Strictly Miscellaneous

Nw batch of whole wheat bread today....changing ratios of whole wheat to bread flour. It was good....but not good enough. Gonna back off the whole wheat meal next time....the original ratio was better.
So....yeah...also the whole wheat has a saltiness I don't understand. It tastes salty when it has so little salt in it.

Gonna have to work on this.

If you find this movie fulfiliing, you may find dthis other one by the same folks good too. They have a fine way of delivering the Word debunking its own fantasy. God bless and enjoy these works.

So today two separate batches of bread.

One whole wheat and the other is honey oat.

Gonna go visit the in-laws soon so I thought I'd come packing.

So....
I got in some rye flour. (Stone ground, organic)

Made a loaf straight off the bat. Good stuff!

Now I have a Sourdough starter going....
Pineapple juice and rye flour.

This stuff is annoying.....have to care and feed it all the time.

That's annoying! It's like having a baby.

I gotta go out of town and I'm going to have to take it with me. So I can feed the thing.

You're being a good dough papa

And as a side note....only one line today for my wife....I didn't bother with it.

That means that 7 days after contact and 5 after last contact with someone who tested positive (they got antibodies 2 days ago) and we are in the clear.

But our allergies really suck.

The Supreme Court has its own private basketball court with an amazing nickname. There's a basketball court on the top floor of the U.S. Supreme Court Building. Its nickname? You guessed it: "the highest court in the land."
There is a technical name for the "fear of long words." It's called "hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia."

Well, I got as far as "hippopoto" (looks like "hippopotamus" )
and I got "monstros" (looks like monstrous, as in real large)
and "phobia" there at the end.

But could I say it?
Nope!

Now the starter is stalling....

Sigh....it is a baby....so brand new.

I fed it at 9 am this morning and it hasn't doubled. So it fell down and is stumbling around a bit. But that's what babies do I guess. I'll feed it in the morning again. It needs to be on that schedule anyway.

One day I'll get this thing moving up and about. Just going to take time.

I've heard that you have to have a starter for sourdough, but always was puzzled by "if you have to have a starter, and most people I've talked to get their starters from someone else, then how did the first starter get started?"

Here is another Christiano video-film, very good. A fantasy meeting with Jesus. I hope someone likes it as much as do I.

A Sourdough starter is made by daily attention to a slurry of liquid and a whole grain flour. (Especially including bran and germ)

I'm in the SouthEast of the USA....
Meaning that they are more fussy than in other parts of the USA. Usually the Great Lakes areas, The West Coast, and up into the New England areas Usually have the best luck with these. They tend to be stable and don't have shifts of bacteria strains fighting for dominance.

It probably will take as long as a human person to get this starter to be mature. Yes, 17 years.

There's a war going on in my starter....it's a blend of bacteria all fighting for dominance. Wild yeast and other bacteria such as lactobaccilli fighting to be dominant.
I want the lactobaccilli to win. These bacteria produce gas (for leavening), lactic acid and acetic acid for the flavor.

These bacteria are in the air and the whole grain flour which includes the bran and germ.

To give the lactobaccilli a better chance I have used pineapple juice to make the environment acidic. And for the next few days I'm going to continue that practice.

Pineapple juice contains sugars, enzymes and acids that the harmful bacteria have a difficult time growing in. The lactobaccilli do not. They love this environment.
Next week I need to wean them off the sugar so they won't get the pineapple juice anymore...just water.
I started mine with rye....but I am going to use some whole wheat in a while.


Mature Sourdough starters can be fed with white refined flour....but also stale bread(make sure it is NOT moldy), onions, potato peelings and all sorts of vegetable matter. Vegetables need to be processed first....but they will feed a starter well.

What a Sourdough starter is fed is usually something of a proprietary secret. Each Sourdough starter is unique and provides a unique flavor.

Once a starter is somewhat mature....it can be used daily on camping trips as it needs no refrigeration. Also if your starter seems to be doing well....take a cup or two and freeze it instead of throwing it out. Because if it goes bad or dies ...you now have a backup plan that will work in 24 hours.
Otherwise it's a 2 month process to get a starter (levain) that is mature enough to make a great loaf of bread.

So is that why sourdough always seems to have a slightly different taste?

Absolutely....

Lactobaccilli and acetic acid producing bacteria are the reason for the flavor. Each different mature starter will have its own unique flavor based on what it's being fed and the environment it lives within. Those are highly proprietary secrets.

Sure, you may know that it's a Sourdough....but the "training" and "feeding " is usually something kept somewhat quiet about. They will gloss over the specific ratios of various flours or whatever it is they feed the starter with.

I became friends with a gentleman who worked in the best bakery in Nashville (now closed) and he told me what the head baker did because he was the one doing it.
Since that time I haven't forgotten what was done....I plan on doing similarly because where that was over 20 years ago the area still has the same environment. That baker was ahead of his time here. Not other places but definitely for Nashville.

"Follow the established paths of elders"

Nashville has changed a lot since then. Their tastes have matured with all those people who have moved here. The tastes weren't very educated 20+ years ago...but they are now. And a further nudge won't hurt in the least.

As we prepare to open we are getting pre-orders and desires. I imagine we will get swamped with customers looking for a new experience....and if we can pull it off we will be "heroes of the peoples republic".

Ok....
Sourdough starter smelled sour like Sourdough bread this morning....
I fed it and stirred it up. It's being slow as I didn't feed it Sunday.
Hopefully all is well with it....I don't need my baby to die on me....but it also might be just the normal toddler falls, fits, and starts.

Gotta head to the bakery tomorrow, look around and do an inventory and then go buying junk.
Not my idea of fun....but....

Then off to get a shearing of the sheep head of all its wool. (Haircut and shave)

My wife and partner aren't going to recognize me afterwards.

Then writing out the recipes and formulas for menu items. Binding them into a book.

It's been difficult enough today to get a coffee maker...

So....
Here we are at the finish line and we still haven't solidified a name for the place.

3 or 4 days and we get the keys.

In two weeks we open the doors for business.

I'm rolling my eyes at my partner in this. I've tossed a bunch of good names with good marketing concepts in the hat and he is totally undecided. He has waffled on all of them.

He needs to figure it out. We need a sign and packaging so soon it's not going to happen in time.

Took an inventory of smallwares yesterday so I can order what we need. Haven't gotten any yet. Need some vanilla beans. I suggested a half pound. (Great price break at that point....under $2/bean) he's researching and hasn't ordered any yet. (More eye rolling) we need induction stove compatible cookware. Big goose egg.

Most things need a week....the rest requires 6 weeks.

Maybe we will be open by Christmas.

Up late, can't sleep. Early morning meeting.
Too much going on between my ears.

Menus and schedules and recipes.

Met with a food representative today....I got her lost in about 5 minutes. I know more about food than she does unfortunately. *sigh*

I asked about "4&up wogs" and she had no idea what I was asking for. I tried explaining that they were whole chickens....but.....yeah. then I asked for her Callebaut list and she again had no clue that Callebaut is the largest producer of chocolate in the world....it's in Switzerland.

She is sending their corporate chef to talk to me.

NOW, AFTER the meeting my partner finally got what I was talking about the whole time with insufficient refrigeration. And that we are going to really tight squeeze into the place.

Buckle up buttercup....your mouth wrote checks my backside has to cash.

But in the meantime my starter is maturing well....it's showing signs of life again and rising...

I'm expecting a loaf of Sourdough next week.....maybe some Sourdough muffins.

Wow. You do things WAY more complicated than we do it. Maybe you make a better bread though. Maybe someday I'll get to go out there and try it.

Mom still makes starter the way she has ever since I was a kid - water, flour, sugar, potato. Yeast comes with the flour and thrives in the presence of water, starch, protein and sugar.

People will beat your ears with talk about yeast floating in on the air. Balderdash. It lives with wheat.

So you need a good name for a bakery/coffee shop? This sounds like a job for a forum thread.