Sourdough starter question

That is a technique that is used. Some would call it pâte fermentée. A desem is created and stored this way in a sack of flour.

Hamelman talks about it and has recipes with pâte fermentée in his book Bread.

cheers,

alef

joann,

Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book ( Random House 1984) has a recipe pp111-129 describes a similar process to what you described.  Another thing is saving in a flour sack till the next bake.  If it's daily that will work.  Laurel suggests maintaining a temperature between 50 - 65 F so a flour sack in a cool place would probably work.  I haven't tried this but keep a wheat starter in my proofing refrigerator at 43 F.  Hope that helps you with your question.

Two things were important to sourdoughs, the gold poke and the sourdough poke. Pokes were made from doe skin and sized accordingly - small for gold dust and a little larger than a pint for sourdough which was well worked with neatsfoot oil. The latter contained a dry sourdough starter ball in a bath of flour. In cold climes it was worn around the neck or tucked under the belt - kept warm by body heat.

The gold poke often went dry but god help you if your sourdough poke went south - you'd end up starving. This was according to my Grandfather who was one of the real McCoy's of the Alaskan Gold Rush - he was a good friend of Jack London. 

In latter years he still baked bread occasionally but used store bought yeast because he didn't have the time to wait around for the sourdough to "get done" as he would say. The exception to this rule was waffles. He came across a professional waffle iron whose element had burned out and he picked it out of the junk bin when the 1939 World's Fair closed on Treasure Island.

He rewired the burned out heating element and proceeded to start making sourdough waffles every Sunday. That waffle iron disappeared from life over time but not the Sunday waffles that still bring back a host of memories.

There's only one restaurant that still serves sourdough waffles in Alameda (they don't advertise the fact nor even mention it) and I'm not letting the secret of its name out. It would just end up making the line out the door longer on weekends...,

Wild-Yeast 

P.S. JoAnn - your dad was indeed lucky to meet up with a Basque. They have made living off the land a time honored and well honed profession.

JoAnn,

 I'm pretty sure I know the restaurant in Alameda, by the way.

Please keep it on the QT - they don't need any more business (I am sure they would disagree).The place is always packed. One of the last remaining shrines to the way breakfast used to be served. Folks are learning that the "Travelers Special" can be eaten for dinner also.

What is somewhat amazing to me is that the idea didn't end up in the fast food lane. Most customers become protective of this treasure from the past.

Wild-Yeast

way to make a starter that Mini taught me.  Take a small amount of WW and mix it with water to get a 60% hydration golf ball.  Put it in a brown paper bag that has enough AP flour to cover the ball.  Put it on top of the fridge for 7 days.  Then crack it open and take the soft center out and feed it like any other SD starter used for a levain.  I've done it several times now and it works every time.