Rolling in Dough

For the vast majority of the history of baking risen bread, sourdough was the leavening agent. Only recently did we begin using commercial yeast as a time saver. "Modern" home bakers don't seem to have the interest or time commitment to nurturing a sourdough starter.

There's something about living on a historic homestead that makes me want to revert to the "old" ways of doing things. I'm also very curious about how well sourdough will work at high altitude (about 6,800 ft).

I was very tempted to put this post in the "livestock" category, since yeast is a live organism.  Sourdough also contains lactobacilli. The lactobacilli produce lactic acid, which gives it the classic sour flavor.

The best way to begin with sourdough is to get a good, proven starter. Some are available commercially from places like King Arthur Flour. You can beg a starter from a friend. One starter has been kept going since 1847 by Carl Griffith and his friends. You can get some of his historic starter for the cost of a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

While I'm waiting for my Carl Griffith starter to arrive, I am experimenting with three I've begun myself. Two use commercial yeast; one with rye flour and one with unbleached all purpose flour. The third uses potato water and wild yeast. Yup...wrangling wild yeast right in my kitchen. YeeHaw!

Here are the two commercial yeast versions.  Both consist of 2 cups of the flour, 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast and 2 cups of water. Why did I choose these two flours and this particular combination? If you do an internet search on sourdough starter, you will find many different recipes. I just picked a couple to try out. No method or special reasons.

It took less than an hour for it to completely get away from me. The unbleached flour version (on the left) was actually moving like it was breathing as it bubbled. Good reminder that we are dealing with living organisms here!

I've read that you should avoid using anything metal (bowls or spoons, for example) when working with starter. Something in the metal interferes with the yeast and bacteria. Here are the two starters which are now in my largest glass containers. Let's see if they crawl out of these!

For the wild yeast starter, it begins with boiled potatoes. Boil them in their skins, until they are soft and falling apart.

Remove the skins, then mash the potatoes up. Let them cool for about an hour then add enough water to make 2 cups. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar and 2 cups of flour. Put this into a big glass or ceramic bowl/crock and beat it by hand until it looks like pancake batter.

How does yeast and lactobacillis grow in this starter? It's possible that wild yeast spores that are in the air will land in my bowl of starter (rather than say, on my coffee table). It's much more likely that there are already yeast and lactobacilli in the flour and potatoes. Given the right environment and food, they'll grow. Knowing me, it's equally likely that nothing will happen and this will be a non-starter. Time will tell.

All three of my test starters will live and grow on the counter for the next three days. Stay tuned for updates on how they're doing.