April 23, 2020 - 4:40am
Pasta Madre (Lievito Madre)
So, I've been making Pullman sandwich loaves with my 100% hydration starter and they are great but the faint sourness is a turn off for some kids. A friend recommended converting my starter into a pasta madre as the base, since the 'washing' is supposed to reduce/remove the acetic acid.
Unfortunately, the discussions about this are worse that the regular sourdough discussions, imho. The only consensus I can find is that it's kept room temp at 50% hydration, but times between feeding, using, instructions on washing, are all over the map (or in Italian).
Is there anyone who can point me to a reference work or break this down simply? I mean, Italian grandmothers did this, so it's not like it's building a nuclear reactor.
Thanks in advance.