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Heh, my wife has some sourdough starter that she got from her Mom who got it from here Mom etc. It's like pre-civil war sourdough starter. Except that like anyt

Heh, my wife has some sourdough starter that she got from her Mom who got it from here Mom etc. It's like pre-civil war sourdough starter. Except that like anything that grows it evolves over time. So I presume it picks up local yeast as it grows and eventually becomes a "local" variant. I find it particularly interesting that different starters make for bread that tastes different. If you are bored you can do the same thing we did which is to take your ingredients and make loaves from different people's sourdough starter. All the same ingredients except for the starter and experience that for yourself.

mabbo 7y ago
> I presume it picks up local yeast as it grows and eventually becomes a "local" variant I had a funny experience of exactly this recently. I got a starter from a friend a year ago and have been feeding it and using it regularly since. But recently, my father had some health issues and I had to go live with my parents for a couple weeks to help out, back in the small rural town they live in. I took my starter with me, and made a couple loafs of bread for my parents, feeding while I was living with them. But when I got home, my starter was different. I grows way faster now. It's much more active. It seems to generate a lot more CO2 than before. I suspect during my visit, my starter picked up a new strain of yeast which has joined the ecosystem in my jar. And it's made for some great bread.
- modo_ 7y ago
  I read the book Sourdough by Robin Sloan a few months back. Your anecdote reminds me of it! You might enjoy reading it -- it's a fun/quirky mix of technology and bread, set in SF. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33916024-sourdough https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33916024-sourdough
  - Urgo 7y ago
    +1 for the Robin Sloan novel. I really enjoyed it as well and it was actually the first thing I thought of when I saw this story posted.

mabbo 7y ago

> I presume it picks up local yeast as it grows and eventually becomes a "local" variant I had a funny experience of exactly this recently. I got a starter from a friend a year ago and have been feeding it and using it regularly since. But recently, my father had some health issues and I had to go live with my parents for a couple weeks to help out, back in the small rural town they live in. I took my starter with me, and made a couple loafs of bread for my parents, feeding while I was living with them. But when I got home, my starter was different. I grows way faster now. It's much more active. It seems to generate a lot more CO2 than before. I suspect during my visit, my starter picked up a new strain of yeast which has joined the ecosystem in my jar. And it's made for some great bread.

modo_ 7y ago
I read the book Sourdough by Robin Sloan a few months back. Your anecdote reminds me of it! You might enjoy reading it -- it's a fun/quirky mix of technology and bread, set in SF. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33916024-sourdough https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33916024-sourdough
- Urgo 7y ago
  +1 for the Robin Sloan novel. I really enjoyed it as well and it was actually the first thing I thought of when I saw this story posted.