When Janet Tippetts’ friend Faye came to her Provo home for dinner almost 60 years ago, she brought a type of bread that Janet had never heard of before: sourdough.
“At first I thought, this is so strange.”
But she thought it was delicious, so Faye gave her some of her sourdough starter. As Janet recalled, Faye had gotten it from someone with the last name “Jolley,” who got it from someone else.
“It’s been handed on down for a long time,” she said. “My friend Faye claimed that it was from the Alaskan Gold Rush.”
Now 95 years old, Janet raised a sourdough family. The Tippets still use that same starter on a regular basis.
She shared it with her eight children, including John, who is now 70. Janet said he “really took off with it” — baking and researching sourdough, especially its connections to Alaska. John’s read stories about miners there sleeping with their starts to keep it from freezing.
“My dream, I don’t know if it’s ever going to really happen, was to go prospecting in Alaska,” he said. “And then you start looking into sourdough and that kind of ties it together.”
John and his wife moved in with Janet in Payson a few years ago to help her out. He keeps his fragment of Faye’s starter in a big clear jar in the refrigerator. When John took off the blue lid, the sour, tangy aroma quickly escaped from the white batter-like substance. Starters need to be fed regularly with flour and water to stay alive, but John admitted he’s gone a month or two without feeding it before. It still survived.
Sourdough has been around for thousands of years. Director of Washington State University’s Breadlab Stephen Jones said in an email, starters continuously repopulate with new yeasts and bacteria if they’re not kept completely sterile. That means the Tippetts’ starter has changed from what it was 60 years ago, let alone a century ago — although Jones doubts it's actually from the gold rush. He said it's tough to say whether there’s anything in the starter that matches what was there when Janet first got it.
“Another way to look at it might be to say that pasture out back is 60 years old. My grandparents planted it,” Jones wrote. “It might be a bit different than when it started out, but they did plant it.”
Jones added the fact the Tippetts family has had it for over 60 years is impressive and a sweet story, even if it's more folklore than fact.
But John and Janet aren’t really focused on the physical makeup. Janet said when they serve something made with the starter, they feel like they’re keeping a tradition alive.
“I like the idea that we’re following a start that started over 100 years ago,” she said.
John is less sentimental about the historic yeast. He said he doesn’t taste a difference between his and other sourdough. And when asked why he still keeps it, John said it's more convenient than creating his own. And it has become commonplace in their day-to-day baking lives.
“In fact, I don’t know how to make pancakes without it,” Janet said.
Part of the joy is also sharing it with others. Janet cooks her sourdough pancakes whenever someone stays at her home. John estimates he’s given the starter to 20 or 30 people as he’s moved throughout his life.
“It’s in California, it’s in Colorado, it’s all over the place,” he said.
John’s favorite thing to make is sourdough biscuits, which has its own history. He got the recipe from his uncle’s wife, Elaine, who got it from her grandparents. They made the biscuits for workers on their ranch, and Elaine would always try to get one from the cookhouse before they were all gone.
“This recipe has been around for 120 years,” John said.
While they make sourdough all year long, John said the biscuits are perfect with gravy, which they sometimes make around the holidays.
It’s even an award-winning recipe. During the 1992 World Championship Dutch Oven Cookoff, John said his biscuits took second place. But just as he’s happy to share his starter, John is also willing to share his recipes.
“Some people like to have their special secret recipe. I think if it's a secret recipe, you must be afraid it's not going to turn out every time.”
John’s Sourdough Biscuits Recipe:
The night before, mix in a glass, plastic or stainless steel bowl:
1 cup of sourdough starter
2 cups buttermilk
2 cups flour
In the morning, turn this very soft dough out onto a mixing board, covered with 1 cup flour. In a small bowl, combine:
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup flour
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking soda
Sprinkle over the top of the dough on a mixing board. With spatula, work dry mixture into the dough. Knead lightly. Pat out to the circumference of the Dutch oven lid. Melt 1/2 cup butter in the bottom of a 12” Dutch oven. Cut and dip biscuits into melted butter and arrange biscuits snugly inside the oven.
Let rise for 30 minutes by placing 3 briquettes on the lid of the Dutch oven. Bake with 6-8 briquettes underneath the oven and 22-24 briquettes on the lid of the oven for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Serves 6-8.
NOTE: These biscuits can also be baked in a conventional oven at 375° for 20 minutes or until lightly browned.
