[Sca-cooks] Wild Yeast (longish and somewhat OOP) : was 'rich yeasted cake'

[Deborah Hammons]

Are you wanting to start your own, from scratch, so to speak, or purchase a
starter?  The sourness comes from the strain of lactobacilli in the area you
come from, if you want to try your hand at it from scratch.  If you are up
to purchasing a starter, sourdo.com is an excellent source.  They have
chemically recreated cultures from around the world.
Aldyth

On Mon, Apr 6, 2009 at 9:03 AM, Olwen the Odd <olwentheodd at hotmail.com>wrote:

>
> How does one get the real sour sourbread?  I really like the bite of a good
> sourdough bread.
>
> Olwen
>
>
> >
> > I don't like referring to the starter yeast I use as 'sourdough' because
> mine is not 'sour'. I've tried 'sourdough' starter (think San Francisco
> Sourdough Bread), but my family does not care for the taste so I don't make
> it.
> >
> > The starter I use is a part of the culture (in both senses) carried
> across the plains in covered wagons (for more information google 'Oregon
> Trail Starter'). It has been growing in a continuous way since 1850 (at
> least). Anybody who wants a dry batch can either get it online or let me
> know and I will make up a batch, dry it and send it. Lots of folks have
> started their own quite successfully from scratch, and I have done some of
> that too (instructions are available online, just google 'sourdough starter'
> for more links than you ever thought possible on the subject). I have also
> used ale barm from experiments in brewing (though not lately). I have
> contemplated growing some starter from packaged ale yeast without the ale
> making process (hmn ... I will be passing by the brew shop on my way to the
> VA tomorrow .....).
> >
> > Some folks feed theirs with potato water (that water left after boiling
> potatoes). Some just add water and flour (what I do). I have not fed mine on
> malt syrup yet but I plan to give it a try.
> >
> > I've never completely lost the batch but if ever I do I have several
> friends locally whom I have corrupted into the bread making fanatics and so
> I guess I just never worried about it.
> >
> > I keep my starter in a jar in the fridge and have let it be idle for
> MONTHS in summer (yes ... I am a BAD yeast mommy). When the starter has been
> dormant for a while it takes a little longer to bring it back to life is
> all. Of course this time of year when I am baking bread a lot, I often
> overwork the poor little yeastiebeasties and the starter sits bubbling away
> happily on the counter above the heater vent that serves the kitchen.
> >
> > The most difficult part of using that vent as my source of gentle heat is
> when I set up a chair in front of the heat vent (old house ... vent is on
> the wall about 20 inches up) the cat thinks it is a nice warm place for
> kitty naps and is quite indignant when she is evicted in preference to the
> chair with the bowl with the risings in it.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> >
> >
> > Malkin
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Jo (Georgia L.) Foster
> >
> > Never knock on Death's door.
> > Ring the doorbell and run ... he hates that.
> >
> > I don't want to set the world on fire, I'm just trying to light a candle.
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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>
>
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