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Welcome to Spike's & Jamie's "Spike’s Good Eatin’ Recipe Collection Archives"!!  Here we store all the back issues of the original "Spike’s Good Eatin’ Recipe Collection" and of the "Spike’s Jewish Good Eatin’ Recipe Collection". These newsletters were written by Spike (Jann McCormick) and published by Jamie from 2000 until Spike's death in 2008.  Spike loved to cook and share her cooking with those she loved.  Sharing her recipes was the next best thing.

[Spike’s Good Eatin’ Recipe Collection]   [Spike’s Jewish Good Eatin’ Recipes] 

Dated: February 7, 2006
from: Spike's and Jamie's Recipe Collection
http://www.spike-jamie.com

Many of these recipes have not yet been added to the recipe web site - so you are getting a "sneak peek" of future additions. We hope you enjoy these recipes!!!

Shalom, from Spike the Grate and Jamie the Webmistress

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[] Larry and I have been making sourdough bread, with wonderful results. The recipe for this lovely stuff is adapted from Irma Rombauer’s Joy of Cooking. I have changed the method that she suggested because it didn’t work well at all. Try it – it is fun, and really more satisfying than making regular bread. []

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NATURAL SOURDOUGH STARTER
Joy of Cooking, Irma Rombauer p. 756

A natural starter contains wild yeasts instead of the commercially packaged variety. The simplest traditional recipes for natural starters, such as this on, combine flour and water, and allow the wild yeasts contained in the air and flour slowly to reproduce. However, wild yeast starters can be made with a variety of ingredients. Some natural sourdough starters are made with a combination of cooked or raw potatoes to which water, salt, and cornmeal or flour are added. Some use a combination of fresh or dried hops, potatoes, and cornmeal. And some use milk, yogurt, and flour. Some bakers use non-airborne wild yeasts, such as those found on organically grown grapes (the thin white film covering the grape’s skin).

This recipe is ideal for the home baker. It begins with a small piece of dough made from flour and water. It is fed on a daily basis with fresh flour and water until the “wild” yeasts reproduce enough so that the starter can be used to make bread. During this slow fermentation process, bacteria in the starter also reproduce and cause the starter to sour. The starter can be maintained indefinitely with twice-daily feedings or allowed to go dormant in the fridge and fed only once a week. Some recipes for starter require up to two weeks of initial growth, but we have developed a method for making a sourdough starter in three days. However, if your starter stubbornly refuses to sour, it may take a day or two longer.

Stir together in a very clean small mixing bowl:

1/2 cup bread flour
1/4 cup barely lukewarm (80 deg F.) water

Turn it out onto a clean (unfloured) work surface and knead the dough using the heel of one hand until it is smooth and elastic, 3 to 5 minutes. Return the dough to the bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap Poke 4 or 5 holes in the plastic with the tip of a sharp knife.

Let stand at room temperature away from drafts for 12 to 15 hours.

Mix thoroughly into the starter:

1/2 cup bread flour
1/4 cup room temperature water

Re-cover the bowl and let stand for an other 12 to 15 hours. Transfer the starter to a clean medium b9owl, and continue the feeding by mixing in:

1/2 cup bread flour
14 cup room temperature water

Re-cover the bowl and let stand at room temperature for 24 hours without disturbing it. Look at the starter. If at this point it has not risen and started bubbling, discard it and start over. If it has, continue to feed the starter on a regular schedule as follows. (With each feeding the consistency loosens into a sponge and bubbling activity increases.

Mix into the starter:

1/2 cup bread flour
1/4 cup room temperature water.

Cover the bowl tightly with a fresh piece of plastic wrap and do not poke holes in it this time. Let stand at room temperature until it rises and the surface has bubbles all over, for about 12 hours. Feed the starter once with

1/2 cup bread flour
1/4 cup room temperature water.

Cover with plastic wrap and let stand until risen and very bubbly, 4 to 8 hours. There should be a faint sour tang in the aroma. The starter is now ready to use in sourdough bread recipes. If the starter does not look very active at this time, continue the same feeding schedule (every 12 hours) for 2 more days until it builds enough leavening strength to rise bread dough.

Maintaining the starter: It is best to use the starter for making bread 4 to 8 hours after the last feeding at room temperature. If you use the starter just before feeding, the yeast may be hungry and less active; if you use your starter just after feeding, you will have diluted it somewhat and it may rise a bit more slowly. Starter kept covered at room temperature must be fed twice daily at 12-hour intervals. If you find that you are using the starter infrequently, keep it covered in the fridge and feed it just once a week.

If your starter doesn’t seem to work, toss it and start over again in another clean bowl. This time, open the door or a window for awhile, so as to admit more of the natural yeasts lurking about outside. That’s what we did, and it was wonderful!

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SOURDOUGH WHITE BREAD
Joy of Cooking, Irma Rombauer, p. 758 – this is an adaptation by Spike

Because of the time needed for making the sourdough starter, you will need to plan your baking at least 3 days in advance for this loaf, but the results are worth it. For sourdough whole-wheat bread, substitute 2 cups whole wheat flour for 2 cups of the bread flour.

Combine in a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a heavy duty mixer:

2 cups Natural Sourdough Starter
1 1/2 cups lukewarm (100 F) water
4 cups bread flour (3/4 cup rye or wheat + 3 1/4 cups a-p flour if you like)

Mix by hand or on low speed until a slightly sticky dough forms (12-15 minutes on a Kitchen Aid mixer. Dough must start to leave the side of the bowl. (It may require more flour than the 4 cups.) Transfer to a clean, greased (sprayed) bowl, and let it rise until almost doubled.

Tip it out onto a floured board, and add:

1/2 cup bread flour
3 tsp fine salt, preferably sea salt (kosher salt ground with mortal & pestle is good)

Knead by hand for about 5 minutes, or with the dough hook on low to medium speed until smooth and elastic, but slightly sticky to the touch. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes.

Shape into two loaves, put onto a cornmeal-strewn cookie sheet or onto a peel, cover with plastic wrap and a towel, let rise, then bake the dough at 400 F. for about 40 minutes.

You can bake directly on the baking stone, on a cookie sheet, or in 9 x 13 inch pans.

We keep the stone inside the oven, because it helps keep the temperature from fluctuating (as ovens almost always do). The cookie sheet can be placed on the shelf just above the stone, as can the two big pans. I have not tried this in loaf pans yet, but will report to you if I ever do. Regardless of what surface you are using, sprinkle it with cornmeal so it won’t stick to the pan. When I ran out of cornmeal, I used Malt-o-Meal Cereal! It worked fine!

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[] We have had this wonderful thing for breakfast several times. It is glorious! I halve it.[]

GERMAN PANCAKES

6 eggs
1 cup milk
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cube butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt butter in a sprayed 9x13 glass pan (you can do it in the oven, in the pan, or just melt it in the microwave, then pour it into the pan).

Beat eggs, then add salt, milk and flour, mixing to form a batter. Pour into pan, over the butter. Butter will flow around the sides, that's ok.

Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes. Batter will puff up around the edges, and will form sort of a custard in the center. It is weird!

Serve with real maple syrup, or jam, or a sprinkling of confectioner’s sugar, or some applesauce.

We bake it in our convection oven at 350. It takes about 20 minutes even though the temperature is reduced.

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[]This is a thing we made last week – it is very good and very forgiving. I have learned that with most recipes (other than for bakery-like foods), stuff can be left out or changed without punishment. Ergo, if a trip to the grocery store is not easy, use your imagination and substitute or omit. Remember, this advice does not apply to cakes, pies, or cookies (with the exception of nuts, chips, or whatever added into your cookies). If you omit the baking powder because you ran out of it, you’ll never live down your mistake. Beans are easier than cake! []

WHITE BEAN SOUP

2 cups navy beans (or small whites or small Great Northern beans)

Soak them overnight in water to cover by about 2 inches. In the morning, rinse them, cover with 2 quarts fresh water, and simmer them for about 2 hours with the lid off. Keeping the lid off during the initial cooking sort of renders them “harmless”. Add the following:

3 Tbsp chicken bouillon (I like the powdered kind found in Mexican grocery stores) If you have only the cubes, add five of them
1/2 cup thinly sliced celery
1 bunch (5 or 6) scallions - not cut up – remove the roots and the green tips, then just add them to the soup and plan to remove them before serving
10 or 15 baby carrots
1 or 2 pork chops, or pork steaks, or any other cut of inexpensive pork suitable for soup
1 dried New Mexico Chili Pepper, stem and seeds removed. Just drop in the pepper, and plan to take it out before serving. It is for slight color and flavor.
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
NO SALT – the bouillon has enough salt in it

Simmer gently for almost ever. Add water if needed, and add anything else you may like. We have found that the less stuff we add, the better the soup is. If you want it to be thick, add in a diced potato or two and plan to mash them.

This is nice served with a light salad and some crusty bread.

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[] We made this chicken dish recently. It is quite marvelous. []

HONEY GLAZED CHICKEN
This came from Taste of Home. It is excellent.

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less – depending on what you like)
1 broiler-fryer chicken, cut up (I just used 4 breasts)
1/2 cup butter, melted, divided use (use margarine for kosher cookery)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tsp curry powder (I omitted, because we don’t like it)

In a bowl or a bag, combine flour, salt, and cayenne pepper; add chicken pieces and dredge or shake to coat. Pour 4 Tbsp melted butter into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan; place chicken in pan, turning pieces once to coat. Bake, uncovered, at 350 F. for 30 minutes.

Combine the brown sugar, honey, lemon juice, soy sauce, curry powder, and remaining butter; pour over chicken. Bake 45 minutes more or until chicken is tender, basting several times with the pan drippings. This will make 4 generous servings. A plain green veggie or green salad, with a baked potato will make a very nice meal.

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