I bought some lovely organic, very tasty, blueberries. Delicious! Decided to try a blueberry yeast water.
The yeast water was foaming and the blueberries all floating within 3 days. Not enough of the fruit juice leached out into the water, unlike raisins, and perhaps I should have crushed them a little so there would have been more apparent bubbles. However the floating blueberries and the bit of froth on top indicated it was ready.
Decided to mix the yeast water with a bit of flour and see if it was good to use but i'm not sure about the smell. It had a hint of an overripe/off aroma. Not overly apparent. Has a sweet acidic aroma but there is a hint of something else that would make one think twice if eating them. Not something I get with raisins (normally use dried fruit) but after all it is fresh fruit been sitting in water for 3 days. Is this to be expected?
The best way I can describe it is sickly sweet.
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It has just occurred to me where I went wrong...
I did not crush the blueberries.
When the fruit is cut up or crushed the acidity of the fruit will lower the pH level warding off bad bacteria.
I left the blueberries whole and they didn't leach out any fruit juice at all. Didn't even discolour the water. With the pH being neutral and left at room temperature for a few days this could very well have encouraged bad bacteria.
Think i've learned an important lesson from this failed attempt. Either crush up, or cut up, the fruit and/or make sure the pH is 4.0 or below.
I've made apple yeast water so many times and never had a problem. Yes it foamed but smelled wonderful usually like a spiked apple cider. It was pungent. I didn't think anything about it. It is going to make an alcohol based liquid if you sealed it up tightand you don't want that . You Tube isn't your friend as far as that goes because these dummies put it in air tight bottles and love it when it explodes all over when opened . It needs a lot of air to keep from turning into an awful alcohol mess that you have to toss.
I'd start over if you kept it closed up for the 3 days. It shouldn't be too warm either. I don't have a YW any more. I just wasn't baking enough to keep up with it and one day it didn't react at all after feeding some fresh apple so I tossed it. I may start another one this Fall we shall see.
Hope this helps
c
It's reacting quite quickly. I put a little into some pear juice to make a Perry. Normally there's a lag of a few hours to a day but it started fermented almost straight away!
The preferment for a bread is also springing to life quite quickly.
It seems to be healthy other than for that slightly slickly sweet smell when I first took the lid off.
I had it in a small jar (cleaned out from peanut butter) lid on loosely and in a cool-ish cupboard. Took the lid off once a day to let air in, replaced and tightened then gave it a shake then loosened the lid again.
If the bread turns out well and the Perry doesn't take on a bad smell I think it'll be alright. So far the pre-ferment smells ok and it was all yeast water.
Have you taken a break from baking? That's a shame. I thought you baked regularly and solely with yeast water.
You can see my blog . I’ve been Pulling my weight , so to speak, baking SD levain Pullmans!
I also posted a Grandma Pizza last night with a SD crust.
Lots of back and forth discussions with others here about that . And travel all of March cycling in Tucson AZ .
It was really because it up and died that I stopped. I’m loving the ease of my Quick Pullman loaves and the variety of grains and exploring the increased pff that Bennie used. I am busy.
Glad your YW is healthy. When the original posts about YW started on TFL way way way back it was pointed out that the Japanese who originated the method made a new YW every time they needed one. There was no feeding and keeping it.
I’ll see what I decide to do come fall. Please post your bake with your new YW. Nice to chat with you Abe. c
I did a blueberry starter (call it what you will) a long time ago and it was great. The taste goes away after a while but it's a good way to start. Keep at it! Enjoy!
So it bubbled up very well and looks good to go but i'm still not sure about it. Smells a little bit like a sourdough starter when it first bubbles up. Not a bad smell per se just a tad funky.
Do I abandon or proceed or nurse it into a sourdough starter?
Since you started - might as well continue. Get another going if ya want. The smell will go away. Nothing wrong with it if it's used now - if it's ready - and that's up to you. Enjoy!
Did think about quitting and starting again but i've got a dough fermenting. Not sure what bread i'll be left with though.
Hope it turns out well, crossing fingers.
If anyone understands the difference between good smells and funky, it should be you, just on the basis of your buckwheat bread, right?
Good luck, you've got this!
-Jon
funky smell of a naturally fermented buckwheat bread to this. The smell of a naturally fermented buckwheat bread is more grassy plus i've gotten the process down to a tee which keeps the funky aroma to a minimum.
All my other yeast water breads have had a really nice aroma which is a cause for concern. Although I must say this Yeast Water developed very quickly and seemed perfectly healthy aroma aside.
I'm in unknown territory.
Thank you, Jon.
Says that it’s contaminated. Not like make you sick but the fact that it took off so fast and has an odd smell now says it’s an aberrant bacteria. So pitch it is what he advised.
Thank you for asking your husband. Please thank him, from me, for his advice.
What a day Lol.
It will be thrown away!
Developed quickly part plus the odor but particularly the quickly part is the contamination rearing its head.
There was a woman who had a baking website and she’d brag about being able to make a starter in 24 hrs. Yes it will sometimes act like a bubbling starter but that’s aberration. So best to toss.
I’ve never had Apple do that. I never could get raisin to work.
I've thrown it out. Even if I had baked it and gotten away with it i'd just be worried all day after I had eaten it. Peace of mind.
I suppose with wild ferment anything can turn up. I've done many YW starters and never had this happen.
I have found raisins to be good. They can take a few days. They should be organic of course and it's difficult to find raisins without added oil nowadays. They'll still work but if a film forms then you need to skim it off.
Yes, this YW took off very quickly. The blueberries were floating within 24 hours!
Thank you both.
A few times - blueberry - raspberry - strawberry - whatever was growing. If ya wait and treat properly - it grows. Make the other 1 and hold off on the other - might as well since you've come this way. Enjoy!
I'll look for some organic fruit and give it another try. Never had this with raisins. They never fail for me. Just thought i'd try something different.
Your methods are different than mine - that's the easy way out. But in the end - and I do mean the end - you end up with the same thing. Enjoy!
I used it like yours looks now. All I ever did was dump 100 gr of the YW into the bowl in place of regular water . Or I made a 50g YW + 50g flour levain like you have there and used it. Sometimes I made a regular levain with my SD starter and added the plain YW as part of the liquid and let them “ fight it out” . Sometimes I used all 3 versions. Everything always worked. I was never disappointed or had anything bad come of it.
I don’t remember really paying attention to the smell. I’d proceed. It looks great to me.
I shall proceed!
This is turning out to be fun. Wonder what the results will be.
Will mix the dough now...
Good luck! Baking is certainly an ever evolving project . Will look forward to your results
Fragrance? Waiting patiently… sort of!
Recipe:
Didn't wish to use too much starter so went for 10% hoping the big feed would mask the aroma. So it's going to take a while. Might not be enough time to even bake it today. We'll see.
The sickly sweet smell of the starter has translated into a slightly cheesy aroma in the dough.
Smell is more apparent when taking off the container lid and less so if I put my nose closer to the dough but it's still there.
Is this a Yeast Water bread dough or a Salt Rising bread dough?
Whenever (if) this gets to the oven stage it will be baked very well indeed!
It is - or will be - a starter. Salt rising is a different best. Enjoy!
Only way is through now. I've started this experiment so i'll finish. Unless the dough walks out of the bowl and I wouldn't be surprised if it does.
The Dough Walks at Midnight! The continuing saga of Yeast Water …. Bwwwwwwah
You know, if it got up and walked out of here I wouldn't complain.
I have no idea what beasties you have in there. Will be interesting to see how it develops. I’d definitely retard in fridge if you decide to quit for the day.
Do you have a “ victim” who can be your taster??? Just kidding… sort of 😳😂
But I think i'll have a doctor's appointment pre-booked first :)
It's 7.30pm here so if it doesn't hurry up it'll be put in the fridge till tomorrow.
Have the starter in the fridge and just took a sniff of that. Now it's very cold it just smells sweet and fruity.
Oh boy i'm dreading the taste test.
So it's been shaped. The 'loaf pan' I have is a bit flimsy. Think it is actually an insert to go inside a loaf pan so I put it inside a tinfoil pan. The dough progressed well and quite quickly. Funnily enough the part of the dough not exposed to air had a better aroma. Once folded and transferred into another container the funky smell was not as bad. Actually smells more fruity/sweeter and yeasty with hint of that 'cheesy' smell. It's still there but not in the forefront. I think the aroma was overly ripe fruit. Some compound maybe?
Need a royal taster!!!!
It's progressing nicely. Aroma aside it's been behaving.
Just had another whiff. It's not as forefront now. It actually has a more familiar fermenting bread dough smell with just a hint of something I can't fully describe. It keeps changing. Perhaps it's lodged in my brain now haha.
Where there’s a will , there’s a whey? Anyway hope it’s tasty!
And said I was going to throw it away.
Do you think I should bake it anyway?
I didn't see this post. Was visiting my neighbor. Best to start over
Then try and redeem myself and make a new yeast water.
I wanted to see how it turned out, even if you didn't eat it.
But I wasn't risking it. Sorry about that, Moe.
This is what happens when dealing with wild ferments. Sometimes not all goes to plan.
I did not crush the blueberries.
When the fruit is cut up or crushed the acidity of the fruit will lower the pH level warding off bad bacteria.
I left the blueberries whole and they didn't leach out any fruit juice at all. Didn't even discolour the water. With the pH being neutral and left at room temperature for a few days this could very well have encouraged bad bacteria.
Think i've learned an important lesson from this failed attempt. Either crush up, or cut up, the fruit and/or make sure the pH is 4.0 or below.
So anything below that, you're good.
TomP
Thought it was 4 ish :)
Blueberry juice has a pH of under 4.0 (just checked) so I am going to put my theory to the test and repeat this YW but crush the berries this time.
When I do a raisin YW they leach out juice and colour the water. Thought the blueberries would do the same thing but the water was still perfectly clear.