[Sca-cooks] Yest resevoirs

Michelle LR melbrigda at gmail.com
Fri May 4 16:58:20 PDT 2007


Written was:
Anybody ever used one of these kneading troughs or something similar,
long enough that it might become a reservoir for some yeast and then
found that the new dough would pick up enough yeast from the trough
that it would affect the dough?

Answering thusly:
I haven't, but my grandmother and her mother both did.  Both of them had
these old wooden bowls that were large and shallow.  There was always flour
in them.  My greatgrandmother left her bowl out on the counter open with a
dish cloth draped over it.  My grandmother wrapped her bowl in a plastic bag
and stored it under the counter.  Neither of them ever bought much yeast,
yet they made bread almost on a daily basis.  I lived with my grandmother
for several years and I remember asking about the yeast.  I was told it
wasn't needed because it was already there.  Rarely did we have "stone
bread" (as we called it) that didn't rise.

I will mention that both of them had problems with pests in the flour.  My
grandmother less so than my great.  Both would just "shoo" the roaches out.
My great would just mix the boll weevils in.  She used to say, "Ain't nobody
never been killed by a little boll weevil in their bread."  Fortunately, I
don't remember this as she died when I was around 4 years old, but it was
told often enough.  I wish I had one of those bowls.  Not that I would keep
it as a trough as they did (we have horrid problems with bugs down here and
have to keep everything well sealed to deter their deciding to stay) but I
would use it to knead in.  It was the perfect size for such.  INterestingly
enough, they used these same bowls to also make biscuits and dumplings using
baking soda and buttermilk.  They would change from whole wheat to white
flour interchangeably and even rye on occaission.  My biscuits could be used
as ballistics in a seige battle and I've always blamed it on not having one
of those bowls.  :)

-- 
Mel.
The Honorable Lady Melbrigða Leifsdottir
http://melbrigda.blogspot.com/



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