Hi again Jon!
It sounds to me like you are intrigued by making a sourdough starter from
naturally occurring yeast. I think the more you bake in your kitchen the
better chance you have of this taking place. Why not use a starter from a dry
state, reconstitute it, bake several times, then see what happens.
I am the type of person who likes a challenge but am much more encouraged if I
get some results from he start. I've thrown away so much flour and ingredients
over the years trying to capture my own starter. My best natural result was
using yogurt that I have made. It is nothing more than a sourdough starter
when you think of it. I scalded milk, cooled it to 110, added some commercial
plain yogurt from the store and once that began to thicken, took out a c up
added flour and let it go. I didn't even use whole grain at the time.
I think when you try to capture a yeast naturally you have so many variables to
consider. Just from reading a lot of sourdough info over the years I don't
think people get good results with grapes these days. Maybe that has to do with
the climate, not sure.
I'm not sure I Understand your reluctance to use a dried starter. I guess
fresh is better but with most things I use dried if that's what I have, take
oregano for instance, there is a huge bush in my herb bed and I often dry
handfuls of it in the fall so I will have a winter supply, Same for the
starter. I keep fresh but made a batch of dry starter to have in case I screw
up my fresh stuff. and it comes back like gangbusters.
My climate here is probably as dry as yours and I don't think it has a negative
effect on the starter. It is covered and spends most of its time in the
fridge. I think you'll have a tougher time capturing a wild yeast once the
temp in your kitchen drops below 70 or so. I can't wait for that to happen.
It has not been 70 in my kitchen for so long I think I have forgotten what that
is like :).
As for bookshare, if you have a smart phone there is an app called voice dream
reader that will nicely read bookshare books. I also think there is an option
on their site now to read the book on the web. I just download the book and
read it with my web browser.
I'll post that recipe soon. It is getting entered into my recipe manager app
as soon as I find it and then will send it to the list from there.
Take care,
Jim
On Aug 21, 2015, at 1:02 PM, Jon Rawlings <twosocks76@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Hi Jim:
You raise a lot of points that I need to comment on, so I hope I can get
to all of them. First, while it's definitely not a sourdough starter, the
recipe for those biscuits does sound fantastic. If you have it, I hope you'd
be willing to share it. Second, I don't quite know why, but the idea of
using yogurt to make a starter, while it is lagit, just feels very wrong to
me. I don't want to hang on to a starter for decades to come that was
started withat any kind of dairy product. I've seen recipes where grapes are
used to attract the yeast and then removed later, and perhaps that is an
option. But it seems natural to use whole grains to attract the yeast so
that a good, strong sourdough culture can get started. I still don't trust
dried starters, but perhaps I will look further into that option as well. As
far as Bookshare is concerned, I did apply for membership with them a year or
two back, but never used it or read a single book because I could not figure
out how to read or access them. I found the entire affair extremely
frustrating. I own a CCTV that I use to read my cookbooks that don't come
through BARD, so perhaps I'll consider the book in print. As to the
sourdough bread from way back at the ranch; I'm pretty sure the cooks there
were using a sreal starter with normal, natural ingredients. I even called
some years back to discuss the possability of getting a sample, and from what
I remember from the conversation, the starter was very genuine. If I can find
some time to sit and read in peace, I'll try to reread what my "Professional
Baking" book has to say about sourdough and look over the recipes that are in
the book. I don't simply want an alternative to yeast; I want a powerful,
robust flavor in my starter, as well as enough natural yeasts to raise the
bread. I'd prefer to avoid using commercial yeast to get my starter going.
I hope I've hit all the points you brought up. I know this is a very dry
climate, but I still don't think it's impossible to get a natural starter
going here.
Jon
