Ed Dalton wrote
<<This would make Ed Woods Sourdoughs all the same after awhile, so there
can be no starter dating back more than what- a month, two months, a year? >>
This is correct.
<<BTW, I have a grape starter that I have maintained since before Bread's
from the La Brea Bakery was published around 6 years ago but based on the
procedure and it has retained is unique quailities. I also have Carl's
which is unique to the grape starter. I will from time to time do starters
from scratch and each is different from the grape and Carl's.You have
overlooked the symbiotic relationship that develops between yeast and the
bacteria, one complementing the other and excluding other flora that might
try to invade the happy home.>>
Ed,
Mr. Wood's book is a thoroughly entertaining read but should not be taken
as a text on sourdough baking. His unique starters may remain uncorrupted
in a laboratory if each is given a unique refreshment schedule and kept in
sanitized conditions. However, even in a sanitized environment, starters
that are given the same refreshment will become similar.
Starters evolve based on the ingredients used, the ratio of those
ingredients and the time/temperature of their fermentation cycles. If two
different starters are refreshed with the same ingredients in the same
ratios at the same time and given the same time/temperature process, they
will eventually become similar. Over time, the organisms favored by the
controlled variables will thrive and those that don't will not. And, yes,
they will evolve into symbiotic relationships that involve many types of
microorganisms. But, these relationships are dynamic, not static. Any
baker who uses sourdough on a daily basis will verify that starters change
over time.
In my bakery we have 3 starters that are fed the same flour and water but
in different ratios and they are given different fermentation cycles. By
design, they have vastly different characteristics. They were all
originally started in different places and given to me while I was working
at another bakery. They moved with me when I started my own bakery.
Everything about them changed when I changed flour brands and used my new
well water (something I had not counted on. Experience is a good teacher).
Furthermore, their characteristics change noticeably from season to season
and flour lot to flour lot. You can't stop evolution! We now know how to
effect desirable changes and minimize variation by manipulating the
refreshments.
There have been times when I've had to restart each of these starters,
either from scratch or from a piece of another starter (once I even used
starter that one of my students brought to demonstrate this very
point. She had bought it from King Arthur.) Within a week, using
scheduled refreshments, the starter was performing as it always had
(although things were definitely weird while achieving
equilibrium). Having used cultures from many sources over the years on a
daily basis I can say unequivocally that it is the refreshment, not the
source, that determines a starter's characteristics. A skilled sourdough
baker uses this knowledge to achieve the characteristics he/she desires in
the finished loaf.
So, to the point, I'm sure your starters do taste different from each other
(and that's good!), but this is because they are maintained differently or
at different times, not because one is older or more exotic than the other.
Should you choose, you can verify this. Take pieces of two of your
starters and give them the same refreshment schedule for 2 weeks. Put them
in similar containers (clean, of course). Use the same amounts of the same
flour and water (at the same temperatures), leave them next to each other
on the same counter to ferment at the same time for the same amount of
time. After 2 weeks bake the same recipe with each starter. Don't do
anything to one that you don't do to the other. You'll get the same bread.
Greg Mistell, a well-regarded Northwest baker and former coach of the
Coupe-de Monde- winning US baking team, tells a story of how he paid top
dollar for a small piece of "San Francisco" starter when he was just
getting started, only to watch it evolve into something he already had for
free. Experience is a good teacher.
Keep on baking,
Greg Carpenter
Petoskey, MI