I was soaking some kamut berries to mix into bread dough, and my baking schedule got delayed, so I just left them soaking for another 24 hours. Roughly 36 hours after first putting them in water, the container's lid was bulging with gas, they smelled funny, and I could see some small bubbles at the surface of the now brownish water. Did I accidentally make some kind of yeast water? Or something sinister?
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How does it smell?
It's not a good smell. It's maybe... musty? It's not a sour smell like sourdough. I was feeling optimistic and already made dough with it. It hasn't had any levain or salt added yet. It was in theory just autolyzing, but it's rising! It has the same smell but more faint. I'm wondering if there's any harmful microorganism that feeds off starch that produces this much gas.
Mix flour and water and within 24-36 hours you get a burst of activity. However this initial impressive burst of activity is not from all the good yeasts and bacteria found in a viable starter but rather it's from bad bacteria. A necessary evil step.
You mixed whole berries and water. Same stuff as flour just not ground. I would think they're going through the same process.
If doing a soaker then either make it short enough so spontaneous fermentation doesn't happen. Or use boiling water and or salt.
Just soaking berries in water for an extended period of time and it's bound to start smelling.
Don't use them.
Thank you for clarifying things for me! I'll do overnight soak with boiling water next time.
dead. They start to rot. Yuck. Dump.
Next time soak no longer than 8 hours or overnight in a cool kitchen. Drain, then chill until use. Use right away or Rinse with fresh water every 8 to 12 hours and drain to prevent mold growing. Berries will grow rootlets and sprout as this continues. Full of amylase.
If wanting to make a starter, crack berries first so food will be present for growing bacteria and yeast.
Mini
8 houts they get slimy due to the heat fo the kitchen
I ended up doing a 6 hour soak in water that started at boiling, and didn't get a bad smell, but it sounds like I don't even need that long. They did look the same after 3 hours as they did after 6. It seems like kamut softens a lot easier than hard red wheat.
not a soaker. If you want to add sprouted grains to your bread, soak them for 4 hours, then drain and rinse them in tap water. Cover in plastic and a towel to keep all light out. Rinse every 8 hours and keep plastic and towel on. 24 hours after soaking you will have sprouts! You can sprout them for 24 hours more and still uses them as n add in in bread.
I used whole kamut, I simply washed them in a strainer and plopped them into my rice cooker adding water. Let the cooker do the job and they came out heavenly. I would cook more than you need because the aromas may entice you to sample some of them before they jump into a dough.
out of the garage. I never needed a pound of rice cooked but it would be good for grains!