The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

SD Microbes are everywhere

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

SD Microbes are everywhere

Since having to clear my kitchen sink drain line twice, I starter cleaning my tools in a bucket. Once the bake is finished the cleaning water to thrown out into my yard. To my surprise I noticed fermentation in the cleaning bucket.

Debra has told me through the years that bakers who bake often have homes full of microbes.

Martadella's picture
Martadella

I also heard that us bakers are less likely to get food poisoning. We have richer microbiome!

idaveindy's picture
idaveindy
The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

I heard tell somewhere that starter discarded into home drains could actually help to keep the drain clear and running.

Be careful of what you assume to be facts. Otherwise, we risk filling our heads with useless information! 

Sage advice from

Will F. 

Booda's picture
Booda

Maybe so, but doesn't water + flour = glue and paste?

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

Over 40 years ago I completely built my house, including the plumbing and the cement slab. On 2 recent occasions I had to rent a drain auger to clear the 2” PVC that ran from my kitchen sink to the waste water treatment plant. The line was completely plugged with large chucks of material that looked like dry sheetrock mud. These chunks had formed and adhered to the walls of the pipe. These white chunks were as large as your fist and hard. It took a cutting auger to drill it out. Wished I still had the gross images of the chunks to display. Like many members of TFL, I bake a lot.

What you heard was wrong.

Many people think that if they are on municipal sewer that it doesn’t matter what they send through the pipes. Not True. The problem is not in the sewer, it is in the lines between the sink and the sewer. I strongly suspect that starter, with it’s many microbes in the waste water treatment system might be beneficial. The problem is how it gets to there. Recently bought a water jetter and plan to use it every 6 months or so. Hopefully though, washing the tools and vessels in a bucket and keeping that cleaning water out of the pipes will eliminate future blockage. Before washing the items with starter or dough, they are wiped as clean as possible with paper towels. Anything to keep the “glue” from entering the drain.

I learned the hard way. 

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

 Along with the comment above referencing glue. Which we all know about from second-grade art class. I was referring to what I previously heard, and for a short while took to be a fact! I always came back to the glue, I try and get as little starter down the drain as is possible. Whatever does go down goes through the larger and closer to the house stack toilet. 

DanAyo's picture
DanAyo

It would be difficult for those living in a high rise and other similar situations. Where I live, we forget that not everyone lives in the country. 

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

That being said, scooping out the loins' share into the trash is a big help. Soon we will be getting curb-side composting so the discard will go in that pile. 

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

dental floss! That stuff turns into a disgusting web/bird's nest of gunk! Do yourselves/friendly neighborhood maintenance man a favor, discard your floss in a trash pail, not down the drain. Smile...