Doug Irv wrote:
> 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

I don't continue my milk cultures for more than one baking, but I also
use milk and buttermilk in lots of my bread recipes, both using
commercial yeast and sourdough starter. My normal SD loaf uses half
milk and half water if I want a light soft crumb loaf vs an artesian
loaf. The recipes sure don't worry about the milk going bad in an
overnight ferment, that's for sure.

I wonder if the sourdough critters are strong enough to keep the milk
base products from going bad by not allowing 'bad' critters to grow, it
would make sense.

Mike
Some bread photos: http://www.mikeromain.shutterfly.com