Sourdough Sandwich Loaf

When the COVID-19 lockdown started and people started panic buying food and household items, I ran pretty quickly into an empty bread aisle. “No problem,” I thought. “I can bake bread.” Then I found the baking aisle was devoid of any yeast to make bread with. YIKES.

Now, my mom used to keep sourdough starter in her kitchen, so I knew it was possible to draw down yeast from the air and create a yeast colony. And. I found lots of info on the ‘net about how to get a starter going. So I started working on my own starter.

Well, after several attempts my bread was still coming out like bricks. I tried several different recipes but the truth seems to be that my starter just wasn’t robust enough.

While I wasn’t able to produce bread I was happy with, I did find other things I could make with the starter that I was happy with. One was a recipe for crackers made with leftover starter. (Here's my variation that includes parmesan cheese).  And more recently, I found you could make a nice coffee cake with starter.

But after several weeks of mistreatment (missed feedings, long periods in the fridge, etc.) I seem to have finally gotten a colony that is consistently producing nice loaves of bread. It’s my belief that the “mistreatment” caused natural selection to let only the strongest yeast survive, thus strengthening the starter.

The current recipe I’m using is this one: Basic Sourdough Bread on Food.com. I have been able to use both all-purpose flour and bread flour with this recipe, though the bread flour has produced a much finer texture and lighter bread.

If you try any of these, let me know how they turn out and any changes you make.

Singing Cake

This was sent to me by a friend I met on the 'net, Gypsy.

Ingredients:

•  1 c Butter
  
•  2 c Brown sugar
  
•  2 t Baking powder mixed in
  
•  1 c Buttermilk
  
•  1 c Raisins (I'd have to omit these for Pete - he hates raisins!)
  
•  2 t Cinnamon
  
•  2 Sq. bitter chocolate, melted
  
•  3 Eggs, separated 
  
•  1 c Strawberry jam
  
•  1 c Chopped nuts
  
•  4 c Sifted flour 
  
•  1 t Cloves
  

Prep:
Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolks and stir. Add melted chocolate and stir. Add raisins and stir. Add cinnamon, cloves, flour and stir. Add nuts and jam and stir.

Now add the baking powder and buttermilk and quickly add to the cake mixture and stir. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Quickly pour mixture into greased and floured angel food cake pan. Bake at 350 F until cake stops singing, about 45 minutes.

Make sure you time the recipe so your guests are present during the baking. Once cake is baked the effect is over.

Jello Cake

Ingredients:

•  2 pkgs single layer white cake mix (Jiffy or similar)
  
•  1 pkg Jello (or other brand) gelatin (flavor is your choice)
  

Prep:
Prepare white cake mix per pkg directions, except add the pkg of gelatin to the dry cake mix. Mix well with electric mixer until you get a uniform color and your mixer leaves "wake trails" behind it.

Pour into a 13 x 9 cake pan and bake at 350 for about 50-60 minutes. Cool and frost with your favorite frosting.

Apple Johnny Cake

Ingredients:

•  4 medium apples, peeled, cored, and sliced thin
  
•  1 c water
  
•  1 c brown sugar
  
•  1 t cinnamon
  
•  1/4 t ground cloves
  
•  1/4 t allspice
  
•  2 pkgs corn bread mix (Jiffy brand or similar)
  

Prep:
(The Jiffy mix requires an egg and 1/3 cup milk per pkg, other brands may have different requirements). Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease and flour a 13x9 cake pan. Submerge the apple slices in the water while you are coring and slicing the apples to prevent them from turning brown. When they are all sliced, add the brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves and allspice to the apples and water. In a saucepan, bring the mixture to a boil.

Mix one pkg of the corn bread according to pkg directions and spread it carefully in the bottom of the cake pan. Ladle the apple mixture on top gently (don't clobber the batter!), leaving enough left over to top the cake. Mix the second pkg of corn bread and spread it over the apple filling in the pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until the top is an even golden brown. Spread the remaining apple filling over the top of the cake while it is still warm.
Cut after cooling.