Day 2 of my sourdough, there is not supposed to be any change, so I figured I would mention some of the interesting things I have been reading about bread.
Imagine in the old days, before fridges, and instant packaged yeast, how people got their bread to rise. They would use a starter, much like I am trying to grow right now for my sourdough. I think it is interesting, because it is almost like livestock. People would painstakingly grow a yeast culture until it was healthy, then tear off a bit to make their bread rise, and let the starter continue to grow for next time. Like any animal it needs to be fed; you could give your neighbor some of your starter so they could grow their own, famous businesses would guard their strain as a trade secret, you could have different strains for different type of bread... Instant yeast is great, but there is something nice about this idea.
Astute readers may have noticed that my sourdough starter does not actually contain any yeast. That is because I am trying to cultivate wild yeast, which is a different type than what is normally in packaged yeast, and wild yeast is found of most ground grains, particularly rye. that is why I used organic rye flour, because I wanted all these natural "contaminants" that are normally found in rye flour. Compared to a teaspoon of packaged yeast, there is very little wild yeast to be found, and it needs to be coddled, which is why everything needed to be sterile and unchlorinated water had to be used.
Also this wild yeast does not eat sugar, unlike packaged yeast. This is why Lactobacillus can live with it, eating the sugar, and producing lactic acid, which makes it sour. I could be mistaken but I think Lactobacillus is a bacteria that already lives in the human body, it is not dangerous to us at all, but the books I have warned that if the starter gets streaks of color, than it is contaminated with some other bacteria, and needs to be thrown out.
Once again I referenced the books: The Bread Baker's Apprentice, and The Bread Bible as well as various places online. I have found a new interest.
No comments:
Post a Comment