I've been baking bread for years now and wanted to try something new. I had delved into some whole wheat recipes and created one of my own from scratch that I am rather proud of, but I've never made french or Italian bread until a couple of weeks ago. The result was so satisfying that I bought a baguette pan and got busy making a couple of loaves of french bread. Next, I wanted to try something entirely new so chose a recipe from Bernard Clayton's Bread Book. I had never made a bread using a poolish/sponge up to that point. The result was satisfying and after that success, I decided to try my hand at sourdough...again. Last time (years ago) I attempted to start a culture and everything went wrong so I gave up in disgust. This time I decided that I was going to go primitive and use wild yeast from the start...no store bought to pep it up, just local wild critters.
I remembered reading ages ago that hops attracted and promoted a type of yeast in their flowers. All of the references I checked said that I should boil the hops. That seemed counter-intuitive to the extreme since I wanted living yeast not just the flavor or the preservative power of hops tea. I had a quart of hops flowers from a year ago that I picked for my daughter from my plants that I grow as a screen on my porch. I took 1/2 quart of them and soaked them in distilled water for about 12 hours. I poured off the tea and added an equal part of whole wheat flour, (1 1/2 cups) and a teaspoon of sugar, put it in a quart jar covered with cheese cloth. I put the jar on a plate and set it over the portion of my stove top that had the pilot under it and then covered it with a towel to keep the warmth. After twelve hours there were bubbles forming...not a lot but enough to show that it was working. I added a cup of bread flour and an equal amount of water, returned it to the warm spot and covered it. Twelve hours later my jar had overflowed and the sponge was bubbled like mad and giving off an aroma that was tart, slightly fruity and decidedly sour. I stirred it down, cleaned the mess before my wife saw it and put it in a cooler spot until eight hours later when it had acquired a layer of liquid on top at which time I put it in the refrigerator with a tight lid.
Now...what to do? I've refrigerated it and will feed it every four or five days or after I use a portion. At this point, I'm looking for a good whole wheat recipe to try it with and some solid advice from experienced bakers as well as anyone else with a suggestion or an idea.
Thanx for bearing with me.
the reaction you witnessed is a bacterial one and not a yeast one. But you can keep going. Take it out of the fridge and warm it up again and get a bigger jar. Leaving it in the fridge, well, how long did you want to go thru this process?
Reduce the size to about half a cup of culture and use 1/4 cups to feed again. Stir in 1/4 c flour and about half of that, water. Stir well and let it perk for a day or two. It will probably act dead with little activity but persist. Keep it covered and stir several times a day adding one feeding daily (you can also skip a feeding) until it starts smelling more yeasty and more like beer. It will take more than a few days and temperature plays a big role. You can also feed using a heaping table spoon of flour and one of water for equal weights of flour and water. Keep the goop a bit on the wet side and when it is more than a cup, throw away enough to reduce to half a cup and then feed at the normal time. When beer aromas start, skip a feeding and then thicken the goop up with flour until it resembles a soft dough. Then wait.
No need to set over the pilot light, it might get too warm. A nice Balmy 76°F or 25°C or slightly above is a good temp. Warmer and the bacteria tend to go crazy. The current active bacteria is the start of a chain event that hopefully leads to another rise of another strain of bacteria paving the way for the yeast. So it takes patience and about a week.
Thanks very much. There's a lot going on in that little biosphere eh? Where do you reckon the yeast come from if the sponge has been infested by bacteria? I'm glad that I didn't jump the gun and make some bread with it. I'm a little leery now. Finally, if I can have your attention for another moment, how can I tell when the good stuff has won the war? Thanks again for your comment and your time.
Everything you want should be right there in the flour (bacteria, yeast, etc) and it's a matter of creating ideal conditions for growth. It's fun to imagine a war but it's more like survival of the fittest as the acid builds in the sphere. One group rises and dies out, another replaces and suppresses the last group, and it just keeps going until a balance is reached between particular bacteria colonies and yeast colonies. The whole feeding routine changes greatly when yeast (the hungry little things) finally build up enough of a population to show themselves. So the trick is not to overfeed while starting a starter.
There are quite a few interesting reads here in the archives if you want to understand the science.
Suggest you read Debra Winks' material, and accompanying comments:
Her starter 101s are good:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10856/pineapple-juice-solution-part-1
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10901/pineapple-juice-solution-part-2
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10375/lactic-acid-fermentation-sourdough
and her numerous contributions to Nico's thread, keep reading!:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/14913/very-liquid-sourdough
Great. Thanks again!
If your starter isn't stable yet, use only 1/4 cup starter, 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp flour every feeding.
I store only 1 tbsp starter + 2 tbsp water + 3 tbsp flour, since I prepare some sort of levain every time I want to make sourdough bread.
With the discard starter, I suggest adding it to an omelete if less than 1/2 cup. Just add it to 2-3 eggs and add some water if too thick. Just be careful and don't use starter that smells like something has died in it.
discard (if any) when starting up a starter. The bacteria variety is just too large. Wait until the starter is up and working before using the discards.
My experience in starting up sd cultures has been to stick to one set of instructions and don't shift around trying various ideas with one culture. If you want to switch to a different method, start a new culture and race them.
Thanks! I'm a bit leery of using it at all until it has stabilized. It's still working overtime even in a very cold refrigerator with lots of bubbles and gas. It smells nice but I'm going to give it a while.
Warning taken....I'm not sure how it should smell except perhaps a bit tart and possibly fruity. Thanks for the advice on feeding too.
mentioned putting it in the refrigerator with a tight lid. You don't really want to put a tight lid on anything that ferments. It may lead to bursting the container, then you'll have another mess to clean up!
Gotcha...That would make me very sad and my wife much unhappy with me.