Does anyone know if I add a small portion of a baked sourdough loaf (reconstituted) to my new batch, will it speed things along? I will be drying and saving some starter once I get it established again.
Because it’s been baked, and has other ingredients it it, that wouldn’t be in a sourdough starter (salt, for instance, as well as any oil you may have used) the yeast & LAB have all been killed in the baking process. This method of creating a new starter may help shorten the process a bit, though.
Another thing you might want to consider is, buying a starter. A few people, in my area, are selling little jars of starter for $5, on FaceBook Marketplace.
I looked at your question and thought the same as above: no, because the oven will have killed all the yeast and LAB (which it undoubtedly will have).
But.
Maybe what you are thinking of isn’t such a bad idea after all... if the loaf was nice and sour, then dissolving some of it in water would give you a mildly acidic solution with a bit of carbohydrate in it, that would actually be a welcoming environment for SD yeast and LAB. SOoooo if you just ‘fed’ it with some organic wholewheat flour same weight as the water) you would introduce some new yeasts and LAB and maybe, just maybe after a few days you’d have a working starter...
I worked at DiCarlo Baking in San Pedro, Calif. It was a large volume bakery, but used sponges and real sourdough starter.
A new kid was told by the sanitation supervisor to clean out the walk-in where we stored the starter. He saw all these buckets of raunchy looking dough and threw it all out and cleaned the buckets really well.
That starter dated back to the 1920s. They called some of the local bakeries and the ones up in Frisco to see if they could get some starter from them. Some of those starters in San Francisco go back 170 years.
Great story!! I hope the kid was still alive at the end of the day...
I'm just an old killjoy, but from a realistic perspective while a starter dating back to the 1920's is a nice bit of sentimentality, it really just comes down to the conditions you keep it in and the flour you feed it with.
Even so, you'd think that a volume bakery would keep some of its key business asset in a frozen or dried condition in an offsite location?
I don’t think so because al the little beasties get killed in the oven.
That’s so sad! I’m very sorry that happened.
Because it’s been baked, and has other ingredients it it, that wouldn’t be in a sourdough starter (salt, for instance, as well as any oil you may have used) the yeast & LAB have all been killed in the baking process.
This method of creating a new starter may help shorten the process a bit, though.
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10856/pineapple-juice-solution-part-1
Another thing you might want to consider is, buying a starter. A few people, in my area, are selling little jars of starter for $5, on FaceBook Marketplace.
Best Wishes!
If you are in the Monterey County area, of California, I would be happy to give you a portion of mine.
I looked at your question and thought the same as above: no, because the oven will have killed all the yeast and LAB (which it undoubtedly will have).
But.
Maybe what you are thinking of isn’t such a bad idea after all... if the loaf was nice and sour, then dissolving some of it in water would give you a mildly acidic solution with a bit of carbohydrate in it, that would actually be a welcoming environment for SD yeast and LAB. SOoooo if you just ‘fed’ it with some organic wholewheat flour same weight as the water) you would introduce some new yeasts and LAB and maybe, just maybe after a few days you’d have a working starter...
Hey - it’s got to be worth a try, right?
I worked at DiCarlo Baking in San Pedro, Calif. It was a large volume bakery, but used sponges and real sourdough starter.
A new kid was told by the sanitation supervisor to clean out the walk-in where we stored the starter. He saw all these buckets of raunchy looking dough and threw it all out and cleaned the buckets really well.
That starter dated back to the 1920s. They called some of the local bakeries and the ones up in Frisco to see if they could get some starter from them. Some of those starters in San Francisco go back 170 years.
They all said, “No!”
...my heart!!!
Great story!! I hope the kid was still alive at the end of the day...
I'm just an old killjoy, but from a realistic perspective while a starter dating back to the 1920's is a nice bit of sentimentality, it really just comes down to the conditions you keep it in and the flour you feed it with.
Even so, you'd think that a volume bakery would keep some of its key business asset in a frozen or dried condition in an offsite location?