Backbone of The Wild Wild West

I haven’t got much money
I don’t like to make a show
But when it comes to real good friends
I love to share my ‘dough’

-By Hal ‘Lucky Luke’ Lucas

Some of you may remember passing round Alaskan Sourdough Starters to your friends and family along with your own yarn of how you came to possess such a precious, delicious, practical and ancient culture. Here is a version I discovered on a scrap of paper mixed in with my grandmother’s recipes:

This starter originated from the Sour Doughs of Alaska in early gold rush days, and has been handed down from igloo to ice-box to electric refrigerator and propagated through friendship channels. The original sample was brought from the Yukon. It was smuggled out by a successful miner who found the original in a deserted miner’s cabin on Sour Dough Creek; he in turn, shared his secret with the Captain of a four-master sailing vessel. The Captain gave a sample to the mayor of San Francisco. From him it was stolen by the mayor’s cook who in turn sold ‘starts’ to wealthy Spanish Grandees. My sister in San Jose got her ‘start’ through connections from a hermit who lives back of Mt. Hamilton.

(You may pass this along to your friends, but be sure to add your own flavor to the above story.)

This recipe followed the above yarn:

Sour Dough Hot Cakes

Serves 2 to 3 people

Do this at night:

• Take 2 cups of sifted flour and add
• 1 c milk and one of warm water more or less

Mix in your sourdough starter to thickness similarly to hot cake batter. Cover with oiled paper and set over night in a warm place; (on top of the pilot burner is a good place.)