I started a new starter about seven days ago, using an 'offhand' method that's always worked reliably for me in the past to produce a starter with the classic yeasty/sour/yummy smell, stable and robust, with good rising characteristics. Now the same method has produced a starter that seems to rise very well and smells great, but more like someone took the top off a Calvados still: lushly, almost 'ether-y' fruity-sweet and clearly kicking out a (probably) flammable mix of ethanol and acetones.

I started with organic rye flour and tap water, 1:1, and used a scrubbed-and-dishwasher-sterile (i.e., mostly sterile, but not surgically so) glass, lidded container (old pickle jar, clean metal lid, holes poked with a nail). Discarded 3/4 and fed with more rye for three days at 12-hour intervals. Ambient temp was on the high side - maybe 85-90 degrees. But the stuff was bubbling up in the predictable way and smelled like a rye flour starter at first -- i.e., normal, with that harsh rye edge.

Once I was seeing doubling in small amounts, I began feeding with white flour (KA bread flour), starting at roughly the same "pour off 3/4ths, add 1:1" proportions and intervals, slowly backing off on the liquid to make for a 'doughier' starter, which seems to produce (for me) a more sour loaf. The sweet smell emerged with the first white-flour feeding. The stuff rises normally (double-triple in 3-4 hours). And now I've risen a test loaf with it -- first rise looked textbook, as did the second, and the dough itself smells great, except there's definitely a hint of this 'liqueur' aroma around it.

I've read several TFL threads via Search for 'sourdough smell,' and I'm not too worried about this. I assume the starter will settle down with further feedings and probably stop being so tipsy. But I wonder if anyone can see, in my description (which I know is sadly loose -- I've done this enough times with dead-on results that I've gotten to assume things will always 'just happen' in a certain way) something that explains why this starter smells so different from my prior efforts. Thanks!

I am in the process of establishing a home based bakery in Morrisville, NC. I would like to know if I will be able to be licensed to bake and sale alcohol infused products?

I have been thinking about adding some bourbon to brownies to see how the taste compares to bourbon balls. It is a common practice to replace a like amount of a liquid in a recipe when adding a liquid. Alcohol evaporates faster than water. Does anyone here have experience doing something like this? Will it just dry out the brownies? Should I try something other than a one to one ratio? Any help is appreciated. I hate wasting food.

Thanks,

Paul 

I was feeling creative and wanted to add some bourbon-soaked cherries to my usual brioche dough. I had been soaking the fruit for three days and drained off all the alcohol before adding the cherries to the dough.

I just took the dough out of the refrigerator after 8 hours of bulk fermentation and it hasn't risen at all. 

I'm assuming that any remaining alcohol from the cherries made its way into the dough and killed all of my yeast. Any one have any similar experience with something like this? Is there any other way I could go about making this happen? What if I rinsed the fruit before adding to the dough? 

Thanks!

Hello, everybody!

So, here in Hungary, it seems like everybody's got a farm, and coextensively a vineyard.  My husband David and I don't, but we do have an incredibly kind old neighbor who's teaching us to make our own red wine. It's so much fun - picking our own grapes, grinding them, removing stems...  Like so:

Naturally, in gratitude I've baked him lots of bread.  We're not quite done, but in approximately two weeks we will have (for $50) 150 litres of red wine!  Which leads me to my question:

I've seen and read a number of beer bread recipes.  But obviously, we've got plentiful wine...  Are there any breads which call for a splash of wine in the dough?  It seems like it would be possible, but I've never seen any; I'm still a student baker, so I don't know if there are any chemical or taste-related reason for this.  Does anybody know, and if wine bread exists, any ideas?  

Thanks!  

Erzsebet

Also, if anybody is interested in other pictures and a diary of our winemaking process, it's on my blog -http://erzsebetgilbert.blogspot.com

Hello, everybody!

So, here in Hungary, it seems like everybody's got a farm, and coextensively a vineyard.  My husband David and I don't, but we do have an incredibly kind old neighbor who's teaching us to make our own red wine. It's so much fun - picking our own grapes, grinding them, removing stems...  Like so:

Naturally, in gratitude I've baked him lots of bread.  We're not quite done, but in approximately two weeks we will have (for $50) 150 litres of red wine!  Which leads me to my question:

I've seen and read a number of beer bread recipes.  But obviously, we've got plentiful wine...  Are there any breads which call for a splash of wine in the dough?  It seems like it would be possible, but I've never seen any; I'm still a student baker, so I don't know if there are any chemical or taste-related reason for this.  Does anybody know, and if wine bread exists, any ideas?  

Thanks!  

Erzsebet

Also, if anybody is interested in other pictures and a diary of our winemaking process, it's on my blog - http://erzsebetgilbert.blogspot.com

My starter smells like alcohol. It doesn't taste like alcohol, it doesn't taste particularly sour and it doesn't really taste bad. So I'm not sure if it is dead, infected or what.

I have used it a number of times before with very little additional yeast (at times none) to make good bread. However, the bread doesn't taste sour. I guess I'm fine with that because it still tastes good but I'm a little concerned now.

The only thing that I can think of is that the summer heat has something to do with it. I have it sitting on my counter in a crock out of the sun but we have yet to turn on the AC this summer. I keep it a 100% hydration (by weight) but I should probably decrease that.

I pulled 500g yesterday to make a preferment with 150g water and 375g high gluten flour. It has taken almost 24hrs to double and it has the consistancy of runny icing or glaze.

I really don't want to throw it out as I aquired my initial starter from my father who got it from my aunt who got it from some bakery in San Fransisco. It has been some time since I last baked and I haven't been feeding it very often either.

Any thoughs, suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Muffin