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  • From: Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] bread/science/Mr>Bill Jones
  • Date: Mon, 26 Feb 2007 13:46:43 -0800

There's almost never a reason to come up with a new starter. It's something that only an experienced sourdough baker should attempt, otherwise you might not know what to expect. Our natural food store has packets of San Francisco sourdough starter, and you can often get a starter from a friend.

Breads from the store don't have any bacteria in them. The yeast they use is absolutely pure. Even what's called "sourdough" often just has some vinegar added to it.

I hope what I'm about to write doesn't put you off cheese forever, Bob, or there'll be nothing to go with the crackers. :)

When we make cheese we always add a big warm bowl of writhing bacteria to the milk, of just the right kind, so that it will develop the sharpness that will preserve it. Without them, a big block of junket would just rot.

When we make sauerkraut we hope that by salting and excluding air that we can get these same bacteria to multiply from the few that are already on the cabbage leaves. If not, we would have cause to worry which sort of random bacteria would eventually have their way with our cabbage, spoiling it. Fortunately, these "lactic acid bacteria" are so aggressive that they always win.

Likewise, if you just made up a yeast sponge and left it sit around the fridge, multiplying it when necessary, like that restaurant in San Clemente, it would also eventually grow something unwholesome. Thankfully there's sourdough, a deliberate mix of yeast and bacteria that stays fresh precisely because it is already colonized to the max with yeast and these same friendly bacteria.

That's why I'm a little bewildered, since it's the bacteria that make it all possible.

Bill
S. Oregon coast

bob ford wrote:

That was not the post to which I was referring. You
and another member were discussing how to make bread
from 'scratch'; when you started discussing bacterial
counts, i decided to kindly stay away from the bakery
part of the local deli. Incidentally, I have eighteen
fire extinguishers......hoping you understand my sense
of humor....always with smiles....bobford



--- Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com> wrote:


Wow! Let me see, I once posted about a restaurant
in San Clemente that had gotten too cocky about multiplying its dough, so
that its bread and rolls had an off-taste. You should think of these
warnings the same as warnings about handling fire. Under no
circumstances should you eliminate fire from your life, just because someone
had once had a problem with it. Instead let that wisdom lead to
new understanding.

Sorry for the misunderstanding!

Bill
S. Oregon coast

bob ford wrote:


You sent the message several years ago. I have

not

eaten a piece of bread since.....now, I do eat
un-leavened crackers still






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