February 22, 2011 - 3:51am
Alkalinity?
Hi,
I'm curious to know if there are (wild-) yeasts that thrive in an alkaline environment, if it's possible to establish a sourdough -oops, alkadough:-) -culture with that feature and if -ultimately- bread itself can come out alkaline.
I know there's some (scary) microflora that causes salt-rising bread to rise, but the Clostridium family is not a strain to play with.
Are there studies concentrated on microflora generally considered safe and harmless?
Not that I'm going to start a culture next day :-) , I'm just curious.
Thanks.
Share
Even if there is such a microflora, Nico, the taste of Alkaline Food is not detectable nor it is palatable. Acidity to a certain extent, on the other hand, is favored by our tongues.
I tend to favor and eat 90% of sour food.
Sourness is an AVERSIVE taste - we tend to avoid things that are very sour. By definition we generally find things that are less sour and therefore less acidic (eg more alkaline) to be more palatable.
A little bit of sourness goes a very very long way. Nobody piles on the lemon juice, but sugar now, that's a different matter entirely. So is salt. We seek them out in quantity when possible.
So by definition, we favor alkalinity over acidity.
To me -non native speaker- "less acidic" and "more alkaline" mean different things. Speaking only for myself I can say that I tend to favor mildly sour food, e.g. yogurth, rye bread, cheeses, cheeses, cheeses :-) etc, that have nothing to do with alkalinity.
Actually I can't even think what food tastes alkaline. What is there? Maybe vegetables such as spinach, chicory, chard and friends? I tend to associate alkalinity to bitterness.
The micro-organism that gives salt rising bread its flavor and aroma is Clostridium perfringens. Though this bacterium can have a toxin when cultured in a specific manner, there has been no reported case of harm done by the salt rising dough or the baked bread from this dough. I and many others find the cheese-like flavor and aroma of this bread palatable and highly desirable. I find that the bread makes excellent toast.
The dough is, indeed, alkaline. This bacterium will not survive in the acid medium.
I welcome further comments on salt rising bread, and will be happy to share recipes and information.
Ford