December 2016 Cooking Wrap-Up

[a_boleyn]

Cooking wise, if not in other respects, 2016 has been a successful year.

I made a second sourdough starter with canned pineapple juice and whole wheat flour and then made some great breads with it. I thickened it up quite a bit compared to the one I made in 2105 and that may have accounted for some of the success. Experience helped as well, as I'm

Comments

[iulia_linnea]

Canned pineapple juice? I never would have thought of that for a starter; is it a tradition? were you using what you had? I'm very curious. :D

Your thrift never ceases to amaze me. Oh, and your bread, your bread makes me so hungry. It's gorgeous; I'm glad the sourdough starter is behaving.

[a_boleyn]

My thrift is equally due to necessity and habit learned from my mom and dad. :)

When you combine flour and water to start your new sourdough starter, you have a neutral (ph ~7) mixture. Yeast likes a nice acid (lower ph) environment. It takes a while for the natural flora in sourdough to convert the environment so it's suitable for acid loving bacteria and yeast. By starting with 'canned' pineapple juice NOT fresh which has protein digesting enzymes in it, you are giving yeast a good start to develop your sourdough starter.

Sourdough is a tasty bread if you eat it soon after it's baked. However, for a longer lasting bread with a good texture and flavour, I still prefer a yeast bread. I've now dried and stored away ALL my starter. I'm baking with yeast tomorrow or Friday.