Desem bread and other alternative cultures
 

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.

--
Ferris Germane >

Desem bread and other alternative cultures
 

You can find some old posts in google group.
I'm not quite farmilar with this method.

Desem bread and other alternative cultures
 

On Mon, 15 Dec 2003 07:04:46 GMT, > wrote:

>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.

Howdy,

The science on all this is pretty clear: The yeasts that grow on those
veggies cannot survive when fed flour and water. As a result, if one
wants to make a natural leavening (sourdough) culture it is best to
eat the grapes, and grow the critters that live on the grain (and thus
in the flour).

HTH,

--
Kenneth

If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS."