Sourdough Sam

So... revelation to the world for the day: you CAN collect enough wild yeast to make bread! As I'm sure everyone knows, San Francisco is known for its sourdough bread. Some believe it became popular during the 1800s Gold Rush because there was no easy way to get bakers' yeast, while others say it was simply more lucrative than gold mining. Either way, along with the mercury used to extract gold from the mines [read this], sourdough has become inextricable from the Bay area, and is as much a  part of the culture as liberal politics, CAVs, and weed.

Well, for better or worse, one of my good friends is allergic to yeast, or at least, baker's yeast. After almost a year of near-weekly jaunts to the farmer's market to find the one baker in Berkeley who sells sourdough without any added yeast (yielding a far denser, more sour loaf than even the best commercial sourdough), I decided to try my hand at capturing these natural buggers to allow him the opportunity to eat bread- without needing to be at the corner of Shattuck and Rose at 5pm every Thursday.

Now. How does one capture yeast? It turns out to be an incredibly simple process, actually. All you need is a big bowl, a piece of screen (a clean window one that hasn't been installed yet for the summer works), and some unbleached flour and tap water (preferably left in an open container overnight to allow some of the chlorine ions to dissipate). Then you throw water and flour in a bowl to make a thick pancake batter-like consistency, put your screen on top, and put it somewhere for a few days, checking once or twice a day to mix it up a bit and add more water if it starts drying up. There's tons of wild yeast floating around in the air, and these are the guys you want to make your sourdough (I know, weird, right?). They're called lactobacilli (like the dudes that help us digest milk sugars), and they're a little different everywhere. Thus, my Berkeley Hills under-the-porch lactobacilli will be different from your Brooklyn rooftop lactobacilli, or your friend's Eastern Angola lactobacilli. So we'll all have different tasting sourdoughs... though I'm not sure I believe the difference in Acme/Semifreddi's/Boudin sourdoughs can actually be attributed to their different cultures... after a while, all starters that live in the same place will have the same bacteria (as the old dudes die off and new ones replace them)... it's far more likely the ratio of water/starter/flour, flour type, rising time, cooking temperature, etc.

So some people don't like the sour taste of sourdough. Well, lucky you, kids, that's actually variable! It turns out that letting your culture and dough (there are several steps in making a true sourdough) proof at rather low temperatures (around room temperature, to be exact) slows the growth of the yeast enough to limit the production of the acid associated with the 'sour' taste. Of course, this means your loaf takes longer to make, but in my opinion, that's not a bad tradeoff [but then, I also am not a fan of sour sourdough entirely because I love french toast, and the sour/cinnamon combo isn't the best]. I mean, really, what's the difference between 8 hours and 10 hours? Anyone? You don't have to do much with a sourdough loaf anyway (1x kneading for ~10min), so this makes it a perfect candidate for the lazy baker who doesn't care if they get bread today or tomorrow.

My first loaf came out a little dense and not too sour. I was pretty happy, though the crust was rather thick and my sad cake/bread knife didn't enjoy it. It went over well in the office (of course, we're grad students, any free food is consumed instantly), though the density was unexpected for those of us used to the poufy yeast-added commercial baguettes. I realized my second rising should have extended longer than my first, though; once in the final rising position, the yeast won't come into contact with any more flour, so it'll stop making more tasty poufy bubbles, and remain more dense. Something to try for next time.

mmmm bread. how could one live without bread? everyone, including those who can't eat baker's yeast, can rejoice in the pleasures of homemade sourdough. So if anyone needs a starter? Let me know. I'll cut you some.