[Sca-cooks] Starter went 'Pffft'

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Chris Stanifer:
>Okay. I think I've figured out the problem.  I'm wondering if this 
>is a misuse of nomenclature?
>In Britain, doughs which use a 'sourdough' starter are sometimes 
>called 'acids' or 'acid breads',
>which implies that they have tartness to them.  This further implies 
>that the starter is commonly
>used once it has become acidic (hence the name 'sour' dough).
>
>I believe what Bear and yourself are referring to should actually be 
>described as a Biga, or a
>Chef, or (if loosely translated) a Levain.  These are traditionally 
>made using spontaneous
>fermentation, but used before they are allowed to sour (although 
>many modern recipes call for
>yeast to be added to the mixture).  So, it is possible to have a 
>'sourdough' starter which is not
>yet sour.... but if you use it before it sours, then it is not a 
>'sourdough' starter...it is a
>Biga, Chef, Levain or some other terminology.  It looks like a 
>contest of nomenclature.

I suspect you're right. On the other hand, given that Biga, Chef, and 
Levain aren't English words, and the [fact?] that sourdough (if you 
distinguish it from Biga, Chef, and Levain) is more or less a Western 
Anglo-American usage (unless I'm mistaken), I'm not so much saying 
that they get to decide what it means, as that it's useless to argue. 
In practical reality, you _can_ have sourdough that isn't especially 
sour. Because some 19th-century Chuck Wagon cook said so, and he 
knows better than you and me. And not only was it _authentic_ 
frontier gibberish -- okay, no more "Blazing Saddles" after midnight. 
;-)

>In short, IMHO, a sourdough starter is used for the express purpose 
>of providing a pleasant, sour
>tang to the bread (and gelatinizing the starch in 100% rye breads). 
>A Starter which has not been
>allowed to sour is just that...a starter.

<Bugs Bunny voice and accent> Ehhhhhhhh, I'm not so sure about dat, 
bub. With respect, and speaking from a purely forensic standpoint, is 
it possible you're applying European terms to an American concept and 
then blaming the American concept for not meeting expectations 
expressed in the terms?

>  > An example along similar lines might be the fact that sauerkraut has
>>  had that lactic fermentation take place, whereas cabbage pickled with
>>  vinegar is just pickled cabbage, even though it is sour...
>
>Oh, they helped me...

Good! Just tryin' ta keep it light and make my point at the same time.

Adamantius
-- 






"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la 
brioche!" / "If they have no bread, you have to say, let them eat 
brioche."
	-- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques 
Rousseau, "Confessions", pub 1782

"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?"
	-- Susan Sheybani, assistant to Bush campaign spokesman Terry 
Holt, 07/29/04