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Show flour and water, and a dry yeast cake. After using the start to mix a batch of bread there was enough thick batter left clinging to the inside of the jar to act as a new start by mixing more flour and water into it. Set aside to work, or ferment, it was always ready for use again. John K did not use measuring spoons and cups, or recipes, as they were unknown in camp. He used a tin or granite drinking cup to measure flour for a batch of bread. The amount was determined by the number of people who would eat a meal. He measured salt and soda with his fingers and adjusted each of them to the amount of flour he used. Practice was a good teacher in amounts, and the sourdough start was used often- usually for two meals a day to avoid spoilage. Cold biscuits were eaten for a third meal, the extras having been planned in the mixing and baking. With so many years of camp life to his credit John K had plenty of experience in cooking, expecially in his early years. Supplies were not plentiful when he was a teen-aged herder, and he said they often relied too heavily on meat in their meals. He also said that a good pocket knife was a man's handiest tool, serving well as a cooking and eating utensil, when so few others were available. The lonely shepherds always welcomed a neighbor from the next nearest camp, or a chance visitor, and happily prepared a meal to add hospitality. For firewood, John K and his herders cut dead cedar trees in the nearest location to their camp on the desert. After 64 |
