August 19, 2010 - 9:07pm
Growing yeast
My mother said in the old days they would make a yeast starter by simply leaving equal amounts of flour and water in a bowl and cover with a clean cloth. So I tried this and it has bubbled after a few days but it smells like vomit. The whole kitchen smells bad. Does anyone have any input. I am not sure it should smell like this.
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Sourdough 101. A tutorial:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10251/starting-starter-sourdough-101-tutorial
If you really mean to make something like sourdough, then "starting a starter" is the right thing to pursue.
But if you're just trying to save a few pennies, then don't try to do it this way. If you lived in the same place your mother lived, and the air quality was the same as when she was your age, it might work readily. But you're fighting half a century of industrialization and urbanization pollution ...and you may not win easily.
It's true those individual packets of commercial ("instant/breadmachine dried") yeast at your grocery store are ridiculously expensive. Look nearby for jars about the size of a baby food jar instead; the initial price seems steep but the per-use price is actually many times lower. And if you get into really serious baking, you'll want to buy commercial yeast at least a pound at a time, which sometimes means a big-box store and sometimes means mail order from a place like this.
Your on the right track, It takes several days for the good yeasties to overpower the bad ones. Throw away most of your "Starter" and feed it equal parts of starter, flour, and water (by weight) Keep doing this everyday for 3-4 days, then go to twice a day feedings. It should be doubling in 4-6 hours and have a pleasant yeasty sour smell. (Yummy, not vomit)
Now that you have a active starter you will want to bake lots of yummy stuff with it. Make sure to feed your starter and bake with the discard.
At this point, I change the feeding schedule to 1 part starter, 2 parts flour, 2 parts water. (by weight) and I usually use 25 grams of starter, 50 grams flour, 50 grams water. Keep in the fridge and feed weekly. When you want to bake, take 25g out to feed, use the rest (100g) to bake with.