[Sca-cooks] Seeking

[Terry Decker]

It's not so much that the sour taste is new, but that it is localized. 
Sourdoughs depend on a balance of wild yeast and lactobacilli.  The flavor 
of the bread is dependent upon the acids (primarily lactic acid) produced by 
the lactobacilli.  Different lactobacilli produce different quantities of 
acid which in turn make the taste of each sourdough close to unique. 
Lactobacilli may be limited to a very small area as in the case of real San 
Francisco sourdough.

The extreme sourness in San Franciso sourdough is due to (IIRC) a mixture of 
Candida millerensis and Lactobacillus sanfrancisco with L. sanfrancisco 
being the primary producer of lactate, ethanol and carbon dioxide in the 
mix.  If you want the full picture take a look at heterofermentative 
lactobacilli.

Faking the sour taste is done by adding citric acid to the dough.

Bear


> First off, from what I know you want one with good leavening qualities but 
> not a lot of the sharp/sour taste some of them have. From what I’ve read, 
> and been told, the real sour sourdoughs are fairly recent.

> James
>
> wildecelery at aol.com wrote:
>
>> I know that there was a thread on it a while ago... does anyone have a 
>> simple, quick recipe for a periodish sourdough starter?
>>
>> -Ardenia