Great Grandma Dena's Apple Crisp

I love apples. There I said it. :) I love them plain and raw, and I especially love them in desserts. Perhaps the easiest and most reliable apple dessert I have is an Apple Crisp from my Great Grandma Dena. It's the perfect balance of butter, sugar, and cinnamon to top any bunch of apples - anytime, especially in the fall but when you find yourself on a hot August night with a bunch of apples that haven't lived up to your eating-raw expectations and absolutely no chocolate in the house - it's the perfect solution.

Here's the recipe in case you find yourself in the same pickle.





Great Grandma Dena's Apple Crisp

4-6 cups  apples, sliced 1 Tbs  lemon juice 1/4 cup  white flour 1/4 cup  wheat flour 1 cup  rolled oats 1/2 cup  brown sugar 1 tbsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp 1/3 cup  salt butter, melted

Place apples in a greased 13x9 shallow pan. Sprinkle with lemon juice. In a separate bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Mix until crumbly. Sprinkle over apples. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes until nicely browned.

Servings: 6

Sourdough Pan Bread

Long overdue, I'm finally posting this recipe I found for Simple Sourdough Pan Bread over at Carl's Friends. This is the easiest, tastiest, and most reliable sandwich bread I've ever tried to make. It works great from a sourdough starter or from a sponge start. (No sourdough? Just add equal parts water and flour for the starter that's called for and add a packet of yeast. I'll be going fine by morning.)

 You owe it to yourself to try this bread - in the summer though, keep a watch on it during the final rise, it'll blow the proof faster than you can imagine. I came home the other day after running errands while it proofed to find it rolling down the side of my breadpan. Not to worry though, I punched it down, reshaped and let it rise again, it wasn't the prettiest loaf I've made, but it tasted just fine.

Instructions for simple Sourdough Pan Bread using Carl Griffith's 1847 Oregon Trail Sourdough Starter and a Kitchen Aid K-45 mixer

Put into the mixing bowl:
1 cup fully active culture
2 cups water
2 cups bread flour
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Mix manually. Let sit covered for 8 or 10 hr.
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Manually mix in: 2 tsp. salt & 3 more cups flour. Machine knead ~10 min. at low speed while adjusting consistency by adding 1 cup more or less of additional flour, until the dough no longer sticks to bowl or fingers.
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Remove from mixer, hand knead briefly, and split dough. Work in more flour while hand kneading each piece. (total cups flour=6+, possibly<6) Well, I also bat each piece around in the bowl with the dough hook, at medium speed. (Bat one while kneading the other, repeat twice.)
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Form and reform each piece several times during 20 or 30 minutes, otherwise keeping covered. The dough should be soft enough to  easily reseal a seam, but should not stick to hands. Finally form to oblong and cut tops with a razor blade, 10 or 12 diagonal cuts. Dough as finally formed should be silky smooth.
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Place in pans*, allow to rise 5 to 8 hrs., enclosed to retain moisture, until top is an inch or two higher than the top of the pan. (3 in. is possible!) Bake 40 min. at ~375°F. Cold start OK. (Expect little "oven push", or none.)
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*usual Teflon-coated steel pans, capacity ~67 fl. oz. (~8-1/3 cups) to brim; Times are approximate, for ~70°F -- Shorten for summertime.
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Cans as measures: A 16 ounce can is good for fetching the first 2 cups of flour, and a 32 ounce can gets most of the rest. Keep cans with flour.