Home Bread-Bakers v102.n008.7
[Advanced]

Re: Digest bread-bakers.v102.n007

Brianjwoody@aol.com
Sat, 16 Feb 2002 03:51:06 EST
v102.n008.7
You will get on famously with that book [Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's 
Apprentice]. It's probably the best yet written. It doesn't much matter 
what flour you use for the starter, but use strong bread flour when it 
comes to the loaf itself. The issue about water etc is that the starter is 
a living thing (the yeast) and any additives, particularly chlorine are 
likely to harm the yeast. Same comment for bleached and bromated flour. The 
yeast may survive but why take the chance? The temperature of the starter 
matters less as it gets more mature. Room temperature is fine, as long as 
you don't live in an unheated house in an Alaskan winter! Room temp 
normally means around 14 - 16 degrees Celsius and that's fine, just slower 
to 'work' after feeding, when you are preparing to use it for baking. The 
worst problem is reading too much - get on and do it!

Brian