[Sca-cooks] Barm yeast

[Johnna Holloway]

My guess is that this is going to be a matter of trial and error.
It's gonna depend on how active your starter is. Some are fast;
some are slow. It also varies to how warm the kitchen is and
what the weather is like on the day of preparation. I've always
found I had to play with all my sourdough mixtures on the day of baking.

I discovered through the years that it's sometimes better to
use fresh yeast and a bottle of ale when making recipes like
the great cakes found in Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery
which require "A full quart of Ale barme".
One gets better results that could be duplicated and it meant I could
construct a recipe that didn't involve making an ale barm to start.
You might check out
http://www.sourdo.com/culture.htm  and see what Ed Wood has to say
there about his various starters.

Johnnae

Martinsen at ansteorra.org wrote:

> Here's a question: I have a starter made from beer barm. (flour, water 
> & barm only).  Now when a recipe calls for barm, (and it is a 
> bread-type dish, would using my starter be acceptable, or should I 
> start with fresh barm?
> Has anyone worked out a ratio for how much "sediment" should be used 
> to how much flour?  How about starter?  I know it depends on how stiff 
> your starter is, how lively it is, so I'm guessing the answer is no.
> My starter is about the consistancy of pancake batter, sometimes cake 
> batter.  If you go to www.livejournal.com/users/beerbreadbaby I've got 
> my last usage recipes posted.
> Bear?  You out there? Vitha
>