Recipes with water

Overnight starter pizza dough baked on a stone for a chewy, blistered crust with real pizzeria flavor. Just flour, water, yeast, and salt. Save a piece of dough as your next starter.

Flank steak marinated overnight in soy sauce, dry sherry, and garlic, stir-fried with green peppers and fresh tomato wedges in a glossy cornstarch sauce. Serve over steaming rice for a satisfying Chinese-style dinner.

Grandma's chicken noodle soup with bone-in thighs, turnips, carrots, celery, and egg noodles. Simmered from scratch in water with thyme and poultry seasoning. Honest, old-fashioned comfort.

Long, slow simmering of meat and herbs produces the base for this incomparable sauce.

Drop biscuits loaded with browned sausage, onion, and cheddar soup made with Bisquick. Makes 4 dozen savory bites that are gone before they cool.

Jellied veal loaf: an old Pennsylvania Dutch cold-cut classic. Slowly braised veal, ground and set in its own gelled stock with onion and celery. Sliced cold for sandwiches and supper plates.

Strawberry sorbet made with pureed fresh strawberries, cranberry juice, and lemon juice. No ice cream maker needed. Freeze, blend, and refreeze for a smooth, fruity frozen treat.

Grilled venison marinated in a homemade teriyaki sauce with soy, ginger, and garlic. Cut it into steaks, strips, or bite-size pieces for a wild game twist on a Japanese classic.

This cake won me First Prize at the county fair last year. It is very chocolaty.

This is one of those "ooooof!" cakes. Between the chocolate ganache and the chocolate mousse filling you might break out in some butter sweats, but it is very worth it. The cake is fluffy and moist, the mousse cool and airy, and the ganache smooth and creamy. A great show off cake for special occasions. Best of all, really easy to make!

Fried zucchini with a thin Italian-style flour-and-water batter, salted first to draw moisture, then pan-fried in oil until crisp and golden. Five ingredient summer staple.

Kung Pao chicken: authentic Sichuan stir fry with velveted chicken cubes, blackened dried red chiles, scallions, and roasted peanuts in a glossy sweet-sour sauce. The real deal, not the sweet American version.

Homemade mead recipe with honey, cloves, cinnamon sticks, and lemon. A simple beginner-friendly honey wine fermented with active dry yeast and ready to drink in about a month.

This tasty bread is reminiscent of the 1950s open-faced sandwich favorite made by covering split hamburger buns with canned comed beef, cheese slicesand a dollop of barbecue sauce, then heating them in the oven.

Lemon mousse cake with a tender shortbread crust and a cloud-light citrus mousse stabilized with gelatin. A three-layer chilled dessert that slices clean and tastes like spring.

Cranberry swirl cheesecake on a vanilla wafer crust with sour cream topping and fresh cranberry orange compote. A stunning make-ahead holiday dessert.