As some of you will remember I cultured a sourdough starter some time ago. Since then, I have been keeping it active and baking with it on a regular basis to the tune of once a week. I have been producing some wonderful bread and my starter is surprisingly strong and robust.
It's just not very sour.
As anyone who has brewed beer can tell you, a large part of the brewing battle is sanitation. It does not take much for a beer to become home to the acid producing bacteria and turn into something you did not want and many won't drink. The antiseptic properties of hops help to keep these beasties at bay but in low hopped brews it is much more likely that they will take hold if your sanitation is not complete. In brews made without the use of hops it's almost impossible to stop them from taking roost unless another edible antiseptic is used.
With all of that in mind, how did I leave a starter medium exposed to the air for weeks and wind up with little or no acid producing beasties? I now have a very large culture of a strong, fairly cleanly fermenting and robust wild yeast. I have done lots of research and the most common answer I have found is that I am not giving the microbes enough time to work. Many assume the sourness of sourdough comes from the starter and do not let the beasties work on the freshly added flour for long enough. The last 4 batches I have made have had full 24 hour long proof/rise times. Before that I was working on 12 hours and some the earliest batches were 10 hours. The guides I have seen suggest a max of 20 hours. I'm pretty sure I've been giving the little guys enough time.
All in all I don't think I can be too displeased. I have a fairly constant supply of tasty bread, everyone who has tasted it has been quite happy and I always enjoy feeding others good food. I may try to make another starter once the weather warms up a bit and see if that helps me wrangle different beasties. I also may intentionally inoculate this starter with active cultures from other sources. Either way I will update with any news.
I'm also hoping to start a food and cooking group here in Salem before I head of to California. I'll have some more updates once that gets off the ground.
