Newbie saying hello
Hi! My name is Arie and I'm a breadoholoic..
I'm lurking around this board for a short while. Very interesting and tons of experienced people around here (and exceptionally civilized too :)..
I started baking bread over 30 years ago. I have no training and when I started this there was no Internet message boards to learn from.. )
I learned by trial and error (lots of those) and developed a couple of recipes which I liked.
After moving to the San Francisco area I fell in love with sourdough dread and started to play with it, again from scratch, by trial and error.
I ended up with a great recipe which I and all my family and friends really like.
more and more people were asking me for the recipe, and I ended up posting it on my website (http://litman.com/food/bread.html )..
After reading this board for a while I realized that I am using the wrong terminology, and the process I follow is very different from traditional sourdough bread. But, I am baking this bread for over 10 years and I like it the way it is.
Another Hobie of mine is beer, which I consider Bread in a liquid state.. in the past year I started to combine techniques and ingredients which make both bread and beer more exciting.
I used my sourdough starter to brew beer (I call it sourdough beer) and I use wort or DME (malt extract) for add to the dough.. And sometime I use malted barley as a crunchy topping on my bread.
I want to thank you for this great board and I hope to be able to contribute to the discussion.
Arie
Welcome to the Fresh Loaf, Arie! I've learned to embrace the "sourdough dread" too and I know it can be intimidating to a beginner (to whom your article is addressed.)
Aside from thinking the yeasts are captured from the air, it's an easy to read website write up that I'm sure will inspire new sourdough bakers.
Mini
Hello Babiedoll!!
The yeast in Starter is basically yeast that is naturally occuring in our air! That is why starter in San Francisco is so different from what I have in mine here in South Florida!! When you mix up your first starter and leave it open to air, nature takes over. This is the thing our ancestors used back through time! There was no "store bought" yeast!!
Give it a try, you will LOVE the results!!! I myself am very new to Sourdough baking even though I have made bread for more than 35 years!! I made English Muffins for the first time in my life a few days ago using no yeast but my own Sourdough!!
It was AMAZING!!
Good luck and DO post pictures of your results!!!
Jannrn
No it is yeast occuring naturally in the flour. That is why it is important to get unbleached flour when starting up a starter, once it is established it is not so important.
I'm not sure about that.. The yeast in home made starter vary from region to region, not from flour to flour. here is the San Francisco Bay Area we have a distinct flavor to our sourdough, and I believe it is attributed to the bugs in the air.
Perhaps you'd take the word of a microbiologist? Debra Wink's article here at TFL:
Sourdough Starter - Long Post - scoot down to the section "How it works".
Or a professinal baker? Mike Avery's SourdoughHome.com:
Starting A Starter - go down to the 7th paragraph.
the truth is your both right
yeast is both in the air and the flour.
but since flour is bland in taste it absorbs the flavors (strong ones mostly but over time it can and will take on any flavors) from the enviorment ( put some starter next to a cut onion in the fridg and see what happens) so the flavor it gets is the flavors around it. which is why all sourdough bread even if made from the same formula but at diferent locations will have a taste not like any other sour dough...
unless flavors like the ka deli rye flavor powder is added to the final dough
un like mike avery (not to take anything away from him in fact he is one of several prople here that i would like to meet in person one day) i do not teach classes nor do i work in a small kitchen. i am a pro baker retired and now do consulting for LARGE bakeries or help with small bakeries ( not in home) start ups and R & D.
The grains on left loaf are malted barley...
I thought Like ArieArie, that the yeast is naturally occuring in the air..again, the very reason why sourdough in South Carolina tastes so much different from SF sourdough. If it were in the flour, wouldn't it be the same all over the country?? Educate me....please don't let me live in ignorance forever!!!
Thanks!!
Jannrn
You might find this article helpful.
Using the TFL search function will also provide enough reading to keep you busy for quite a few hours.
Enjoy!