I have started baking bread. I bought "Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book" and
started with the whole wheat "loaf for learning" and am currently working on
the sourdough rye, just having begun a starter from a dried culture from the
store.

In a lot of the reviews of the book, as well as in the book itself, are
raves about desem bread. It is a culture different from traditional yeast or
sourdough. You make it by keeping a starter buried in flour for a week or
two in a cool place and then keep it thereafter as a fairly stiff ball, not
a batter like sourdough. I am wondering if anyone has eaten or baked desem
breads and how the flavor compares to a typical yeast or sourdough loaf.

On another note I saw a baker on TV who made a starter culture by rubbing
the natural yeast or whatever off of red cabbage, blueberries, and grapes.
It looked interesting. He made a pretty rustic loaf with it. I am wondering
if anyone has tried that method, either.

I would like to know if these are all just different methods of getting a
starter culture that is basically the same, or if the quality or even
species of the starters are so different as to make a really large
difference in the resulting breads. I have a reasonably perceptive palate,
i.e., I can taste the difference between peanuts and cashews. I can also
taste the difference between zinfandel and cabernet, but it doesn't strike
me as important. What I am trying to ask is if there is a drastic difference
in taste or it is only something that rarefied gourmands would care about.

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Ferris Germane >