Bread question

[Lloyd Smale]

how did our ansestors get yeast? Can you make it yourself? I doubt they crossed the country in wagons with packs of dry yeast;)

[Nazgul]

It is found everywhere. I started mine by putting out a flour/ water mix on the windowsill in the summer when the corn was growing. It starts to bubble in a day or so. Then you dispose of half of it and refill with more flour and water everyday for a week. It can be kept in the fridge and fed twice a week. It takes about six weeks for it to age and be flavorful. There are many good recipes on the net for sourdough bread. I make mine Sunday afternoon every week. Took a little to get it just right but it is easy.

Don

[dale2242]

They used a sour dough starter, Lloyd.
My wife keeps it going t in the fridge all the time.
We don`t like it to get very sour so she uses it on a regular basis.
Bread, bisquits, and sour dough hot cakes, Oh Yeah.....dale

[gwpercle]

Strains of wild yeast float around on the winds. The trouble with wild yeast is it's not allways abundant when you need it and it's not allways predictable in its action. The yeast you buy for baking is a strain thats cultivated so that each time you use it the bread will rise and taste the same.
I once made elderberry wine by setting the juice out on the counter and letting nature take its course.. It did ferment and made a strong wine... The fellow at the beer and wine making shop said the reason you use wine yeast when making wine or beer is repeatability and flavor .... wild yeast will work but you may not get the same taste the next time.
The use of sourdough starter gives you a ready supply , its predictable in action and taste.... you just gotta like the flavor of sourdough bread.

[dragon813gt]

It's very easy to start one. You just need a good flour like Arrowhead Mills Whole Wheat Organic Stone Ground Flour. There is enough wild yeast in it to have a stable starter in a few weeks. The directions above are all you need. I started one in the winter and just left it in the oven with the light on to keep the temp warm enough to get it going. You can get buy with feeding it once month if you keep it in the fridge. You can switch over to a bread flour for feeding once it's stable. But you will have to feed it more often. I find it a lot more convenient to just use the yeast packets. From start to finish I can a loaf made in 90 minutes. With a starter there is a lot if rise time, but a more flavorful bread.

And yes, they did travel with dried yeast. You can send in for a packet of a dried starter that has been going since the Oregon Trail days. The name escapes me right now.


Brought to you by TapaTalk.

[MT Gianni]

I read an old article in a magazine that mentined getting natural yeast from leaves. The writer lived in the Rockies and scraped the white film from Aspen trees for a week putting it in with flour & water and letting it grow. It was a different taste than sourdough she claimed.

[C A Plater]

This link raising-a-starter (http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2007/07/13/raising-a-starter/) has a pretty good how to on getting your starter up and running.

[Lloyd Smale]

thanks for the info guys!

[Moonie]

Thanks for reminding me, I need to feed my starter. Sourdough bread has a lower glycemic index than even whole wheat bread, better for us diabetics.