SC - Re:Sourdoh Bread making Platina style (long)

[Ron and Laurene Wells]

This is the best instruction on the why's and how's of Sourdoh Starters 
that I have ever read!!  In fact, I did not know until (GASP!) TODAY that 
sourdoh starter could even be MADE without some form of yeast additive -ie: 
beer, bread yeast, etc.  This not only told me that it could be done but 
why it SHOULD be done!  Very interesting... Thank you!

- -Laurene

At 01:37 PM 7/17/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2000 13:36:51 -0500
>From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
>Subject: RE: SC - Re: Bread making Platina style (long)
>
>Lets talk a little bit about what is happening when you make a starter.
>
>By combining equal weights of wheat flour and water and mixing them together
>you start an amylase catalyzed reaction which converts the starch in the
>flour to sugar.  Normally there are yeasts and lactobacilli in the flour.
>These begin to use the sugars produced by the amylase reaction to grow
>colonies.
>
>When you beat the flour and water together, air is introduced into the
>mixture.  The lactobacilli are aerobic in nature and begin to reproduce
>first, when the air in the mixture is used up, the anerobic yeast (most
>often a variety of Candida milleri, which is suited to an acidic
>environment) begins to reproduce.  When the sugars are used up, the yeast
>begins to die off.
>
>The fermentation process in sourdough takes about two days to form a basic
>starter.  Sourdough works best between 40 and 80 degrees F.  The higher the
>temperature the faster the reaction and the faster the sugars are expended.
>When I work with starter on the countertop, I feed it about 1/2 cup flour
>and 1/4 cup of water (approx. equal weights) every 12 hours after the first
>2 days.  If you put the starter in a sealed container in the refrigerator,
>it needs to be fed 1 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water every 3 days.  I
>personally prefer the countertop because it strengthens the flavor from the
>constant change between aerobic and anaerobic environments, but it is a lot
>more work.  BTW, I keep my starter covered with plastic wrap to keep molds
>from forming.
>
>In the case you describe, you kept the starter in a warm place for 3.5 days
>apparently without feeding it.  I would suspect the fermentation used up all
>of the sugar and the yeast began dying, so that when you made your bread
>there wasn't enough yeast in the starter to leaven it properly.
>
>The sour flavor of the bread depends upon the lactobacilli.  Just because
>the bread doesn't taste very sour does not mean you have a failure.  It just
>means the lactobacilli in your starter produce less lactic acid than some
>other lactobacilli.  The truly sour breads of San Francisco are that way
>because they have the overactive Lactobacillus sanfrancisco in their
>starter.  Even then, you'll find some commercial sourdough makers adultrate
>their product with artificial souring agents.
>
>Unpasturized ales and beers contain Saccharomyces cerevisiae and
>Saccharomyces carlbergensis.  Adding these to a sourdough, is like adding
>dry active yeast.  In fact, baker's yeast is a variety of S. cerevisiae.
>Over time, they don't stand up well to the high acid environment of a
>sourdough starter.  If you use them, don't adulterate your starter with
>them, add a proofing step to increase your starter, recover a couple cups of
>starter from the dough, then add your adulterants.
>
>Depending on the activity of the starter, the first rise may be anywhere
>from two to twenty-four hours.  Mine commonly run 8 to 12 hours and my
>second rise usually runs 2 to 4 hours.  I've also had good luck letting the
>first rise slump, then rejuvenating the dough with additional flour and
>kneading.
>
>A slightly damp, cool room is best suited for rising sourdough.  It slows
>and evens the rise.  Since I don't have that, I work at a room temperature
>of 70 to 74 degrees F and seem to get reasonable results.
>
>If you plan to keep working with sourdough, I recommend Ed Wood's World
>Sourdoughs from Antiquity.  It is the best primer on sourdoughs I've found.
>
>Bear