Music and Cats

The last time I baked a loaf of almost no-knead bread, I photographed all of the ingredients. Everything except the yeast and salt (not included in the photo) was local - locally grown and milled flours, locally brewed pale ale, local asian pear vinegar. As I looked at the photo, I wondered whether I could bump the yeast out of the picture. Could I raise my own sourdough starter?

While I understood the concept of a sourdough starter — a mixture of flour and water left out on your counter will grow a culture of local wild yeasts — I had no idea how to start one, so I asked my good friend the Internet, which had a lot to say on the subject. One method that seemed particularly promising uses pineapple juice rather than water to start the culture. The acidity of pineapple juice prevents some bacteria you don’t want in your flour culture from multiplying, giving the wild yeasts a head start. I didn’t want to use pineapple juice, as no self-respecting pineapple would grow anywhere near Washington state, but I thought that local apple cider with a little cider vinegar added might work just as well.

Ten days ago, I mixed together a few tablespoons of emmer flour (freshly ground from Bluebird Grain Farms’ farro in our coffee grinder), a few tablespoons of apple cider, and about half a teaspoon of cider vinegar. I wished the wild yeasts on the emmer luck, then covered the container loosely and set it in a quiet spot on the kitchen counter. A couple of times each of the next two days, I stirred the mixture briskly for a minute, then returned it to its spot. By the third day, I could see a few small bubbles on top of the mixture. Was this a sign of wild yeast activity? I aerated the mixture, and added a little more flour (Bluebird Grain’s whole wheat pastry flour, because I didn’t feel like cleaning out the coffee grinder again), cider and cider vinegar. Two days later, the mixture was definitely bubbling! A couple more days of feeding the yeasties with flour and water produced this:

What I had looked suspiciously like a sourdough starter… but there was only one way to find out whether it would raise a loaf of bread. So, last night I mixed up my first sourdough bread, using the no-knead sourdough recipe from Breadtopia. When I got home from work tonight, I shaped, proofed and baked the bread.

I was planning to wait until the loaf had cooled completely before cutting into it, but after an hour, I couldn’t stand it any longer. I sliced off a piece, and bit into it. Hmmmm… A nice crust, though less shattery than the standard no-knead crust. Chewy. Not particularly sour, but definitely tangy. Very tasty.

I am pleased (though a bit tired for squealing and jumping up and down). I’m planning sourdough pancakes for this weekend. And perhaps sourdough English muffins. Who needs processed out-of-state yeast? I have local yeasts now.

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