The Sourdough Starter - It Lives!!!!
Four days into the big experiment, the Sourdough starter lives. The bubbles in that mix are from wild yeast and lactobacilli captured in the deepest, darkest recesses of mysterious Crofton. (Lactobacillus Croftonensis, anyone?) Because we cultured the medium by running around outside the house, it will have a flavor that is unique to this area. The yeast and lactobacilli in, say, Columbia, are different from the ones in Crofton due to unique local conditions. Travel just a few miles and the yeast changes a little bit.
I asked my friend Trevor to see if his brother, who is a pretty accomplished brewer, would be interested in trying to isolate the yeast strains and brewing some beer from it. Given that lactobacillus is present - which produces lactic acid - the resulting beer might be a little bitter. This could necessitate flavoring with fruit syrup. Who knows - maybe there's a Crofton Lambic in my future. Maybe not.
I'm looking forward to baking the first batch of this bread. I'll feed the starter for another day or two, then will be able to remove some and make a sourdough loaf with it.
I'm very happy about this, just in case you didn't know that already.
6 comments:
Sounds very scientific and well thought out. I especially like the running around outside to capture the local flavor. Just hope you don't live near a paint factory or something.
When I was a kid, we lived behind the old Virginia Gentleman distillery in Reston. On humid summer days, the entire neighborhood smelled of bourbon. That would have been a heck of a place to capture some flavor.
Gotta tell ya, though, the pics and description of the starter are giving me an unappetizing perspective on sourdough. It's just as well that photo's out of focus ;)
BettyBetty - it actually is. Apparently, a biochemist took years figuring out the best medium for growing the right kind of yeast and bacteria, while providing a hostile environment for the bad stuff. It involves pineapple juice, which is high in ascorbic acid, making it a hostile environment for the bad bugs.
Kali - It doesn't look bad, just like a bubbling pot of pancake dough - which is one of the things it's going to become in a few weeks. It tastes a little acidic, but the smell is actually lovely - very beer-ey/bread-ey.
Jim, I'm trying to reprofile the category you fall into. It's becoming awkward to find a name for a sub-species of homo sapien that is broadly described as a “DC lawyer who shaves his legs and likes to brag about the texture and taste of his loaf”.
Well, the blog is actually only 68% male in writing style, according to the Genderanalyzer. At least I'm better off than Stevil tho... that poor dude needs hormone treatments or something. Here I was thinking his rambling style was merely evidence of insanity or suffering for his art or something. Turns out the Genderanalyzer thinks it's 75% likely he's a chick.
If you haven't read it already, there's a great piece on sour dough misadventures in "The Man Who Ate Everything" by Jeffery Stiengarten.
I sense, strong in you is the foodie force. Read this you must.
Good luck!
PS I think Stevil is just not afraid to cry and that pushed him over the edge. The rainbow out of his ass didn't help either.
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