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I'll know in a few hours if I made accidental sourdough bread.
Making garlic bread for Boyfriend's Sunday gaming group, to go with other food. Started a sponge a few days ago with bread flour, yeast, and whey I had left over from making yogurt. Checked on it about a day in, and got that lovely sourdough smell when I lifted the cover on the bowl. Tonight I worked in a few more cups of flour and let that rise, and it smells just like good sourdough ought to. Got the loaves shaped and on their final rise now.
Thinking about it, I can see exactly how it might happen. The beasties that turn milk into yogurt are the same ones that give sourdough bread that lovely tang, and the whey still had lots of live ones in it. And they had three days to do their thing in my bread sponge alongside the yeast.
Update: the bread is baked and cooled. The crumb is fairly tight, moist and chewy while the crust is crunchy. The flavor is almost there. I think if I mix up my entire batch of dough instead of just a sponge and let it ferment in the fridge for an extra day or two it'll turn out great. I also forgot to add salt to this batch, and it's amazing what a difference one teaspoon of salt can make. That's kind of fixable, though, since I'll be adding garlic butter to the bread. Just add a touch of salt to the butter.
The upshot is- as long as I have reasonably fresh whey on hand, I think I won't need to keep a sourdough starter going. Hooray! 'Cause sourdough cinnamon rolls are the bomb.
Making garlic bread for Boyfriend's Sunday gaming group, to go with other food. Started a sponge a few days ago with bread flour, yeast, and whey I had left over from making yogurt. Checked on it about a day in, and got that lovely sourdough smell when I lifted the cover on the bowl. Tonight I worked in a few more cups of flour and let that rise, and it smells just like good sourdough ought to. Got the loaves shaped and on their final rise now.
Thinking about it, I can see exactly how it might happen. The beasties that turn milk into yogurt are the same ones that give sourdough bread that lovely tang, and the whey still had lots of live ones in it. And they had three days to do their thing in my bread sponge alongside the yeast.
Update: the bread is baked and cooled. The crumb is fairly tight, moist and chewy while the crust is crunchy. The flavor is almost there. I think if I mix up my entire batch of dough instead of just a sponge and let it ferment in the fridge for an extra day or two it'll turn out great. I also forgot to add salt to this batch, and it's amazing what a difference one teaspoon of salt can make. That's kind of fixable, though, since I'll be adding garlic butter to the bread. Just add a touch of salt to the butter.
The upshot is- as long as I have reasonably fresh whey on hand, I think I won't need to keep a sourdough starter going. Hooray! 'Cause sourdough cinnamon rolls are the bomb.
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