August 20, 2017 - 10:41am
Got yeast water - now what?
I made a couple of yeast waters from plums and apples from my garden. Yesterday when I shook / stirred them they nearly exploded out of the jar, so they are nice and 'sparkling'! Now I need to figure out what to do with them. I've read the primer on here about yeast water, but I'm still not quite clear on how to maintain them (in the fridge? Add fruit and or sugar? How often?).
Today I'll test both out with some flour to make YW starters. And then I need to find some good recipes for them. I'm leaning towards some fruit buns and maybe some kind of nice soft whole grain bread. Ideas?
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Where the starter is 30% or higher (no definite rule here but a higher percentage starter for a first loaf might be a good start). Simply swap the sourdough starter for a yeast water starter by mixing together the flour + yeast water and allowing it to mature. Needs warm temps and about 12+ hours. Once mature use the same way but follow your nose and not the recipe timings. Yeast water doughs tend to feel more hydrated than the same hydration sourdoughs. Don't know why. So hold back 5-10% water in final dough which you can add later if you think it needs it.
Top back up what you've taken out and give it some fresh fruit and some honey/sugar if you wish to add some in and it'll be back fizzing in a few hours. When not using store in the refrigerator.
For maintenance I've read everything from "Add more water, fruit and/or sugar" to "make a fresh one every couple of days", so I guess I'll just have to try a couple of things and see what works best for me. Of course, come winter everything will change again, I'm sure. :)
I've taken 10 grams of each out of the jar and mixed it with 10 grams of flour, so we'll see if anything happens. Then maybe I'll try a 123 bread first.
Allow it to inoculate and keep it in the fridge it'll last a week. Any longer I'd give it another refreshment before going onto the Pre-Ferment. It's good to do a big refreshment if it's been a while (instead of the usual topping up and replacing some of the fruit etc) by replacing all but a little of the yw with fresh water, giving it all new fruit and adding some honey or sugar and it'll inoculate very quickly. Small refreshments for a few weeks will suffice but big ones every now and again if you see its losing strength. It will be bubbling within 12 hours again. Then back into the fridge. Good idea to test a little bit of it. It does need more warmth then a viable sourdough starter and a bit more time.
A 123 recipe is a good idea. Some people just replace the water in a recipe with yw but I favour the Pre-Ferment way. Added assurance.
I read a recipe/method somewhere for capturing wild yeast in a starter. Look for organic grapes, and buy the ones with the most white powdery stuff on them. Soak the grapes in filtered water for an hour or so, and then use the grape water when you mix water and flour together...
But not the same as a sourdough starter which is also a wild yeast.
I have also heard about those recipes using grape skins amongst other things but I think it's just to give the starter a boost in the right direction. Eventually it turns into a sourdough starter due to the nature of using flour and water. This mix cultivates the yeasts and bacteria found in sourdough starter over time.
I think using an established yeast water to cultivate a sourdough starter might have one of two effects. It runs out of strength. It eventually turns into a sourdough starter due to the flour it is fed over time and the environment. Perhaps someone with more experience can confirm this. More likely the first one. The second if possible will probably take a while and you might as well make a sourdough starter from scratch.
Saw this, and remembered this experiment I did a few years ago
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/34262/blackberry-starter
While not really yeast water, the latter is what will happen. Just thought it might be interesting reading.
See my blog post on yeast water starter, dough and baking here.