Baking bread.

[Cruzatte]

My Wife used to make 3 loves of sour dough bread from a wild starter yeast.

Neat!
How long did she have to let the yeast or sponge sit before it got the bacteria to make it sour dough?

I had a sponge naturally go sour and kept it for a year, but alas I lost it, and the next sponge made good bread, but didn't sour for several months.

LD

I used to make sourdough bread quite often. I had to give up wheat/gluten on a test diet for a spell, and my sourdough culture died. I've been thinking about starting a fresh culture lately. Man, I miss real sourdough bread.

 

[Black Hand]

Cultures can be frozen...

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Dave,....Use the dregs from bottle of beer.

Well that's if the dang micro brewery doesn't "filter" their beer, and I'd have to find an unfiltered ale to get the right yeast. :grin: I don't have a problem with yeast..., I just had a problem getting the sponge to properly sour.

Cruzatte wrote:
I've been thinking about starting a fresh culture lately. Man, I miss real sourdough bread.

I know, right? The local bakery in the supermarket doesn't do real sourdough..., they just use a souring agent to their bread. :barf: The artisan bakeries near me have mostly closed..., thank God for the Amish Market near me.

LD

 

[Auldgoat]

King Arthur Flour sells the real sour dough starter.

Will

 

[BullRunBear]

I've used the sourdough starter from King Arthur Flour. Good stuff. I used it to make a sourdough caraway rye. Mine died when I was called out of town for a long while and I should get some more. The commercial sourdough bread I've had, even from a good bakery, is never as good as what I make at home. I assume they use something to give a 'tart' taste without using the real thing.

Jeff

 

[Loyalist Dave]

Yep Jeff, it's just a flavoring additive from a commercial, industrial sized, bakery.

:barf:

LD

 

[zimmerstutzen]

A buddy of mine worked at a big bakery in college. He said they added vinegar to the dough.

 

[sidelock]

Right--- never as good ??????

 

[crockett]

Well, on this bread business. The "49ers" of the gold rush had sour dough. Is there much documentation of it being used on the frontier earlier? The other bread is bannock- maybe more of a Canadian thing, prop a pan up before a campfire- any idea how far back in time bannock was made?
Is there any way for bacteria, etc. to take over sourdough? I've tried a few batches- one was okay but I didn't take care of it- the other never took off- just using yeast from the air. The starter is probably worth the money.

 

[sidelock]

For all who would like to have a super starter. We have a contract on our home and soon will be back in Virginia where Wife's starter still exists after at least 45 years. Anyone who would like a sample can let me know And we will send it to you when we are settled.

 

[Loyalist Dave]

The thing is...., I think there are different bacteria in the family of "souring" types, and I know there are lots of variations on wild yeast, so a different flavor would be the result in different parts of the world.

I've had discussions with a couple of archaeologists, and neither of them could say how it was known that ancient Egyptians from the time of the Pharoah had what we call sourdough bread. From what they provided me it was assumed the bread sponge had soured simply because of the time lag between bakings. That doesn't mean they didn't have it, nor does it mean that somebody didn't actually find evidence in a clay pot somewhere of the right bacillus to indicate they probably had it, but what they could give me was simply an assumption. Since I had experienced many months of waiting for a souring of a sponge without success, I was skeptical of the assumption. It may also be that they simply couldn't have provided me with the reference that I sought.

It's also possible that folks didn't like the souring prior to the 1840's, hence the reason for the renown of that type of bread during the California Gold Rush. They may have restarted a sour sponge, baked too often for the sponge to sour, or simply used barm or trub from a fermenting vat and thus could not have had sourdough.

LD

 

[coloradoclyde]

I assume they use something to give a 'tart' taste without using the real thing.

Jeff

Lactic acid

 

[Tallswife]

I have starter available also. Originally dates back to the gold rush. Pm me your addy if you want some.