flint
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Posts: 47
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Post by flint on Dec 30, 2005 16:04:25 GMT -5
Hi guys , Jack , I live in New Zealand , thats way down in the south pacific and Lora Brody products are not available here ..Thanks for the info any way I will keep my eye open though ... Deputydon ,the air is full of yeast and because they are not cultured or able to be singled out at will by us ordinary folks , they are called wild ..The sort you buy at the store , are grown /made /cultured , in labs / factories , etc and can be made so as to be clones of the previous lot and so have the same taste / properties as all the previous lots .. The wild ones you catch by letting them grow on/in some bait like flour and water are variable in taste and quality the good ones you keep and nurture the rest you thow out , but quick ..Flint
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Post by deputydon on Dec 30, 2005 21:08:52 GMT -5
I'll be damned.......I learned something today!!!!!!!!!!!! Is there a book I can read up on this subject ?
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Post by Jack on Dec 30, 2005 23:11:20 GMT -5
Yup, Flint's right about wild yeast.... sourdough is the way all bread used to be made. Don, I don't know a specific book title to recommend, but there are many books on the subject- check your local library. The basic procedure to start a sourdough starter is to mix some flour and water, and leave it in a jar, uncovered, or covered with gauze or cheesecloth to keep bugs out and let air in. 3-4 days later, you MIGHT have sourdough starting. Trouble is, you can't tell if you have the right kinda yeast growing....and you want 1 out of many kinds, like Flint said. Try putting flour and water in a jar- about as thick as pancake batter- and add a package of yeast. Use a big jar or a bowl, as the yeast will make it bubble up a lot. Then leave it about 3-4 days....you may have a good yeast culture going. Or maybe not... If you get a good starter going, you never use all of it- you use some for the batch of bread you're making, and replace a like amount of flour and water. The Lora Brody stuff is a d**m sight easier!
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Post by deputydon on Dec 31, 2005 7:43:06 GMT -5
I always wondered where the Orginal stater batch for sourdough came from. Noone ever said; word would just get around that someone had some starter for sourdough and you would keep your own starter going after each batch till it got flat/or died. Ok but getting back to the ORGINAL starter batch, how do ya know if it's a good batck ? Taste the floor/water mixture?
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flint
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Post by flint on Dec 31, 2005 15:17:55 GMT -5
Hi again , I first got to have soughdough pan cakes up in Montana when I was up in your end of the world ,the lady who had the culture had got it from her mother and she said that that strain had been kept alive for nearly 100 years , you have got to know that it was a good one ..When I got back home I caught another good one first try , and kept it alive for 5 years , until I made another trip to montana , mine died while I was away .. Now the colour of the brew when you catch you wild yeast is some indication , pity I can't remember which colours are ok ,the smell is not much help because it all smells sour ,but if it smells like a good beer it has to be close..The only way I know of telling whether you have a good one is to make up a batch of pancakes or a loaf of bread and give it the taste test .. If you get a good batch you sure will know it ..Flint
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Post by Jack on Dec 31, 2005 17:57:28 GMT -5
Yeah, you learn to recognize the smell...kinda beery/yeasty. And the color on mine was always a light yellowish- when it would go bad it would get orange. Don, only way I know for sure is to try to make some bread from it- if it isn't the right yeast, the bread won't rise.
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flint
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Posts: 47
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Post by flint on Jan 1, 2006 17:39:04 GMT -5
Now you tell me ? You got me there the best bread I made was always yellow but it never did rise much at all , definately not double its size like the writers ( Buckskinners Express ) said it would , my cobbers got the same results ..When I used to make Saki , I always got the best brews in winter (took longer to work ) and figured that winter may be the best time to get a good wild yeast , but have really not got anything worth keeping haven't even got a starter going ..Lost my Saki recipe too .. Flint
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Post by deputydon on Jan 1, 2006 21:25:15 GMT -5
Now you tell me ? You got me there the best bread I made was always yellow but it never did rise much at all , definately not double its size like the writers ( Buckskinners Express ) said it would , my cobbers got the same results ..When I used to make Saki , I always got the best brews in winter (took longer to work ) and figured that winter may be the best time to get a good wild yeast , but have really not got anything worth keeping haven't even got a starter going ..Lost my Saki recipe too .. Flint Wouldn't mind sharing that Saki recipe if ya find it would ya ?
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flint
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Posts: 47
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Post by flint on Jan 2, 2006 16:56:05 GMT -5
I would be happy to let you have the saki recipe but I have been looking for more than a while now ..In the days when I was making saki Japanese long line ships were coming in to port about 100 miles from here and even though they brouht their own supplies with them they would pay me $2 .oo for a half gallon of my brew , considering that it cost me .23 cents for 1/2 gallon of beer and around $5.00 to make 30 gallons of saki the round trip with 25 gallons was money in the bank.. It was pretty potent stuff played hell with your legs ,if you over indulged .. Flint
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