SC - Re: Bread making Platina style (long)

[Decker, Terry D.]

There are two types of starter.  One that is made each time a batch of bread
is prepared and the other being a continuously fed starter.  

The first type uses leavening agent such as barm or dry active yeast to
start fermentation in a small portion of the total amount of dough.  Then it
is used as a starter for a batch of bread.  It improves the flavor and can
use less yeast in the initial batch (which reduces the "yeasty" taste).
Professional artisan bakers will sometimes use a "three quarter rise" (IIR
the nomenclature correctly), where a starter is used to ferment about 1/3 of
the total dough, which is in turn used to ferment the total mass.

The starter I was addressing is the continuously maintained starter which is
fed at regular intervals.  Such a starter can be made with S. cerevisiae,
but over time, the starter becomes more acid and yeast starts dying off,
which reduces the leavening capability of the starter.

Continuous starters need to be fed and used regularly.  Putting a starter in
the refrigerator only slows the yeast growth, it doesn't stop it.  Feed it a
couple times of week while it is in the refrigerator to keep it healthy.  If
you don't feed it, the fermentation stops, the yeast dies or goes dormant,
and the mold turns your starter into a science project.

If you want to do long term storage of a continuous starter, it can be
frozen or starter can be spread between a couple sheets of aluminum foil,
allowed to dry and then crushed into a powder which can be stored in a jar
in the refrigerator.  Frozen yeast is reconstituted by allowing it to thaw,
then feeding it equal weights of flour and water, then letting sit covered
on the countr for a day or two.  The powdered starter is dissolved in water,
then an equal weight (to the amount of water) of flour is stirred into the
mixture, and the starter is allowed to sit covered on the counter for a day
or two.

Bear

> 
> I have a question about this.  I usually make a
> sourdough rye bread with beer, as part of the starter
> and not as an adulterant.  If I am lucky and someone
> gives me some unpasturized flat beer, I will use one
> half cup of beer to one cup of rye flour.  However, if
> I have none, then I have used flat commercial beer
> very successfully, but the starter obviously takes
> longer to sour [about four days].  Why do you say that
> that the beer yeasts don't stand up to the acid
> environment?  Or do you mean that if you kept some of
> the starter for future use that it wouldn't last?  I
> usually make fresh starter for each batch.  I had once
> kept some starter in the refrigerator for a couple of
> months before using it again and it had turned all
> moldy and nasty, so I usually make my starter fresh
> each time and use is all up, rather than keep any left
> over.
> 
> Huette