I have been maintaining different cultures in the same proving box in
loose lidded containers and storing them in the same fridge. I have
found that they seem to cross contaminate over time. Has anyone got
any experience on this. I am about to restore and develop some new
cultures and am not too sure if it is wise to have them in the same
proving box at the same time.
I am trying some new cultures as both mine seemed to become yeast
dominant and would not respond to keeping at higher temperatures to
raise the proportion of bacteria. Any ideas on that one. Paddy

> I have been maintaining *different cultures in the same proving box in

> I am trying some new cultures as both mine seemed to become yeast
> dominant and would not respond to keeping at higher temperatures to
> raise the proportion of bacteria.

I don't know about cross contamination, but I'm curious, if you make
plain white bread with different cultures, does it change the flavor?
I've made some straight white bread, and the flavor is almost always
the same, and while fine, there's an after taste to it I don't
particularly like. I started it from rye on my own and am wondering
if this is where the taste comes from since that is the closest thing
to where I can place it.

I've considered getting a San Francisco starter for the flavor, but
since it sounds like you have a number of starters, perhaps you can
confirm a different starter with the same ingredients should change
the taste.

Thanks,

Robert

On Tue, 26 Apr 2011 08:20:14 -0700 (PDT), Robert Zaleski
> wrote:

>> I have been maintaining *different cultures in the same proving box in
>
>> I am trying some new cultures as both mine seemed to become yeast
>> dominant and would not respond to keeping at higher temperatures to
>> raise the proportion of bacteria.
>
>I don't know about cross contamination, but I'm curious, if you make
>plain white bread with different cultures, does it change the flavor?
>I've made some straight white bread, and the flavor is almost always
>the same, and while fine, there's an after taste to it I don't
>particularly like. I started it from rye on my own and am wondering
>if this is where the taste comes from since that is the closest thing
>to where I can place it.
>
>I've considered getting a San Francisco starter for the flavor, but
>since it sounds like you have a number of starters, perhaps you can
>confirm a different starter with the same ingredients should change
>the taste.
Dunno. I've been running the same starter for 9 years now, and
I find that the make of the flour I use, the ambient temperatures of
the rise and the oven conditions have more influence on the
taste/texture than any changes the starter might have suffered in that
time.
PS This group appears to be dying out ....

Yeah, that's been the case for some time now. OTOH; is there enough
interest in those still reading here to do something about it???

L8r all,
Dusty


"Shadow" wrote in message
...

On Tue, 26 Apr 2011 08:20:14 -0700 (PDT), Robert Zaleski
> wrote:

>> I have been maintaining different cultures in the same proving box in
>
>> I am trying some new cultures as both mine seemed to become yeast
>> dominant and would not respond to keeping at higher temperatures to
>> raise the proportion of bacteria.
>
>I don't know about cross contamination, but I'm curious, if you make
>plain white bread with different cultures, does it change the flavor?
>I've made some straight white bread, and the flavor is almost always
>the same, and while fine, there's an after taste to it I don't
>particularly like. I started it from rye on my own and am wondering
>if this is where the taste comes from since that is the closest thing
>to where I can place it.
>
>I've considered getting a San Francisco starter for the flavor, but
>since it sounds like you have a number of starters, perhaps you can
>confirm a different starter with the same ingredients should change
>the taste.
Dunno. I've been running the same starter for 9 years now, and
I find that the make of the flour I use, the ambient temperatures of
the rise and the oven conditions have more influence on the
taste/texture than any changes the starter might have suffered in that
time.
PS This group appears to be dying out ....

On Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:31:07 -0700, "Cook & Bake"
> wrote:

>Yeah, that's been the case for some time now. OTOH; is there enough
>interest in those still reading here to do something about it???
We could recommend sprinkling water in the oven during baking
to get nice crusts AND Dick Adam's blood pressure up.
FWIW
[]'s

Now, now, now...Dicky's an old and longtime RFS friend...I couldn't do that
to him. However, we could mention how some dill-weeds just can't seem to
grasp the superiority of volume over weight preferences and get a real
catfight going in a heartbeat...(:-o)! Either that or mention how one needs
a minimum of a 40HP dual-axle mixer, tons of stone, and an oven able to get
near the melting point of lead before one can actually bake
sourdough...(:-{})!

Shouldn't be too hard to get some action going...LOL!

L8r,
Dusty - baking good SD in the cool, wet PNW (thanks to a wonderful lady at
Northwest Sourdough)


"Shadow" wrote in message
...

On Thu, 30 Jun 2011 15:31:07 -0700, "Cook & Bake"
> wrote:

>Yeah, that's been the case for some time now. OTOH; is there enough
>interest in those still reading here to do something about it???
We could recommend sprinkling water in the oven during baking
to get nice crusts AND Dick Adam's blood pressure up.
FWIW
[]'s

I have found that they seem to cross contaminate over time.


http://www.amovos.info/qinp1.jpg[/img]
http://www.amovos.info/qinp2.jpg[/img]
http://www.amovos.info/qinp3.jpg[/img]

On Tuesday, April 5, 2011 12:37:48 AM UTC-7, padriac wrote:
> I have been maintaining different cultures in the same proving box in
> loose lidded containers and storing them in the same fridge. I have
> found that they seem to cross contaminate over time.

Starters are really quite stable and it takes a lot of effort or time and abuse to get anything new to grow in the presence of 15E5 to 10E7 CFU/gm of main line yeast and LAB. I maintained three starters for years without any difficulty - until I discovered that I could do everything I wanted to do with only one.

The only caution I would offer is to not under-feed. This time of year I am refreshing once or twice a day at 2:15:15 and letting it sit on the kitchen counter. If you refrigerate for more than four days you need to do some more detailed calculations (based on refresh ratio and refrigerator temperature) and probably refresh at room temperature at least once before baking just to restore the 100:1 LAB/yeast ratio.

On Tue, 29 May 2012 21:22:28 -0700 (PDT), Doc >
wrote:

>On Tuesday, April 5, 2011 12:37:48 AM UTC-7, padriac wrote:
>> I have been maintaining different cultures in the same proving box in
>> loose lidded containers and storing them in the same fridge. I have
>> found that they seem to cross contaminate over time.
>
>Starters are really quite stable and it takes a lot of effort or time and abuse to get anything new to grow in the presence of 15E5 to 10E7 CFU/gm of main line yeast and LAB. I maintained three starters for years without any difficulty - until I discovered that I could do everything I wanted to do with only one.
>
>The only caution I would offer is to not under-feed. This time of year I am refreshing once or twice a day at 2:15:15 and letting it sit on the kitchen counter. If you refrigerate for more than four days you need to do some more detailed calculations (based on refresh ratio and refrigerator temperature) and probably refresh at room temperature at least once before baking just to restore the 100:1 LAB/yeast ratio.
>
>
Rather an old thread. Starters are VERY stable, at least mine
are. As long as they have 1 to 2 cm of fruity smelling hooch on top
they only need refreshing once a month. If the hooch dries out they
will get moldy very quickly.
From my experience ... starter since 2002.
[]'s
--
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