I fed the starters, and I saved an additional Dawson starter with commercial yeast in it. While that's not ideal, I was curious to see if I could keep the commercial yeast alive in this way.
I tucked the three jars up in the cupboard, and discovered an explosion the next day. The potato mother definitely doubled. Progress.
Round four I had planned to follow directions with all three starters, but I had almost no bubbling in any of the three in the pancake phase. The potato mother surprised me most of all. Since I knew it had doubled, I expected it to be ready to use. Then I thought maybe the yeast was the part I had cleaned up off the cupboard.
I decided to cheat, just a little. Just before mixing in the remaining flour, I added a teaspoon of old yeast, from a jar that I had stopped using over a year ago because my bread wasn't rising properly. I was hoping it would give them enough of a boost to make edible bread.
The Dawson bread was gooey on the inside with playdough smell. Bird food.
The Dawson with commercial yeast- edible, but has an odd aftertaste.
The potato mother bread is edible, nice holes forming inside, but the top of the loaves all cracked. I probably should have left it alone to do it's thing.
This is fascinating, even the explosion.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
DeleteYour adventures in sourdough are interesting. I admire your tenacity. Of course, having turkeys to feed the accidents does help a bit. Otherwise it would be a terrible waste of flour.
ReplyDeleteThose loaves look very light in color. Why haven't they browned? Were they not baked long enough, or is there a problem with the dough being too acidic so the browning reaction cannot take place? Is your water too acidic?
As far as the cracking loaves, I usually score the tops of regular bread loaves before the last rise so there is room for expansion. That way the crack locations are fairly predictable.
Thanks.
DeleteI've never had my water tested, but my grandmother bread comes out pretty much the same colour. I assumed it was my oven.
Excellent tip. I will try scoring the tops of the next batch.