The traditional method for making a sourdough starter is to leave loose (moist) dough outside until it picks up the local microflora (sound more than a little like making a lambic?). In this case, living next to a highway where I'll get more smog than microbes, I decided to use some yeast and microbes that I already have sitting around my home. I mixed a bit of Brett C slurry, kombucha, sauerkraut, and commercial bread yeast together with some flour, water and a pinch of salt. I'll try to keep this one going for awhile to see how it develops.The kombucha and sauerkraut will provide various strains of lactobacillus as well as other souring microbes (all sourdough has both yeast and lactic acid bacteria, however the strains differ from region to region based on what microbes are native to the area, for example Lactobacillus sanfranciscensis is the signature of San Francisco sourdough). The bread yeast will provide most of the lift and will keep rise times reasonable. I hope the Brett will add some complexity, but that its flavor will not be as assertive as in my 100% Brett bread.
It may take some time for the microbes in the bread to adjust to their environment and start living symbiotically (and weed out the microbes that don't jive with the mixed fermentation environment).
I always made starters exploiting microbes naturally present in the flour.
ReplyDeleteFlour and water in a warm environment in a covered container in my kitchen. Always had it started in 2-4 days.