Sourdough Starter
I've been cultivating a seed starter for a few days, and I'm ready to convert it into a barm. Did that make any sense to you? If so, you have some sourdough experience. If not, then let me explain it.
To make sourdough bread, you need locally cultivated wild yeast in a mixture of doughy gunk - that is the seed starter. It is a 4 to 5 day process if you are lucky. I think the cold weather slowed mine down, but it is finally where it needs to be. To make the starter, you start with rye flour and water. that's all. You mix the two together and place it in a jar. By leaving the jar open, the natural yeasts in the air will come and set up shop. The first few days of building a starter can be very complicated. The yeast needs an acidic and oxygen rich environment to thrive.
Most flours contain leuconostoc mesenteroides bacteria. This little bugger actually inhibits the growth of yeast, while, at the same time, masquerades as yeast. On Day two, you mix in flour and more water. At this stage, the culture is supposed to double in size overnight. Well -- those pesky leuconostocs give off a ton of CO2. This makes the starter 'rise' -- you think everything is going well... then --- nothing. My starter rose maybe 2 cm the next day. The one advantage to this -- the bacteria makes the dough very very acidic. This helps kill the bacteria - leavignthe acid, and at the same time, starts to feed the yeast.
Most people apparently give up on day four because they think they killed their starter. I almost did. I halved it and fed it again - not much happened the next day. I decided to give it a rest in a warmer room. After 24 hours we started getting a little activity. Not quite the doubling we were supposed to get, but it had started. I thought it looked a little soupy, so I stirred in a little bread flour. The next day it looked quite happy, but, I didn't have any flour left. So it sat for another day. I was ready to convert it to a barm the next day, but I didn't feel well - so one more day to ferment.
The starter smells like sourdough, that tells me the lactic acid is doing its job.
After going through this process I stumbled across the authors blog. He talks about inherent problems with his starter recipe. 1. it needs to be stirred 2 or 3 times a day to replenish the oxygen (this also circulates the acid and kills anything on the surface.). 2. The first two days acidity levels are too low for it to work. He suggests using pineapple juice to boost the acidity, then going back to water afterwards.
Well, I'm past both of those, and mine seems to be working.. so .. go figure. Tonight I will convert it to a barm. That is where you significantly increase the flour and water mixture. This will setup in 4 hours, and can be immediately used for sponge making (the sponge is the "starter" for the actual bread). Or it can be packaged and stored to live in the refrigerator. with bi-weekly feedings, these 'yeasties' can live forever. When you feed your barm, it is typical to discard half of it. When you do this - you can feed both halves, and give away one as a gift to another baker, or you can use the half to make the sourdough sponge.
If it doesn't work.. I still have time to start from scratch and have it ready for the holidays.
To make sourdough bread, you need locally cultivated wild yeast in a mixture of doughy gunk - that is the seed starter. It is a 4 to 5 day process if you are lucky. I think the cold weather slowed mine down, but it is finally where it needs to be. To make the starter, you start with rye flour and water. that's all. You mix the two together and place it in a jar. By leaving the jar open, the natural yeasts in the air will come and set up shop. The first few days of building a starter can be very complicated. The yeast needs an acidic and oxygen rich environment to thrive.
Most flours contain leuconostoc mesenteroides bacteria. This little bugger actually inhibits the growth of yeast, while, at the same time, masquerades as yeast. On Day two, you mix in flour and more water. At this stage, the culture is supposed to double in size overnight. Well -- those pesky leuconostocs give off a ton of CO2. This makes the starter 'rise' -- you think everything is going well... then --- nothing. My starter rose maybe 2 cm the next day. The one advantage to this -- the bacteria makes the dough very very acidic. This helps kill the bacteria - leavignthe acid, and at the same time, starts to feed the yeast.
Most people apparently give up on day four because they think they killed their starter. I almost did. I halved it and fed it again - not much happened the next day. I decided to give it a rest in a warmer room. After 24 hours we started getting a little activity. Not quite the doubling we were supposed to get, but it had started. I thought it looked a little soupy, so I stirred in a little bread flour. The next day it looked quite happy, but, I didn't have any flour left. So it sat for another day. I was ready to convert it to a barm the next day, but I didn't feel well - so one more day to ferment.
The starter smells like sourdough, that tells me the lactic acid is doing its job.
After going through this process I stumbled across the authors blog. He talks about inherent problems with his starter recipe. 1. it needs to be stirred 2 or 3 times a day to replenish the oxygen (this also circulates the acid and kills anything on the surface.). 2. The first two days acidity levels are too low for it to work. He suggests using pineapple juice to boost the acidity, then going back to water afterwards.
Well, I'm past both of those, and mine seems to be working.. so .. go figure. Tonight I will convert it to a barm. That is where you significantly increase the flour and water mixture. This will setup in 4 hours, and can be immediately used for sponge making (the sponge is the "starter" for the actual bread). Or it can be packaged and stored to live in the refrigerator. with bi-weekly feedings, these 'yeasties' can live forever. When you feed your barm, it is typical to discard half of it. When you do this - you can feed both halves, and give away one as a gift to another baker, or you can use the half to make the sourdough sponge.
If it doesn't work.. I still have time to start from scratch and have it ready for the holidays.
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