Mike Romain wrote:
> Dick Adams wrote:
>> There is no good way to know the leavening activity of someone else's
>> sponge, or even your own unless you have grown quite clever about such
>> things.
>
> I did actually qualify that in my first answer.
>
> Quote: The rise times will be different than the recipe also, but
> letting something 'double' is still double no matter if it takes 1 hour
> or 3. End Quote.
>
> The commercial yeast 'doses' also use the same 'time variable' word,
> 'double'.
>
> Mike
As I have a very viable starter going at present, and we had some very
old, outta date by about 10 days,buttermilk, I decided to take some of
that starter and instead of using filtered water with the flour, use
some of that old buttermilk. Well, the resulting mix doubled in about 2
hours, I stirred it down and it bounced right back up again, this time
in less than an hour! Now, as Marie just did an oatmeal bread, and we do
not use more than a loaf a week, I will just have to wait until she does
another loaf to see how that tastes. But it sure did surprise me, and my
starter smells more sour, as well as the buttermilk odor. I will let
everyone know how it pans out...cheers, Doug in BC