conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me a description for a book titled Baking with Sourdough about Storey's, Country, Wisdom with the genre: Cookbooks, Food & Wine, Baking.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: <DIV> Since the 1973 publication of Storey's first Country Wisdom Bulletin, our commitment to preserving the arts, crafts, and skills of country life has never wavered. We now have more than 200 titles in this series of 32-page publications, and their remarkable popularity reflects the common desire of country and city dwellers alike to cultivate personal independence in everyday life.<P> Storey's Country Wisdom Bulletins contain practical, hands-on instructions designed to help you master dozens of country living skills quickly and easily. From traditional skills to the newest techniques, Storey's Bulletins provide a foundation of earth-friendly information for the way you want to live today.</DIV></P>
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me the first five paragraphs for this book.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Baking with Sourdough
  Perhaps because of all this, some people have considered sourdough uniquely American. But the Egyptians had it several thousand years before the birth of Christ; the ancient Greeks and Romans used it too.
  If you have ever kept leftover mashed potatoes or canned fruit so long it began to ferment, you have an idea of how sourdough must have begun and of why it would have attracted attention. The wild yeasts in the air settle into such congenial environments as sugar, starch and liquid combinations and begin to grow, fermenting and producing potent alcohol which rises to the top. For a long time people were more interested in brewing than baking. Even the American prospectors had uses for the alcohol which surfaced in their sourdough starter pots. They called it "hooch" after the Alaskan Hoochinoo Indians who produced liquor by a sourdough process.
  Jokes about hooch permeate American humor, along with stories about the prospector who used sourdough starter to glue broken furniture, the hunter who used it to polish the brass on his gun, and the pioneer mother who rubbed her children with a combination of sourdough and shoe polish so they would rise and shine.
  Considering how much people talked about sourdough, it is not surprising that a number of misconceptions about it developed and survive even today.
  Another unfortunate misconception about sourdough is that it is finicky and that baking with it requires an almost scientifically controlled environment. Obviously that can't be true or it would not have flourished on wagon trains and at prospecting sites where no one had much control over temperature or time. It's hard to imagine an old "sourdough" cutting short a successful panning session because it was time to bake the bread.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me three more paragraphs.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Put the kneaded dough in a greased bowl, cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, then shape into 2 long loaves and place on a cookie sheet which you have sprinkled with corn meal. Allow to rise until the loaves have doubled in bulk. You may want to brush them from time to time with cool water to prevent a crust forming on top. It's not a good idea to use a damp cloth on top of these loaves. The loaves tend to flatten out from the weight since there are no pan sides to support the cloth and hold the loaves
  Just before baking, brush the loaves with cold water and bake in a preheated 450°F oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the loaves are lightly browned and sound hollow when tapped.
  For the look of traditional sourdough French bread, brush the loaves several times during baking with a cooled mixture of 1 teaspoon cornstarch boiled in ½ cup water, and slash the tops of the loaves diagonally several times with a razor after the first 10 minutes of baking. For the most crusty bread possible, slide a pan of hot water into the oven along with the loaves. And, when cooling, you will get a crisper crust if you leave the loaves uncovered.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the first sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Allow to rise until the loaves have doubled in bulk. You may want to brush them from time to time with cool water to prevent a crust forming on top. It's not a good idea to use a damp cloth on top of these loaves. The loaves tend to flatten out from the weight since there are no pan sides to support the cloth and hold the loaves
  Just before baking, brush the loaves with cold water and bake in a preheated 450°F oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the loaves are lightly browned and sound hollow when tapped.
  For the look of traditional sourdough French bread, brush the loaves several times during baking with a cooled mixture of 1 teaspoon cornstarch boiled in ½ cup water, and slash the tops of the loaves diagonally several times with a razor after the first 10 minutes of baking. For the most crusty bread possible, slide a pan of hot water into the oven along with the loaves. And, when cooling, you will get a crisper crust if you leave the loaves uncovered.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Give me the last five paragraphs.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Drop the dough by teaspoonsful onto a well greased cookie sheet. Leave space for the cookies to flatten and spread as they bake. Bake in a preheated 400°F oven for about 10 minutes, or until the cookies are brown. Cool the cookies on a rack before serving or storing.
  Mix together the first 3 ingredients in a large bowl and set aside, loosely covered, to ferment for up to 24 hours. When ready to bake the shortcakes, sift together the dry ingredients in another bowl, cut in the butter until the mixture is the consistency of coarse meal and then stir in the starter mixture.
  Put the starter in a large bowl, cover loosely and allow to stand at room temperature until active and bubbling — at least an hour. Then add the rest of the ingredients, in the order given, beating well after each addition. It is not necessary to sift or premix any of the ingredients as long as you are careful to get the baking powder and baking soda evenly mixed.
  Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans, pour in the batter, which will be thin, and bake in a preheated 350°F oven for about 30 minutes, or until the layers test done when poked with a toothpick. The cake will have pulled away from the sides of the pan.
  Allow to cool about 10 minutes before removing from pans, then finish cooling the layers on wire racks. Do not frost until the cake is completely cold.
conversations.from: human
conversations.value: Delete the first sentence.
conversations.from: assistant
conversations.value: Leave space for the cookies to flatten and spread as they bake. Bake in a preheated 400°F oven for about 10 minutes, or until the cookies are brown. Cool the cookies on a rack before serving or storing.
  Mix together the first 3 ingredients in a large bowl and set aside, loosely covered, to ferment for up to 24 hours. When ready to bake the shortcakes, sift together the dry ingredients in another bowl, cut in the butter until the mixture is the consistency of coarse meal and then stir in the starter mixture.
  Put the starter in a large bowl, cover loosely and allow to stand at room temperature until active and bubbling — at least an hour. Then add the rest of the ingredients, in the order given, beating well after each addition. It is not necessary to sift or premix any of the ingredients as long as you are careful to get the baking powder and baking soda evenly mixed.
  Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans, pour in the batter, which will be thin, and bake in a preheated 350°F oven for about 30 minutes, or until the layers test done when poked with a toothpick. The cake will have pulled away from the sides of the pan.
  Allow to cool about 10 minutes before removing from pans, then finish cooling the layers on wire racks. Do not frost until the cake is completely cold.