This is an interesting sourdough starter recipe because it doesn’t require a starter. Huh? What I mean is that most recipes say to add include sourdough starter in the recipe. What if you don’t have any? Because, obviously most of us do not or we wouldn’t be trying to start one. Here is a recipe that uses plain old grapes to get started.
WHAT’S INSIDE A SEED? A sourdough start begins with a grain of wheat. Everything that Is essential to perpetuate life is found in an unaltered grain of whole wheat. The bran is actually a protective wrapper consisting of fiber and nutrients. The endosperm is actually a starchy material which makes up the main segment of a wheat berry’s inner structure. The endosperm supplies the germinating seed the nutrients it needs till a root system matures and can sustain the plant. The germ is a small embryo of yet another plant. Flour from commercially machined wheat has the germ and bran stripped out, with all of the related nutrition. Manufacturers are required legally to add 3 or 4 man-made vitamin supplements to retailed white flour that is then called ‘enriched.’ Yet, 16 vitamins and 11 minerals reside in a grain of wheat.
THE SEED IS COMPLETE Organisms that are naturally attracted to wheat dwell on the whole grains. A gram of flour contains close to 13,000 yeast cells. The yeast which are prominent in your starter will be those that have a taste for (and thrive on) your grain. You don’t have to expose a starter to the air so that you can catch ‘untamed’ yeast. Leaving the lid off a starter will only draw unwanted pests and insects.
Yeast and lactobacillus bacteria flourish within the flour and water blend that is a sourdough starter. The relation of yeast to lactobacillus at room temperature is well balanced, having yeast increasing at a slower rate. Cool storage slows the speed of the lactobacillus reproduction. Temperature ranges between 65° and 85°F are best for starters. If your house is cooler, you may need to locate a warm place near a refrigerator or near a heating unit. In Residences that are not cooled, a starter can be kept from overheating by resting into a pan of water.
Both yeast and lactobacilli reside within a healthy sourdough starter while baker’s yeast is made up of only an isolated variety of yeast. These two microorganisms are advantageous to the other in a symbiotic union. Lactobacilli survive without the benefit of oxygen, in carbon dioxide, classifying these as anaerobic microorganisms. Yeast flourishes on the starch inside the endosperm and also generates carbon dioxide as a result of the process. This enriches the lactobacilli colonization which then prevents growth of detrimental microbes.
By means of normal care and feeding, this process can be made use of in a sourdough starter that gives the baker a natural leavening agent.
Leave a Reply