My adventure with sourdough started a few months ago when I received two different starters from Nosey Parker, the tangy Humboldt County and the more buttery Columbia River strain.

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

I correspond with several of my old friends from high school, and I mentioned to one of them that I have not been able to manage a good, flaky pie crust. She sent me this recipe, and I’ll post it here for all of you who are not pie crust mavens. Thanks Bonnie!

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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.