“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity….” Though the drama occurring on my counter had little in common with Dickens’ Tale of Two Cities, I like to call it the tale of two sourdoughs. 

It had none of the book’s socioeconomic clashing of the French Revolution, and likewise none of the violent conflict, but it was a story of the outworking of the disparities and similarities of two sourdough starters that had been treated very differently. 

I may be dramatizing it a bit, or a whole lot, but you know these wild yeasts just can’t be tamed. They might…rise…over many hours….

My two sourdoughs — I’ll call them Nancy and Jake — actually came from the same source. I’ve long thought sourdough seems like my kind of thing and that I “should” be an aficionado, but it never happened. Because it’s me, of course I read up on it, researched various techniques, and baked with it a few times. I even made my own starter during my son’s very long 41st week in utero! But I only used “Doris” literally two or three times in the over two years since; just yesterday I retrieved the sad little jar from its lonely corner on the garage fridge door to finally take it out of its misery, its final resting place being the compost corner of the garden plot. It gave SOURdough a whole new meaning.

So yes, I’m familiar with sourdough, just as of yet I have not been dedicated enough to the cause. There are so many people in and out of my house to feed and take care of, why would I add some needy dough? 

I am, however, coming around. In a very lackadaisical sort of way. My first resurgence came when a friend offered me a batch of starter, to which I couldn’t say no. While I was excited to have Jake join my kitchen, I’m afraid I didn’t take very good care of him. I kind of figured, if he can’t handle my sourdough parenting style (meaning complete and utter neglect), then I’ll say goodbye and that’ll be the end of it. 

Unfortunately, or fortunately, I started baking sourdough things. I started off with “discard” recipes, meaning using some of the starter for its flavor and nutrition but not for its actual leavening or fermenting properties. English muffins, pancakes, brownies. I was breaking all the rules of sourdough, but I was getting good products, so it didn’t matter to me. 

When the same friend dropped off another round of starter a couple weeks ago, though, I realized how much I had been torturing Jake. One look at Nancy, the new one, told me I should take a little better care of my sourdough starters, especially now that I’m actually enjoying using them. 

Just for fun, to test the effects of my abuse, I made two side-by-side batches of simple sourdough pizza dough. Everything was exactly the same except for the starter portion (I had been feeding the older starter whole wheat, so it does look different), and you know what, they both made amazing pizza. While Nancy definitely had more energy and leavening, Jake contributed more tang and funk, which I loved. I baked a loaf of bread this morning (after mixing it up yesterday noon), having used half of each starter; it rose beautifully, and the flavor and chew are addictive. 

So how does my tale of two sourdoughs end? I’m not sure. I’m encouraged to know my laissez-faire approach to sourdough doesn’t keep me out of the game, and hopeful that my current good intentions will keep my starters alive and well for at least a while. I guess we’ll see. 

Sourdough Pizza Dough

Pizza dough is a great first step into the foray of sourdough-ing, as you don’t have to worry nearly as much about leavening, shaping, inner crumb, etc. You also don’t have to think about it the day ahead, which is sometimes the hardest part, as you can get this started mid-morning and have it be ready in plenty of time for supper. And don’t forget, the vast majority of time is spent letting the dough rest, so don’t feel like you need to babysit it…in my experience, it’s more forgiving than you might anticipate. 

Prep tips: I want to give you substitutions for the sourdough starter in case you don’t have a friend stopping by with some, but that would defeat the purpose of providing a sourdough recipe. That said, just google it if you want that tang but don’t have any starter — or just make regular pizza dough. 

1 cup sourdough starter 

1 ½ cups warm water

5-6 cups all-purpose flour (can use some whole-wheat)

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

cornmeal for sprinkling

In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly whisk starter, water, and 3 cups flour. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 4-24 hours. 

Meanwhile, mix 2 cups flour with salt, brown sugar, and baking soda; then mix this into the sourdough mixture. Knead, adding flour as necessary, to get a nice dough. Oil the bowl and return the dough to let rise, covered, for 2-4 hours. Sprinkle two rimmed baking sheets with cornmeal. Divide the dough in half, then press/roll out to shape, and transfer to prepared pans. Let rise for another 1-2 hours. Top as desired, and bake for about 15 minutes at 425°.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…”

This column will wrap up March 2023 and another month down in history. It’s unbelievable how fast time goes. 

We moved to Michigan from Indiana in March 2004, which is 19 years already. Lots of changes in those 19 years. Our oldest child was 9 when we moved, and we only had our six oldest children. In May 2004, daughter Lovina was born, and then Kevin in 2005.

We have been helping daughter Loretta and Dustin, and hopefully next week we can go again. They will host church services at their house at the end of April, Lord willing. This is their first time hosting it. On Saturday, son Joseph and daughter Lovina and Daniel (Lovina’s special friend and Dustin’s brother) were helping. Lovina cleaned out some cabinets, and the boys helped Dustin get some more trim on that wasn’t finished from when they remodeled their house. The services will be held in their pole barn, so that has to be cleaned out yet. 

On Saturday we had supper at daughter Elizabeth and Tim’s house. Tim had the grill and deep fryer going. On the menu was grilled ham, fries, cheese curds, cheese, chips, cinnamon rolls, cookies, ice cream bars, and ice cream sandwiches. All of our family was there except son Joseph and daughter Lovina. After supper we played games. 

On Sunday, Joe and I were the only ones home all day. In the afternoon we walked across the road to daughter Loretta and Dustin’s house. We played Marble Chase with them, and they told us to stay for supper. They put pepper poppers and ham on the grill. After supper we played Marble Chase again. Joe and I were teamed up against Dustin and Loretta, and we were ahead in the games we won. We probably should’ve quit while we were ahead. Haha! They ended up winning the most games. It can get pretty exciting, and it’s always fun to see which team wins. Denzel was happy watching and sitting on our laps until he decided he should move the marbles, too. He’s okay letting me hold him until Grandpa Joe comes around, then he wants to go there. For some reason it’s way more fun hanging out with Grandpa. 

Yesterday, daughter Elizabeth dropped her daughters Allison, 3, and Andrea, 1, off here before she picked Tim up from work. They took Timothy (T.J.) to the doctor and they changed his cast to see how his finger is doing. 

The doctor said it’s healing well but his finger won’t look normal the way it did before. He won’t have a fingernail on it, and it’s going to be shorter than it was. Basically, what they did is use the part that was cut off to cover the open wound. By doing this they didn’t have to cut below the first joint. It won’t look normal but at least it wasn’t worse than that. T.J. was excited to show us his new cast, and this time the doctor put on a blue cast. Last time it was white, so he was glad he could have a colored one. T.J. is an active little boy, so it was a good thing he had the cast changed. His other one looked dirty already. Typical for a 4-year-old boy. 

Abigail, 6, came off the bus here, and she was glad to spend some time here before her parents came to pick the three girls up. We enjoyed having the girls here. 

Daughter Verena came home after her dentist appointment yesterday and stayed the night. Today daughters Elizabeth, Susan, and Loretta and all their little ones will come for the day. I want to get a breakfast casserole in the oven soon so it’s ready to eat when they come. It’s been a while since they all came home for a day together. Susan has a few more to bring than she used to, but she enjoys it. She is a good mother to their five little ones. 

Ervin and Susan left their five children here Saturday while they went to town. Five children from ages 3 to 6 makes for never a dull moment. They are all precious. God’s blessings!

Cinnamon Bun Cake

3 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

3 teaspoons vanilla

2 tablespoons butter, melted

Topping:

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon cinnamon

2/3 cup chopped nuts, optional

Glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar

1/3 cup milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, milk, eggs, and vanilla. Once combined well, slowly stir in 2 tablespoons melted butter. Pour batter into a greased 9 x 13-inch baking pan. 

In another large bowl, mix the two sticks of softened butter, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nuts until well combined. Drop evenly over cake batter by the tablespoon and use a knife to marble swirl through the cake. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out nearly clean from the center. 

Place powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla in a large bowl. Whisk until smooth. Drizzle over warm cake. Best served warm straight from the oven or then at room temperature. 

Lovina’s Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife, and mother of eight. Her newest cookbook, Amish Family Recipes, is available wherever books are sold. Readers can write to Eicher at Lovina’s Amish Kitchen, PO Box 234, Sturgis, MI 49091 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply); or email [email protected] and your message will be passed on to her to read. She does not personally respond to emails.