sca-cooks Greetings

[Philip W. Troy]

Aonghas MacLeoid (B.G. Morris) wrote:

> Yeast, as we know it, would most definitely have been used in period times.
> To achieve the yeast, and rising of today, periods cooks would leave a bowl
> of flour, water (or milk) and sugar. This was used to collect *wild* yeast,
> that would form the basis for bread, with a *natural* rising take place. It
> is my opinion that medieval breads could be likened to *sour dough* bread.
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Ealasaid

The sourness of a given batch of sourdough starter depends on the number
of generations that have passed, and mutated, since the capture of the
original yeast. Wild yeasts of fairly recent vintage  can still produce
a not-especially-sour dough. It is only when it is recycled quite a few
times that it becomes really sour, or in some cases, bitter. When it
reaches that stage it is (and presumably was, or may have been) common
practice to throw it away and start a new batch.

Adamantius