lady: A 167 year old Sourdough Starter and Recipes from One Man's Wilderness

A couple of months ago I sent away for Carl Griffith 1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough. (Send away for yours too, it only costs a stamp!) We started it with no problems and have been keeping it alive in the refrigerator where we feed it once a week because we only bake with it that often.

This past week we ran into some problems and it didn't revive and make a loaf like normal, so we decided to pull it out for a couple of days, feed it daily, and resuscitate it. The benefit of this is more sourdough.

Besides the fact that I had a foray into sourdough baking when i was 17, (one of the few years in my life where i was stable with a sane kitchen) I hadn't really thought about it even though i was stable again with a sane kitchen (Really, the 2nd time in my life, with my mom being a hoarder and then me moving around into punk house after punk house in my 20s).

What brought it back was One Man's Wilderness, by Sam Keith from the journals and photographs of Richard Preonneke.

This book is basically one man's journals from his first year or two of living in the back country of Alaska. He went on to stay and lived there from 1967 through 1998. The journals are a very basic outline of what he did everyday, one of them keeping his sourdough alive because the man lived off of sourdough flapjacks and biscuits.

"I uncovered the sourdough starter, dumped two-thirds of it into a bowl, put three heaping teaspoons of flour back into the starter jar, added some lukewarm water, stirred and capped it. If i did this every time, the starter would go on forever.

To the starter bowl i added five tablespoons of flour, three tablespoons of sugar, and half a cup of dry milk, mixing it all together with a wooden spoon. I dribbled in lukewarm water until the batter was thin. Then I covered the bowl with a pan. The mixture would work itself into hotcake batter by morning.

The next morning was "Time now for the finishing touches to the sourdough starter. As I uncovered it I could smell the fermentation. I gave it a good stirring, then sprinkled half a teaspoonful of baking soda on top, scattered a pinch of salt, and dripped in a tablespoon of bacon fat. When these additions were gently folded into the batter it seemed to come alive. I let it site for a minute... then i dropped one wooden spoonful of batter, hissing onto the skillet. When bubbles appear all over, its time to flip...

Before doing the dishes, I readied the makings of sourdough biscuits. These would be a must for each day's supper. The recipe is the same as for hotcakes, but thicker, a dough that is baked."