Bread Recipe Can Be Adapted To Fit Your Tastes

Dear Laura: I would like to have a recipe for Fergosa bread like those the grocery stores are selling for a high price. Can you help me? - Sue, Coeur d’Alene.

Dear Sue: I’ve seen Fergosa breads with bits of several vegetables and herbs. This one has only onion and poppy seeds. Consider it a guide and adapt it to include other vegetables and/or herbs as you like.

Rosande’s Fergosa

Recipe adapted from “The Harrowsmith Cookbook, Volume Three.”

1/2 cup chopped onion

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

1 cup flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups grated cheese

1/3 cup milk

1 egg, lightly beaten

Poppy seeds

Saute onion in 1 tablespoon butter or margarine until transparent, then set aside.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and remaining 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, 1/2 cup grated cheese and the milk; beat until smooth. The dough will be sticky. Knead 10 times on floured board, working in a bit of flour if necessary.

Grease an 8-inch pie plate and your hands, then spread dough evenly in pan. Combine remaining 1 cup cheese and egg. Spread on dough. Sprinkle with onion and poppy seeds.

Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

Dear Laura: I would greatly appreciate a recipe for rhubarb jam or preserves. Please make that a recipe with just plain rhubarb and nothing else. Thank you. - Doris, Spokane.

Dear Doris: I’ve searched without success for a plain rhubarb jam recipe. Perhaps a reader will have a recipe to share. Meanwhile, consider these rhubarb spreads.

Rhubarb Jam

3 cups chopped rhubarb

1/2 cup water

2 1/2 cups sugar

3-ounce package flavored gelatin (strawberry, raspberry, lemon, orange, etc.)

Combine rhubarb and water in saucepan; cook to form a sauce. Add sugar; cook and stir until dissolved. Remove from heat, add gelatin and stir until dissolved. Pour into hot jars or freezer cartons; seal and label. Store in refrigerator or freezer.

Rhubarb-Citrus Marmalade

2 pounds rhubarb, coarsely chopped (about 6 cups)

6 cups sugar

3 whole lemons, ends discarded and thinly sliced

4 whole large oranges, ends discarded and thinly sliced

Place chopped rhubarb in a large, nonmetallic mixing bowl. Add the sugar and the lemon and orange slices; stir thoroughly to mix all ingredients. Cover and chill for 24 hours.

Transfer mixture to a 4-quart pan; bring to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to low and simmer gently, stirring frequently to prevent sticking, until preserves are thick, about 1 1/2 hours.

Ladle hot marmalade into hot sterilized pint or half-pint canning jars leaving 1/8-inch head space. Wipe rims clean. Seal and process 10 minutes in boiling water bath.

Yield: 4 pints.

Dear Laura: I usually cut your column out of the paper each week and save it until I have time to enter it into my word processor. I ran across one that I have not entered yet, dated April 30, 1991. I had saved it for the Basic Cheese Soup recipe, but happened to notice part of the recipe for a Potato Bread Starter. In 1991 I was not making my own bread, but now I am and would like to have the complete recipe. Thanks for your great column. - Mary, Oldtown, Idaho.

Potato Yeast and Bread

Starter:

1 package active dry yeast

1 quart cooled potato water (drained from cooking 4 or 5 unseasoned potatoes)

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup sieved cooked potato

Basic Potato Yeast:

1 cup potato yeast starter

3 cups potato water

3 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons sieved cooked potato

Potato Yeast Bread:

3 cups basic potato yeast or starter

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon salt

1 cup dry milk powder, optional

6 to 7 cups unsifted flour

To prepare starter, combine yeast, cooled water, sugar and potato; stir well and let ferment 8 to 12 hours at room temperature in a loosely covered container. Store in refrigerator until ready to use. Use at least once every 7 to 10 days.

When ready to use, prepare the basic potato yeast using 1 cup starter, poured off the top and mixed with 3 cups additional potato water and 3 tablespoons each sugar and sieved cooked potato. Let basic potato yeast ferment 8 to 12 hours. Cover and refrigerate until ready for next use.

For bread, combine 3 cups of the basic potato yeast or starter, sugar, salt and milk powder, if used. Stir in enough flour to make a moderately stiff dough. Knead on floured surface until smooth, elastic and satiny. Place in an oiled bowl, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise at room temperature until double, about 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Punch down and mold into 2 large loaves. Cover and let double, 1 to 1 hours. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown.

Yield: 2 loaves.

xxxx

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Laura Carnie The Spokesman-Review