use local, wild yeast for bread? For free?!?

     
Wow. Just learned I can do this. And YOU can do this.

Heard it on the radio, and finally researched it this a.m. The method I'll use is here*.

Many call for boiling potatoes, and some require no fruit/veggies at all, but I'm leaning toward the one using (organic) grapes. Since, you know, we have a vine (read: free, organic, & 2 steps from my front door).

Baking bread using the yeast from your own back yard!

Apparently (according to the sites I've read) the (beautiful) white powdery haze the grapes sport is yeast. I just now (after 1st draft of this) went out to gather, basically, raisins, and voila! There's several very large clusters of honest-to-goodness grapes! And these are big cats, so this is a lot of grapes.

Way more than the 1 lb I require.

Anyhow, I just need to then mush the grapes in a bowl, cover and let them sit at room temp for 3 days, then for the next 2 days there's a little of adding (water, flour), tossing (excess liquid), and mixing, and I'll have starter!

Then I can keep in the starter in fridge indefinitely, feeding weekly.

Sounds AWEsome to me. And since it's been cold, I want to bake bread. However, it will get warmer this week, so that's great for getting yeast happy to multiply.

Anyhow, HOW LOCAL will my homemade bread be if it's yeast from OUR HOUSE?!?

WAYYY too cool. =) This is one happy conservation biologist & occasional baker. And, as you may have determined, I get VERY happy with stuff that leads to or enhances self reliance. TOO cool.

Anyone out there interested in trying, too? Or have you already? DO tell.

xobiobabbler

P.S. I wonder about the white on the grapes being yeast. If so, why do I have to hold this sugary liquid on my counter for 3 days just like the method with NO grapes (but water and flour)? For the latter, it's to collect yeast and allow it time to grow. Specifically directed to cover my grapes with cheese cloth, I'm guessing to let the yeast in. Thoughts? Anyone? Does anyone know what that white cast is on grapes?

*any thing that explicitly tells you to "Crush with hands" has GOT to be fun. =)

kneadless post & run

    
According to the gospel of "Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" one needn't knead bread to have fabby, freshly-baked bread suffusing one's house with amazing smells, one's mouth with happy flavor and texture, and one's wallet with extra $$.

We'll see.

 My old friend, yeast (the "a"s and the alphas of undergrad). Looking like so many lemmings crowding the cliff's edge, then plunging into the sea (of flour). They are such tiny little tubes! Looking very bacterial, I must say....

Kneadless domestic scene.

Bought fancy bread flour, just for the heck of it.

Blended all 7.5 cups of flour (!) et al., including the wheat gluten I showed you earlier. Hoping that the fact that one of the two yeast packets expired 3 years ago doesn't hamper the results. (gulp)

Guess we'll find out!

Buying fresh yeast today, in BULK, thank you very much.

So, then you add warm water, stir so there's no dry patches, cover it "loosely," and let it sit for 2 hours.

Apparently, if there's no crack for impending gases to escape, bad things can happen.

I figured I'd make the crack using the last of the 2007 packet of yeast--its last act of service; it will be replaced today and summarily chucked.

So, I'll keep you posted. Now I venture forth to buy bulk yeast, seeds to sprinkle atop the (future) loaf, and try and cajole myself into a run at the gym.


Speaking of motivation re: running, something to ponder (get out your hip waders, it's gonna get deep):

The best reason I've found for running, the most profound motivation I've found so far is: Because I can. Or maybe "While I can."


On the numerous occasions I've been injured mid-running-mode I'm SO BUMMED I cannot run. SO bummed. I miss how much it refreshes me. Flushes all my stress. Calms me down, and clears my brain. And it's usually the most alive I feel all day.

And then I think "when I'm healthy and can run, I'll totally devote myself. I'll really appreciate it."


I'm not saying it always works. Or that I'm in any way a regular runner (tho' maybe starting back up?). Or that I even think about it every time.

But I do try to remember the joy of simply moving and being healthy, and how lucky I am to experience that. While I can. Since it's really just a matter of time until I am incorporated back into the carbon cycle. And then running is no longer an option.


biobabbler

a eukaryotic single-celled fungus is determining my bed time....

    

Yeast-- it's why I'm not going to bed. urf.

In college I knew a ridiculous amount about the little creatures. Apparently my teachers thought it was important. According to wikipedia, it still is. I was glad to read that the one factoid I still retained about them (besides amazing toughness re: storing in dried out state forever), that the two genders were "a" and alpha, is still accurate.

Anyhow, I am staying up late, as my bread dough did not rise as desired so I had to give it more time, then change strategies. And then it has to rise again (1.5 hr). And THEN it has to bake. And it's after 10 p.m. now!!

You see, it's a cold day, so 75-80 degrees F (what this yeast wants to rise) in the house was tough to find. So, I have another 1 hour before the bread MIGHT be ready to bake...

The above and next one are shots of my first loaf of bread ever baked totally by moi (and baked on a warm day, thank you very much). Did this quite recently. Not exactly sure why I waited so long to do this, but I had the impression that yeast is a major pain.

It's not.

Only if you start it LATE and your house is cold do problems, mm... schedule changes, arise.

The result of my first attempt: glorious. SO beautiful. SO shocked. SO stoked. SO posted it (facebook).

Notice bread knife RIGHT behind the trusting, unsuspecting creature.

Today, so far, not looking great.

Witness hillbilly innovation: getting dough to rise at 10 p.m. in a house with no electric heat on a night that will probably plummet to 30-something (again), possibly freezing.

Woodstove comes to the rescue again. Took the picture in virtual dark, so didn't notice oiled fingerprints till just now (from oiled loaves & fingers). Nice touch.

The pots are there to add humidity to the house (so hair doesn't burst into flame as I pass by) but they're empty as am out of practice re: woodstove protocol as it's, oh, I don't know, ALMOST JUNE?

=)

So, as I'm sure was the case in undergrad learning the biology of yeast, I am up later than I hoped, because of yeast.

And the yeast, ever wise, would probably gently remind me that in both cases, if I'd not procrastinated, I'd be in bed by 9.

And the yeast, of course, would be right.

=)  biobabbler