My sister-in-law knows how much I love old recipes.

Last week she handed me a recipe that came out of an old church cookbook…of course, there was a great story behind it.

“My mom remembers her mother making sourdough scones.  We think this might be the recipe, but we’re not sure.  We knew you had some experience with sourdoughs, and thought maybe you could give this a try and we could see if this is the right one.”

Julie’s mother (or “Golf Cart Grandma” to my boys) is the oldest of fourteen.  Yep, four.  Teen.  She remembers these buttery, sugary scones made by her mother on Sunday mornings that no one seems to be able to remember how they were made.

After a closer look, I realized why she was looking for someone with a little experience:“Cover and let stand in a warm place.  Be sure container is large enough for starter to work.  Refrigerate.”

Wow, really?  That’s all we get?

Yay!  Project!

I ain’t no sourdough expert.  But I’ve parented four sourdough starters and done quite a bit of research on them.  I like this site by S. John Ross.  Simple and straightforward information about starting and maintaining sourdoughs.

Mine have only died because of neglect.

Well, one was murdered by my well-meaning husband who thought I had left something out too long.

Sourdough starters aren’t too tough.  They just require some attention.  Kind of like a plant.

1.  You have to feed them.  I usually feed them once a day, then refrigerate and feed every three days.

2.  You have to stir them.  Or you get hooch.

3.  You have to use them.  Or give them away.  Or throw it away.  If you don’t, you’ll have enough sourdough starter to fill a swimming pool in a week.

So we’ll give this one a try.  Golf Cart Grandma deserves some awesome scones.

1 pkt yeast (2 1/4 tsp), 2 tbsp sugar, 2 cups flour, 2 1/2 cups water.

You can actually start a sourdough with just flour and water.  There’s live wild yeast found in flour…but the yeast here kind of gives us a little head start.

Stir together the flour, sugar and yeast…

Then dump in the water and stir, stir, stir.

It says “beat well” , so we should probably stir until we get rid of these lumps…Very nice.

Okay, I could totally just cover this bowl with some plastic wrap…or a plastic bowl with a lid.  It’s not recommended to use metal – the metal is reactive and can do funny things to your starter.

Or you can use this as an excuse to show off your totally kicking antique crock…

which was actually Julie’s…so it’s fitting that it should be used here.

Pour in the sourdough starter…There it is.  Okay, you be good in there!  Grow big and bubbly!Cover loosely…it needs some air. 

If you’re using plastic wrap, just poke some holes in the plastic.

We’ll put the crock up high…so my husband won’ t find it.Now, it’s 10am on Sunday.

I’m going to feed this starter 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water tomorrow.  Then I’ll show ya where we are.

This will be fun, right?

Hopefully, we’ll get the right recipe for Golf Cart Grandma’s scones.