Spring-Almost-and this bakers thoughts turn to Wild yeast!

Topic-Bread and wild yeast

It is most often called sourdough and most of the time I call it that too( it somehow seems simpler even if it’s too often associated with San Francisco) but what’s bubbling and starting foam in my laundry room right now is a much older strain of wild yeast, one that comes directly  from the Giza Plateau in Egypt. I’m putting a link for Sourdough International on my blog roll for any of you who are interested in trying a different strain of wild yeast for your bread. It’s where I bought mine, except the Oregon strains. Ed Wood’s books are a must too!

This is the third batch of Giza Sourdough I’ve started since 2004 along with a French, San Francisco and two native strains from my home state or Oregon. With the small space I have to keep cultures I have to start over from time to time but the fascination of watching the cultures grow, each so different from the other never ceases to amaze me .

I most often pair the Giza with at least one or two ancient grains when I bake with it, but it produces a fantastic bread using only unbleached white flour!

Day 1 was yesterday:

I use the directions in Ed Wood’s Classic Sourdoughs, it works like this: the Giza wild yeast comes in a packet with the equivalent of 1/4 cup flour. i added 3/4 cup flour and one cup water( tap is fine unless you don’t like your water then use bottled). Mix together stirring until your hand gets tired. I use a clean plastic bowl( pouring in boiling water before hand will ensure you kill any bacteria you don’t want. Then I cover the bowl with plastic wrap and it goes into my laundry-the warmest place I have. After about 8-10 hours you will see some activity in the form of Hooch( alcohol) on top. I have about 3 tablespoons which is pretty good. Too much and the yeast will already have used up all the food in the flour-not good.

Day Two-today:

Now I check and though the beginning culture looks dormant, the amount of hooch is small and i see small bubbles in the surface, a sure sign that I’ve got a good batch started. Time to feed the culture 1 cup of flour and 3/4 cup water, beat it again to mix and put away. It’s rather like feeding a small pet. It’s alive and if you feed it regularly it will reward you with untold loaves of the most perfect bread you have ever tasted. This will go on for several days-stay tuned.

Picture’s too!

Joanna-Linsley-Poe

 

 

 

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