It adds a nice, subtle nutty flavor and is high in omega-3. I also love sourdough bread, so it was only a matter of time before the two would meet in my kitchen. Here’s what I came up with. Perfect for breakfast toast or a sandwich.

You will need:

1 1/2 C starter
1 C warm (around 100F) water
1 tsp salt
2 Tbs milled flax seed
3-4 C all-purpose flour
1/2 Tbs oil
9"x5"x2 3/4"D (or similar) loaf pan
nice big mixing bowl
large cutting board or raising bowl
handy dandy all-purpose spatula

Mix together starter, water and salt. Slowly mix in 1 C flour and then the flax seed. Slowly add more flour while stirring until dough is firm(ish) but not dry.

Rub oil over your cutting board or raising bowl and scrape dough onto/into it. Turn dough over a couple times, cover with dish cloth and place in the sun or warm oven (turn it on for 2-5 minutes before putting in the dough) for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or until doubled in size.

Punch dough down and scrape it into your loaf pan. Cover again and let rise 2 1/2 to 3 hours or until doubled in size.

Bake in preheated oven at 375F for 20-25 minutes, or until a nice dark golden color (check all the way around if you’re using a glass pan).

Let sit a few minutes before removing from pan to finish cooling. Enjoy.  

Guest post by thatlo (L. W.) copyright, including images, 2008-2009. Used with permission.