I bought the Lalvain du Jour Starter from King Arthur. They have two
different starters: “Pain de Campagne” or "Sourdough.” Much to my dismay I
bought the Pain de Campagne, however the recipe for the bread is the same
for both. That is:



You use 1/4 tsp of the starter to make a sponge, which I assume is
more-or-less a different kind of yeast? This is not what I think of as a
starter-starter, as I see it; i.e., one you keep refreshing; but probably
just another type of yeast to make the bread taste different - because you
do add 1/2 teaspoon of instant yeast to the bread recipe along with this
sponge-starter. It's definitely not a starter-starter because I have nothing
to refresh or feed. (I don't know how to make a "chef" from this and don't
want to at this point -- because I know just enough to be curious.



Any comments appreciated.

Dee

On Wed, 7 Jan 2004 19:29:26 -0500, "Dee Randall"
> wrote:

>
>
>I bought the Lalvain du Jour Starter from King Arthur. They have two
>different starters: “Pain de Campagne” or "Sourdough.” Much to my dismay I
>bought the Pain de Campagne, however the recipe for the bread is the same
>for both. That is:
>
>
>
>You use 1/4 tsp of the starter to make a sponge, which I assume is
>more-or-less a different kind of yeast? This is not what I think of as a
>starter-starter, as I see it; i.e., one you keep refreshing; but probably
>just another type of yeast to make the bread taste different - because you
>do add 1/2 teaspoon of instant yeast to the bread recipe along with this
>sponge-starter. It's definitely not a starter-starter because I have nothing
>to refresh or feed. (I don't know how to make a "chef" from this and don't
>want to at this point -- because I know just enough to be curious.
>
>
>
>Any comments appreciated.
>
>Dee
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

Hi Dee,

The KA folks describe what you bought as: "a dry mixture of
specialized yeast, bacteria and lactose."

I don't have a clue what the lactose is about, but the other two
ingredients sound a lot like what you call a "starter starter" dried.

You say that you don't want to make a chef from what you have, so it
is hard to know what other comments you might be after.

Have fun with your baking, and with your new dried starter,

--
Kenneth

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

Ken, I'm thinking I'm so naive about sourdough starters that I bought the
wrong product, perhaps thinking that I was buying a starter, not a
one-time-use starter (for about 12 loaves). Even tho I probably read the
literature in the catalog before buying.


King Arthur says they have a "Our Classic New England Sourdough Starter
descended from ancestors which have been bubbling away right here in New
England for over 250 years" and shows a picture of some dough in a little
jar. Perhaps this might be what I should be buying to CREATE a starter.

Has anyone tried the KA Classic NE Sourdough Starter?

Thanks, Ken.
Dee




"Kenneth" > wrote in message
...
> On Wed, 7 Jan 2004 19:29:26 -0500, "Dee Randall"
> > wrote:
>
> >
> >
> >I bought the Lalvain du Jour Starter from King Arthur. They have two
> >different starters: "Pain de Campagne" or "Sourdough." Much to my dismay
I
> >bought the Pain de Campagne, however the recipe for the bread is the
same
> >for both. That is:
> >
> >
> >
> >You use 1/4 tsp of the starter to make a sponge, which I assume is
> >more-or-less a different kind of yeast? This is not what I think of as a
> >starter-starter, as I see it; i.e., one you keep refreshing; but
probably
> >just another type of yeast to make the bread taste different - because
you
> >do add 1/2 teaspoon of instant yeast to the bread recipe along with this
> >sponge-starter. It's definitely not a starter-starter because I have
nothing
> >to refresh or feed. (I don't know how to make a "chef" from this and
don't
> >want to at this point -- because I know just enough to be curious.
> >
> >
> >
> >Any comments appreciated.
> >
> >Dee
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
> Hi Dee,
>
> The KA folks describe what you bought as: "a dry mixture of
> specialized yeast, bacteria and lactose."
>
> I don't have a clue what the lactose is about, but the other two
> ingredients sound a lot like what you call a "starter starter" dried.
>
> You say that you don't want to make a chef from what you have, so it
> is hard to know what other comments you might be after.
>
> Have fun with your baking, and with your new dried starter,
>
> --
> Kenneth
>
> If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS."

Kenneth > wrote in message
>
> The KA folks describe what you bought as: "a dry mixture of
> specialized yeast, bacteria and lactose."
>
> I don't have a clue what the lactose is about, but the other two
> ingredients sound a lot like what you call a "starter starter" dried.

Lactose is just a carrier or bulking agent for that dry
starter..Being non hygroscopic it is not prone to lumping than the
more moisture absorbing cereal based carrier..Therefore it helps
prolong the dry storage life of that starter premix..

On Wed, 7 Jan 2004 23:38:14 -0500, "Dee Randall"
> wrote:

>Ken, I'm thinking I'm so naive about sourdough starters that I bought the
>wrong product, perhaps thinking that I was buying a starter, not a
>one-time-use starter (for about 12 loaves). Even tho I probably read the
>literature in the catalog before buying.
>
>
>King Arthur says they have a "Our Classic New England Sourdough Starter
>descended from ancestors which have been bubbling away right here in New
>England for over 250 years" and shows a picture of some dough in a little
>jar. Perhaps this might be what I should be buying to CREATE a starter.
>
>Has anyone tried the KA Classic NE Sourdough Starter?
>
>Thanks, Ken.
>Dee

Hi Dee,

You did buy a starter. It was a dried starter.

You said in your earlier post that you did not want to learn how to
use it on a continuing basis. You wrote "I don't know how to make a
"chef" from this and don't want to at this point." As a result, no one
explained to you haw to do that. For some reason, you are defining the
product that you bought as a "one-time-use" starter" but I (strongly)
suspect that is false.

Though, as before, you are not asking, this time, I will tell you how
to use the starter you have on a continuing basis:

When you prepare a dough with it, but before you add any salt, take a
small lump of the dough (say, about the size of a walnut). Then, add
to that about "half a walnut" of flour, and enough water to make what
will appear like a very thick pancake batter.

That small glob of very soft dough is a starter.

Leave it at room temperature or slightly above and it will expand in
volume as the critters ferment and produce gas. Each 12 hours or so,
pinch off half of it, discard that piece, and repeat the feeding I
have described.

At any point, you can put it in the fridge to avoid the necessity of
feeding it every 12 hours or so.

At any point, when you are getting ready to bake, do what Marc
described so clearly:

Instead of discarding half of the starter before feeding, keep all the
starter, feed it as many cycles as necessary to increase its volume to
the amount you need, save a walnut piece as your starter, and bake
with the rest.

I hope that this clarifies,


--
Kenneth

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

In article >,
"Dee Randall" > wrote:

> Ken, I'm thinking I'm so naive about sourdough starters that I bought the
> wrong product, perhaps thinking that I was buying a starter, not a
> one-time-use starter (for about 12 loaves). Even tho I probably read the
> literature in the catalog before buying.
>
>
> King Arthur says they have a "Our Classic New England Sourdough Starter
> descended from ancestors which have been bubbling away right here in New
> England for over 250 years" and shows a picture of some dough in a little
> jar. Perhaps this might be what I should be buying to CREATE a starter.
>
> Has anyone tried the KA Classic NE Sourdough Starter?

Yes, I have it. It comes in a jar as a stiff dough or chef. It has a
pamphlet (similar in style to what you got with the dried starts) on
feeding and maintaining it and a recipe for baking. You can use the
starter for any other sourdough recipe you have as well. The starter is
nice. It has a good flavor and rises well. You don't need it to
"creats a starter" it is a starter and you just keep it going.

marcella

On Thu, 08 Jan 2004 16:34:18 GMT, Marcella Tracy Peek
> wrote:

>You don't need it to
>"creats a starter" it is a starter and you just keep it going.

Hi Marcella,

The same is true for the dried stuff that she bought from KA as far as
I can tell...

All the best,

--
Kenneth

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

"Roy Basan" > wrote in message
m...
> Kenneth > wrote in message
> >
> > The KA folks describe what you bought as: "a dry mixture of
> > specialized yeast, bacteria and lactose."
> >
> > I don't have a clue what the lactose is about, but the other two
> > ingredients sound a lot like what you call a "starter starter" dried.
>
> Lactose is just a carrier or bulking agent for that dry
> starter..Being non hygroscopic it is not prone to lumping than the
> more moisture absorbing cereal based carrier..Therefore it helps
> prolong the dry storage life of that starter premix..


I bought 2 pkgs. of KA starter a couple of years ago. I made one batch, and
then I decided to see if I could keep it going just like any other starter,
and sure 'nuff--it's still going in the fridge. Fed after every use, etc.
try it
it was the Levain type. I didn't try the other one.