(Bob) wrote in message ...
On Tue, 14 Oct 2003 10:06:43 -0400, EJM wrote:

I believe that you mentioned you had only ever made one recipe - the KA
recipe "Breads From The Hearth: Baguettes and Ciabatta with Sue Gray &
P.J. Hamel". It is not a sourdough recipe even if you call it one.

Just to show you how writers confuse things here is an excerpt from an
Internet article someone recommended earlier:

+++++
http://www.baking911.com/bread_starters101howto.htm

HOW TO MAKE A SOURDOUGH STARTER: Although rewarding, working with a
starter requires patience and practice. Sometimes starters fail or
don't produce the type of bread that is desired from a variety of
reasons. So how does one make a starter?

A sponge starter is started by mixing the yeast, flour and water in a
bowl, covering with plastic wrap and set in warm place to ferment for
less than an hour or more. When it ferments (gets bubbly and smells
sour and yeasty), it can be used.
+++++

If you read that carefully you will see that it says that a sourdough
starter has yeast in its recipe. There is no other way to read it.

I rest my case.

I can see where my message could have been confusing, but if the read
the paragraph before, you may not have been as confused: There are two
types of starters, a sourdough or sponge. Both can be made at home in
your kitchen from a batter of flour and water, and for a sponge, added
packaged yeast, a portion of a sourdough or another sponge. For more
about starter ingredients, click here.

I took out the heading that began the next paragraph and I continue:

Although rewarding, working with a starter requires patience and
practice. Sometimes starters fail or don't produce the type of bread
that is desired from a variety of reasons. So how does one make a
starter?
A sponge starter is started by mixing the yeast, flour and water in a
bowl, covering with plastic wrap and set in warm place to ferment for
less than an hour or more. When it ferments (gets bubbly and smells
sour and yeasty), it can be used.
A sourdough starter is a living culture that needs food, water and
oxygen to cultivate, ferment and multiply and takes a minimum of a
couple of days or so to get started and months to become stabile.
Before there was packaged yeast, all bread was leavened by a sourdough
starter. Although using a sourdough starter in baking is more
unpredictable than using packaged yeast, the vibrant and sour flavor
as well as unique texture that results, just can't be made in any
other way. It's because you are cultivating and fermenting wild yeast
(often Candida milleri) and bacteria (Lactobacillus) that feed on the
sugars from the hydrated flour's starches and live and multiply in the
batter. A portion is used to leaven and flavor bread and other
recipes.

this is posted only to r.f.s - crosspost links removed

Sarah,

thank you for your post - it's a relief to see it reasons withheld.

"Sarah Phillips baking911.com" wrote:

A sourdough starter is a living culture that needs food, water and
oxygen to cultivate,

A small correction he

Sourdough organisms are mostly anaerobic and don't need oxygen to grow.
It depends on the species and situation what's involved. But to say they
"need" oxygen is probably incorrect.

Practically, aeration of starters and doughs would require constant
churning and I don't think this is worth the effort or it would be done.

There are some starter growing processes which utilize aeration
(foaming) with higher hydration in the beginning.

Feasible for home bakers? Hardly. Measuring the exact impact of aeration
in comparison to the nutrition moving effect may be difficult to figure
out.

Samartha
--
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SD page is the http://samartha.net/SD/