Recipe Sifter

Start your own sourdough with just flat beer and flour. Stir 3 times a day for 5 to 10 days and you've got a bubbly, tangy starter ready for any sourdough recipe.

Warm fruit crisp loaded with sliced apples and plump raisins under a crunchy oat-pecan streusel. Soaking the raisins in boiling water keeps them tender. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

Fresh strawberries make this nice and tasty tart. Perfect for two people. Light and flaky crust. Enjoy strawberry season.

Saganaki: Greek flaming kasseri cheese pan-fried in butter, deglazed with lemon juice and cognac, and lit at the table for an "Opa!" tableside appetizer.

Vegetarian mince pies with a suet-free, no-suet British mincemeat: dried fruits, ripe banana, almonds, brandy, and warm spice tucked inside flaky shortening pastry. The traditional Christmas pie, made meatless.

Oversized chocolate chip cookies baked low and slow to giant lemon-sized rounds. Buttery, crisp-edged with chocolate chunks and pecans. Special-occasion bakery-style cookies.

Almond lace cookies, those delicate, paper-thin discs that roll into cigarettes or fans while warm. The classic French tuile-style cookie with ground almonds and orange zest.

Roast goose stuffed with cornbread, Granny Smith apples, dried figs, and savory, then slow-roasted three hours with the fat poured off as it renders. The traditional centerpiece for an old-fashioned Christmas dinner.

Lemon chicken with Angostura bitters, brown sugar, and paprika. Flour-coated chicken thighs browned in a skillet then baked with lemon slices in a sweet-bitter pan sauce.

Fruity jam is deliciously paired with the buttery and flakey cookies. You will fall in love with these fruit bars from the first bite on.

Original yeast-based Amish Friendship Bread starter that ferments for 10 days, then divides into portions to share or bake. The Pennsylvania Dutch tradition starts here.

I have not tried this myself yet, but a good friend of mine uses it all the time and sent it to me. I don't know the 'time', etc. this posting requires. It looks simple and easy enough. It's your guess. :)

Angel food cake is the guilt-free dessert for most of us, it's light and delicious on its own, or serve it with your favorite fruit compote.

Garlic mud chicken roasted under a thick paste of 50 garlic cloves, olive oil, Cajun spice, and flour that bakes into a crispy, flavor-sealing crust. Seriously garlicky.

Rhubarb pie sweetened with light brown sugar instead of white, with thin lemon slices layered between the rhubarb for bright citrus contrast. A lattice-topped pie that's tart, caramelly, and old-fashioned.

Classic four-ingredient flaky pie dough with shortening and ice water. Makes two 9-inch crusts for double-crust pies, lattice tops, or freezer-stash backup. The base every home baker needs.