Comments on: Breaking the Wild Yeast Barrier – or Starting a Desem Day 1

By: Aubry

Aubry — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 22:19:22 +0000

It’s really mild. You really have to work to get it sour. It pretty much tastes the same as conventional yeast, but with that super developed wheat flavor. Awesome. It’s pretty much the same as your desem version, just wetter. There are a bunch of ways to use wild yeast and they all work pretty well. It just takes a little effort with the continuous feedings. I go through phases where i bake a lot of bread and phases where I’m not. I do a refrigerator dough a lot when I’m otherwise occupied. Also the wild yeast dough I use has a hard time in the summer as our kitchen gets soo warm and I have to skip it for a while.

By: admin

admin — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:59:36 +0000

Hi Aubry, sounds like you don’t keep it up anymore? My family seems to prefer the desem to sourdough but I’ve never tried to make my own sourdough. Maybe I should try!

By: Aubry

Aubry — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 05:19:24 +0000

I did the soupy pancake batter version of wild yeast. The starter is basically pancake thick water and flour with a cheesecloth bag of mushed grapes or apples or whatever fruit you have on hand. It sits for about a week then you toss the bag and add flour and water twice a day. After two weeks of starting with a cup of starter and adding twice that in flour and water twice a day (lot’s of doubles!) you have strong starter. It works beautifully and produces a very mild sourdough. I actually can’t tell it’s sourdough unless I do a super long rise. The bread turns out amazing of course. But you have to bake pretty often or you end up with leftover starter. But the pancakes made from starter are awesome!

By: admin

admin — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:41:34 +0000

Hi Becky, I’m glad you’re here! I just wrote a really long post and then we lost connection. It should have really been it’s own post so I’ll do that now. Welcome!

By: Becky

Becky — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 14:19:16 +0000

I just found your website from KFG’s site and I’m so glad I did!! What you’re doing is what I aspire to. I can’t wait to read more!

Question, we’re on a really tight budget so sometimes cost prohibits me from buying local (especially meat and dairy). Do you find your local food much more expensive then supermarket foods? Do you have any tips for keeping the prices down? I spend about $120 a week on groceries now (family of 4 with 2 daycare kids during the week). Do you think it’s do able on my budget?
Thanks!

By: admin

admin — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 05:14:28 +0000

Hi Aubry, what kind did you make? A desem? That is great advice about the freezer. I keep meaning to do that with my buttermilk culture & kefir grains too.

Hi KFG, I tried the no knead once with 100% flour, it was the 100% flour version from the Mother Earth News site and it bombed. It’s the only time I’ve tried the no knead. I just really like the crumb and texture of sandwich bread and I don’t see how you can get that. I don’t knead much, it’s more folding which I think improves the crust. My regular bread recipe is under category and then bread and it is 100% whole wheat but there is some kneading involved.

Mangochild – I’m really hoping this is the yeast and not the gluten bugging me because I cannot imagine life as a baker even though I suspect we would be better off giving up grain. Have you been to glutenfreegirls site? I’m sure I’m the last person in the world to have discovered it…

Julia, I hope you try this! It’s really fun harnessing something wild and there aren’t too many mustangs left out there so this is a great place to start. :p

By: Aubry

Aubry — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:03:51 +0000

i did the wild yeast thing for years and it was pretty much as wonderful as all it’s praises. One nice thing I found was that if I got out of routine, I could put a chunk in the freezer and up to a year or two later I could revive it. It would take a couple of days to get it back to full strength, but it saved me the two week hassle. I actually got mine down to a one a day feeding. It took a little longer in rising time, but somedays I just couldn’t commit to two feedings.

By: kitsapFG

kitsapFG — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 16:02:30 +0000

Very interesting. We actually do like sour dough but I invariably neglect my starter (and I would the desem too) and I lose all the time invested in it. (sigh)

I stick to the more traditional process of using purchased yeasts – but like you have found that presoaks are necessary to get a decent loaf from whole wheat. I would be curious if you have any tips and or suggestions on using whole wheat in the no knead recipes? I have gotten up to about a 50/50 mix of whole wheat and unbleached flour with decent results, but seem to deteriorate significantly if I try to do any higher proportions of whole wheat in the recipe. There has to be a way! I would love to get close to the crisp crust and good crumb of the 100% unbleached flour version of the no knead bread – using close to (if not entirely) 100% whole wheat.

By: julia

julia — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:55:03 +0000

I’m here to learn. I have mad respect for you!

By: Mangochild

Mangochild — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 12:10:26 +0000

I’m looking forward to reading more about your venture. I baked with yeast (including sourdough) for about the past 2 years before going gluten free, and the taste was really different (and better, I thought) with the sourdough. Another thought if you’re looking to get away from packaged yeast is to try a few flatbreads – they naturally don’t require yeast, can often be made on the stove-top, and often include other kinds of whole grains too. Just wanted to throw it out there. But I am excited to hear how this goes for you and I’m sure I’ll learn more that I can use baking for my friends.