[Sca-cooks] Sourdough (was Starter went 'Pffft')
Stephen Bloch
sbloch at adelphi.edu
Tue Nov 30 12:46:59 PST 2004
Thom Leonard, in _The Bread Book_, describes two very different kinds
of yeast cultures that might at least loosely be called "sourdough".
The San Francisco style is normally stored and incubated in liquid
form at relatively high temperatures (say, 70-80F), and produces a
sharp, sour flavor. The French style, which Leonard prefers, is
stored and incubated in solid form at lower temperatures (50-65F),
and produces a "fruity" flavor. To be precise, Leonard recommends a
two-stage life cycle: the longer "chef" phase, which looks like a
tennis ball of fairly firm dough, developing a dry and disposable
crust on the outside; and the "levain" phase, a larger and softer
ball of dough which is kept for no more than 24 hours before making
bread and a new "chef".
I've baked with both of these, in different periods of my life: a
liquid starter given to me for "Friendship Bread", and a chef/levain
cycle which, from time to time, I've fortified with commercial dry
yeast. Sometimes the latter has turned out quite sour too, but
usually at that point it's not working very well for rising anyway,
and can be thrown away. At other times, it really does smell
"fruity".
--
John Elys
(the artist formerly known as mar-Joshua ibn-Eleazar ha-Shalib)
mka Stephen Bloch
sbloch at adelphi.edu
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