I'm puzzled about sourdough terminology
I'm dipping my toe in the sourdough waters, and have a couple of questions about terminology and technique.
I have begun a starter, using gaaarp's plan of attack, that is bumping along nicely on day four presently, and here I want to thank him for such a coherent tutorial on beginning a starter. Super.
But I 'm working too from both the BBA and Hamelman's Bread. Unless I'm missing something it seems to me that what Reinhart is calling "Barm" is more or less the same concoction as what Hamelman is calling "Mature Culture (liquid)"
Is this the case or did I miss something substantial?
And a related question. Considering, for example, the formulas for basic sourdough in both books, in the BBA formulas for the first build we see something like 4 ounces of barm to (say) 4.5 ounces of flour, with perhaps 1 or 2 ounces of water. In Hamelman's scheme we see perhaps one ounce of "mature culture" to the same 4 or so ounces of flour, but with the hydration being higher. The main difference in technique being that the BBA's mix stands for a few hours and is then refrigerated, while in Hamelman, the mix is left at room temp. for 12 to 16 hours. Will I end up with a similar "octane rating" (as it were) using either approach?
If I adjust for the difference in hydration so as not to sabotage the overall bread formula, can I expect similar results?
Anyone have any reasons to favor one approach over the other?
Many thanks.
david
...Peter has changed the way he refers to a Barm due to the confusion.
Quote: (Peter Reinhart)
Once you have established a seed culture you will need to convert it into a mother starter. This is the starter you will keep perpetually in your refrigerator and is the permanent starter from which you will build your actual bread dough. (Note: In previous books I also referred to this starter as a barm, but as I learned through the ongoing research of Monica Spiller, the term barm is more properly used for starters made using mashed (scalded) grain as the growth medium. However, if you are used to calling your mother starter a barm, feel free to continue doing so.)
David,
Thanks for the nice comments on the sourdough tutorial. You (and I) are the exact audience I was aiming for -- people who have been curious about sourdough but intimidated by the seeming mysteries. I'm glad the process worked for you.
As for the terminology, Wisecarver is right that PR has in the past used somewhat confusing words to describe the various stages of starter. I think it amounts to an honest attempt to distinguish between the various stages. It's like a child -- we have terms like infant, toddler, preschooler to refer to the same thing (a kid) at different stages of development. You'll notice in my tutorial, other than the seed culture at the beginning, I generally just refer to it as a starter, to avoid confusion. To make matters worse, of course, "starter" is used to refer to your ongoing "mother" starter as well as the starter you build for baking.
I think the difference in the handling of the starter between Reinhart and Hamelman is reflective of their approaches to the mother starter. Reinhart keeps his refrigerated and feeds it weekly; Hamelman keeps his on the counter and feeds it daily. So it makes sense that each would treat the first build similarly. Each approach will net similar results. By using less starter and more time, Hamelman's first build will be as potent as Reinhart's, which uses more starter and less time.
Phyl
Phyl, thanks for the clarification.
And wisecarver, thanks for the quote from PR, it's helpful.
To add to my confusion is the fact that my dad, who was a baker in England his whole working life, used to make what were called "barm-cakes" daily. They were made with with a proportion of holdover dough from yesterday's batch: a pate fermentee in fact, which he called 'barm'. We'd call them 'baps' here, probably. A colloquial convention from the northern British Isles most likely. And anyway, no self-respecting Englishman of his generation would call it, or anything else, a pate fermentee, because it's, er, well, you know, French. :)
In general, I find Hamelman to be easier to understand, and surely that's because his approach (at least in the book "Bread") is more that of a production baker, which fits with childhood memories more readily. And I really like that he gives the overall baker's percentage for each formula, and wish that PR could be persuaded to do so, if only to save all that arithmetic.
Another oddity Phyl. I find the smell of the immature starter to be not at all disagreeable. i mean, its not lovely, certainly, but it's not unpleasant either, at least to me. Intriguing is how it strikes me. Such is taste! My wife thinks cilantro, which I love, tastes like soap, while I think olives, which she loves, taste like ear-wax.
Maybe we should invite all these wretched book authors to a BBQ and refuse to feed them until they all get on the same page! But more of the fog has now lifted, that's the main thing.
Many thanks once again.
david