February 3, 2013 - 12:31am
Commercial contamination of starter
Browsing the net tonight and I cam across website that deals with all things fermentation amongst other things. There was a FAQ that discussed sourdough starters exclusively. One of the Q/A discusses the threat of contaminating a sourdough starter if it is kept too close to other rising breads made with commercial yeast and other fermenting foods. I recall reading something on the lines that if you were to add commercial yeast to a starter that it will soon eliminate the commercial yeast due to acid levels and bacterial growth. Just want to see what your thoughts were? If this is a possibility, what precautions do you take to eliminate this threat?
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we would have heard or experienced this ourselves. I take no precautions.
Wild yeast has more survival skills and mine would most likely munch com. yeast for breakfast.
I think that the possiblity of ambient cross contamination is very low possibly close to zero. Adding commercial yeast directly to a sourdough starter is another matter and this would have some effect on the starter. Whether or not that effect would be long lasting, I cannot say.
This is not to be confused with recipes that call for both sourdough starter and yeast as that is an entirely different matter.
Jeff
I would like to visit this website as I am interested in ALL things fermented. I am looking for a new direction-hmmmm.... cheese? or maybe Non-beer beverages.
Sorry for not including the link in my original post.
http://www.culturesforhealth.com/sourdough-troubleshooting-faq