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Making sourdough starter with commercial yeast - ha!

WLHelms@aol.com
Tue, 18 Apr 2006 01:53:58 EDT
v106.n017.9
Re: Digest bread-bakers.v106.n014

Bob the Tar-Heel Baker wrote:

Blend a cup of warm water and a cup of flour, and pour it into the 
jar. That's the whole recipe! I use plain, unbleached bread flour 
most of the time, but I've had good results with all-purpose and 
whole-wheat flour, too. If you want, you can add a little commercial 
yeast to a starter to "boost" it. If you do this, sourdough snobs 
will look down their nose at you - but who cares about snobs? I 
personally find that (at least here where I live) no yeast "boost" is 
necessary, and I can make "real" sourdough with no trouble. But if 
you are having trouble, go ahead and cheat. I won't tell. Note that 
starter made with commercial yeast often produces a bread with less 
distinctive sour flavor than the real thing.

I was going to ignor his disdainful remarks about us 'sourdough 
snobs' but I decided to make a comment anyway.

If you are going to add commercial yeast, you might as well forget 
playing with the sourdough altogether

One more comment: It isn't necessary to keep your sourdough starter 
in the refrigerator. If you use your starter everyday then it isn't 
necessary. I affirm that the old trail cooks and sheep herders never 
owned a refrigerator to keep theirs in.

Enough said!