I recently got my hands on a copy of Peter Reinhart’s Bread Baker’s Apprentice, and with plenty of free time on my hands, I’ve been dabbling in baking with generally good results.
One place I’ve not quite gotten what I would expect is my sourdough. I followed Reinhart’s instructions to get a starter going, and have been feeding it every few days as instructed. I’ve baked two batches with it, and while they both ‘worked’ in the sense that the starter did the work of leavening, etc. that you expect of yeast, they’ve both lacked the particular sour tang that generally marks sourdough bread. In fact, I’m not sure anyone would be able to identify them as anything other than normal, domestic yeast loaves.
So far, I’ve been keeping the starter mostly in the refrigerator, and I’m wondering if this might be what’s making my sourdough not so sour? I pull it out when I feed it, and leave it on the counter until it’s nice and bubbly before popping it back in the fridge, but that’s the only time it’s at room temperature these days. Should I start leaving it out, and if so, how would this affect the feeding schedule? Any other ideas?
Yes, I’ve been keeping my mature starter in the fridge. I’ve had the exact same problem you’ve had; the sourdough started does its little yeasty job, but it never gets properly sour even when I do long slow ferments in the fridge. I’ve even tried to help it along with additions of crystallized acid, but I don’t think that did much of anything.
One of my favorite recipes I’ve made has been this amazing sandwich: Peter Reinhart’s sourdough bread, baked into mini-batards and split in half. Then I make up some meatballs from Alice Water’s The Art of Simple Food. Slather on some aioli from the same book, and stuff in some fresh salad greens, and you’ve got yourself the most orgasmic sandwich ever.
From the food safety standpoint, refrigeration is not necessary for most homemade bread starters. This is due to “competing organisms”. There is enough yeast that pathogens cannot succeed in that environment.
Yes. Once it’s nice and healthy and bubbling, refrigerate it to slow it down and to keep it viable for a longer time between feedings. I’ve neglected my refrigerated sourdough for as much as four months at a time with no signs of it petering out or dying out. When you want to use it, you’ll want to take it out a day or two ahead of time and feed it, but it’s easier to deal with when it’s in the fridge, at least in my opinion.
If you’re lacking the sourdough tang, I should ask, what kind of starter are you using? Are you using a known starter or did you just develop it yourself with some rye flour and water or whatnot?
Secondly, I find a cold ferment over two to five days in the fridge does wonders for the development of flavor.
This is a homebrew starter, following Reinhart’s instructions in BBA. (Nothing particularly unusual, I think, except perhaps that he calls for pineapple juice in the first couple days, supposedly to inhibit the growth of certain undesirable bacteria and (probably) to give things an extra sugar boost.) It has crossed my mind that Cincinnati, or even just my little part of Cincinnati, may be a bit rubbish for sourdough; not everywhere can be San Francisco or Belgium, after all. But as regards “known” sourdough starters, it was my understanding–possibly mistaken; feel free to correct!–that the local microflora/fauna would start to take over before too long and you’d be back to where you started.
The Sourdough Home guy seems to know what he’s talking about, but feeding it two times a day? I’d break the bank on flour, except that I’d miss a feeding in a week or two and it wouldn’t matter anyway. :eek:
I do not refrigerate my started when I am baking regularly. It’s probably more work when you leave it out because you really have to take care of it, but I find the flavor is better.
That being said, I have tried many starters, including making my own and find that Gold Rush is the one I like the best. They recommend leaving it at room temperature.
Most of the wild yeast you’re getting there in Cincinnati is not coming from the the air. It’s already in the flour. The “capturing wild yeasts” is mostly myth. The wild yeasts on the milled wheat itself is going to overpower whatever you’ve got floating around there in Cincinnati. If you really wanted to make sure you only captured local yeasts, you can put your flour into the microwave and nuke it, killing any yeasts already present.
As for local microflora/fauna taking over your starter. Read the above link. I do think it’s possible, but I’ve never noticed it myself. Then again, my starter is only about three years old and kept covered in the fridge, so it hasn’t had much time to transform into something more local.
I’ve made a number of starters in my kitchen, once even doing four different starters at the same time using various methods. The most successful for me was rye flour and water, and then slowly weaning of rye unto wheat. That said, it never got particularly sour, although it leavened okay. Now, I have two cultures in my fridge: one given to me from a chef acquaintance, and another from a known San Francisco starter. They are both fantastic, sour, and strong. I would just recommend getting a known starter and working with that.
You know, pulykamell, that all does make sense, and I knew already that most of the yeast in a starter was already on the flour. I think I may have just been a bit confused about the bacteria. I’ll keep my starter going for the moment to see if it improves over a few more weeks/months, but I’ll also mail off for that 1847 Oregon Trail starter that you can get for free and see how it goes. Delicious history!
