> Barm is a froth on fermenting malt liquor. The word isn't synonymous
> with yeast culture. But now in the UK it is used, though not understood
> by most, as the ferment that has mashed hops to keep the leaven sweet.
> Here in the UK there isn't quite the same desire for sour breads. See
> Barm. Wikipedia.

I was putting the word 'barm' in my mail in the sense used by
Elizabeth David in English Yeast Bakery to describe the practice in
early industrial towns and cities of the UK of continuing to bake in
the indivdual home but rather than keep one's own sourdough culture as
traditionally on a farm, go to the local berwery to get fresh yeast
culture - effectively a bi-product of brewing -though I don't know what
stage in brewing it was produced.

how much this was also practice of european mediaval towns prior to
industrailzation isn't clear, in any case the point is that from the
egyptian model, unless its just shortcut by the model maker, its clear
the yeast culture used by the baker hasn't diverged from that of the
brewer (it would have been impossible to keep seperate in such close
vicinity)

I am not certain at what date brewers started to become aware of and be
able to manipluate different yeast strains to be able to produce
different styles of beer (lager, bitter etc) but its cerainly ahead of
the official scientific description of yeast by Louise Pasteur, and
remains today way ahead of the identification of different strains of
yeast suitable for baking.

Somehow I have held the opinion for a while that 'baker's yeast' is in
fact a spin off discovery from 19th Century brewing industry of a yeast
dedicated solely to producing CO2 at the expense of anythign else, and
not a yeast strain originated in baking. Is this correct? anyone know?

laters
andy forbes