Mothering yeast for pizza, bread, sourdough extra.

Adillo303

*****
Gold Site Supporter
Derek - Take a quick look at some recipes for bread, pizza dough, cinnamon buns, etc. They all contain different amounts of flour, sugar, etc. They all call for yeast. Pretty much out of the packet or container.

If you want to start a sourdough starter go to the above mentioned website. You can use the starter for whatever you would like to make.

If you want to know more about Artisn breads, which is where I think you are going, take a quick look at this site.

If you prefer to read try "Artisan Bread in five minutes a day" or "The Breadmakers Bible".

Possibly JoeV or Pie Susan will stop by this thread and have more to add.

Keep on bakin it - It's fun and it tastes good.
 

Derek

Banned
Derek - Take a quick look at some recipes for bread, pizza dough, cinnamon buns, etc. They all contain different amounts of flour, sugar, etc. They all call for yeast. Pretty much out of the packet or container.

If you want to start a sourdough starter go to the above mentioned website. You can use the starter form nost whatever you would like to make.

If you want to know more about Artisn breads, which is where I think you are going, take a quick look at this site.

If you prefer to read try "Artisan Bread in five minutes a day" or "The Breadmakers Bible".

Possibly JoeV or Pie Susan will stop by this thread and have more to add.

Keep on bakin it - It's fun and it tastes good.
Thanks mate, I would like to say Yeah my pizza is literally 100% homemade from the yeast to the dough to the ingredients :)
 

Derek

Banned
Can I do the exact same recipe as above in the posted link? but use white flour and regular pineapple juice?
 

JoeV

Dough Boy
Site Supporter
Yes, But I'm also talking about pizza yeast, Bread, yeast so and so on!

If you spend some time on Breadtopia.com, you will see that a homeade sourdough starter can be used for bread, rolls, pizza dough, etc. Anything that calls for yeast can be made with your sourdough starter for a tangy taste. If you just want cheap yeast, I suggest you buy it by the 1# vacuum packed package, available on the Breadtopia.com website, or at a local restaurant supply. I just bought 2# of SAF Instant Yeast for $3 per pound at my local GFS store. It's also available at Sam's Club, but you have to buy two packages. Other warehouse clubs may also carry it, but stay away from those 3-pack strips from the grocery store. That is the most expensive yeast you can buy.
 

JoeV

Dough Boy
Site Supporter
Can I do the exact same recipe as above in the posted link? but use white flour and regular pineapple juice?
Yes, just use all purpose flour or bread flour, whichever you have on hand. i made mine from that recipe using all purpose flour, and it's been alive for about 10 months.
 

Wart

Banned
I've been buying 'bulk' yeast about a year now, Last time at GFS, Red Star is ~ $4.50 for 2#, SAF ~ $2.50 for 1#.


My basic starter is 10 oz AP Unbleached flour, 20 oz water, 1 TB sugar and 1 ts yeast. Leave it in the fridge overnight, 8~10~12~14 hours. Take form cooler and allow to warm. Fold in 2 TB sugar.

Put 1 TB yeast in 32~34 ounces of flour, add salt. Add starter and knead.

Let rise once or twice.

I have a recipe for whole wheat using the same process, some think it's a sourdough.


.
 

JoeV

Dough Boy
Site Supporter
I've been buying 'bulk' yeast about a year now, Last time at GFS, Red Star is ~ $4.50 for 2#, SAF ~ $2.50 for 1#.

Double check that Red Star you're buying to make certain it's not Active Dry Yeast (ADY). ADY must be proofed/activated in warm water and sugar before using it in a recipe, and has less live yeast spores by volume than Instant Yeast. Instant yeast is put in with the dry ingredients and requires no proofing/activation. I noticed the Red Star on the shelf the last time I was in GFS about 2 weeks ago, and it was ADY. BTW, the price of SAF went to $2.99. It's still cheaper than the 3-strip packets, and one pound will make about 96 loaves of bread, which is about $.031 per loaf, vs about $.40 per loaf using the 3-strip packets (even more if you buy it at the fancy grocery stores). If you made 96 loaves of bread using 1 of those strip packets per loaf, your yeast cost would be $38.00+ for ADY. Significant cost difference!
 

Derek

Banned
Double check that Red Star you're buying to make certain it's not Active Dry Yeast (ADY). ADY must be proofed/activated in warm water and sugar before using it in a recipe, and has less live yeast spores by volume than Instant Yeast. Instant yeast is put in with the dry ingredients and requires no proofing/activation. I noticed the Red Star on the shelf the last time I was in GFS about 2 weeks ago, and it was ADY. BTW, the price of SAF went to $2.99. It's still cheaper than the 3-strip packets, and one pound will make about 96 loaves of bread, which is about $.031 per loaf, vs about $.40 per loaf using the 3-strip packets (even more if you buy it at the fancy grocery stores). If you made 96 loaves of bread using 1 of those strip packets per loaf, your yeast cost would be $38.00+ for ADY. Significant cost difference!
RedStar ADY is what I use in my breads.

I want to make my own yeast starter for pizza, white bread, rye/pumpernickel bread, sourdough and so on. But all I have is pineapple juice, flour, water. suger,
 

JoeV

Dough Boy
Site Supporter
Thanks mate, I would like to say Yeah my pizza is literally 100% homemade from the yeast to the dough to the ingredients :)

Keep in mind that not everyone likes sourdough bread, so to make a sourdough pizza dough, it might just turn some people off. Also, many sourdough bread recipes call for 1/2 Cup of sourdough starter, and an additional amount of Instant Yeast if you want the dough to double in size within one hour. With starter alone, you could be looking at 2-3 hours for the dough to double in size. Often the sourdough starter is used to add flavor to the dough, and not as the primary leavening agent. If you want to start out with a simple and delicious dough, give this recipe a try.

BTW, your pizza will not be 100% homemade until you raise the wheat for the flour and take it through its life cycle until it is ready to turn to bread, gather your salt from the salt flats of the world, raise the cows to gather the milk and turn it into cheese, raise the pigs to turn into pepperoni & sausage, plant and harvest the vegetables used for toppings and tomato sauce (don't forget your herb garden as well) and harvest the olives to turn into EVOO. I'm sure I forgot something else, but you get my point.

Take your time and study as much as you can about bread science as you can. Once you learn the interaction of ingredients and baker's percentages, then you can stretch out into different styles. Go to the library and get books by Beard or Reinhart or Levy to learn how to make delicious breads. Yes, your bread may be very good compared to store bought bread, but there is even more to experience in complex flavors once you learn some of the secrets from the masters. I've been doing this for a little more than one year, and I have just scratched the surface of bread baking knowledge, not to mention making almost 200 loaves of bread in that time. Seek first wisdom & knowledge, and fame will follow.
 

Derek

Banned
Keep in mind that not everyone likes sourdough bread, so to make a sourdough pizza dough, it might just turn some people off. Also, many sourdough bread recipes call for 1/2 Cup of sourdough starter, and an additional amount of Instant Yeast if you want the dough to double in size within one hour. With starter alone, you could be looking at 2-3 hours for the dough to double in size. Often the sourdough starter is used to add flavor to the dough, and not as the primary leavening agent. If you want to start out with a simple and delicious dough, give this recipe a try.

BTW, your pizza will not be 100% homemade until you raise the wheat for the flour and take it through its life cycle until it is ready to turn to bread, gather your salt from the salt flats of the world, raise the cows to gather the milk and turn it into cheese, raise the pigs to turn into pepperoni & sausage, plant and harvest the vegetables used for toppings and tomato sauce (don't forget your herb garden as well) and harvest the olives to turn into EVOO. I'm sure I forgot something else, but you get my point.

Take your time and study as much as you can about bread science as you can. Once you learn the interaction of ingredients and baker's percentages, then you can stretch out into different styles. Go to the library and get books by Beard or Reinhart or Levy to learn how to make delicious breads. Yes, your bread may be very good compared to store bought bread, but there is even more to experience in complex flavors once you learn some of the secrets from the masters. I've been doing this for a little more than one year, and I have just scratched the surface of bread baking knowledge, not to mention making almost 200 loaves of bread in that time. Seek first wisdom & knowledge, and fame will follow.
Thanks for the recipe Joe, But right now I'm looking to grow yeast, And your comment about pizza, Your right but it could be %98 percent homemade.
 

Derek

Banned
Ok, I've successfully made a starter dough from a recipe, but that same recipes it's only good for 2 weeks am I reading it wrong?
 

Wart

Banned
Ok, I've successfully made a starter dough from a recipe, but that same recipes it's only good for 2 weeks am I reading it wrong?


Only two weeks? I don't know what recipe you used, two weeks sounds pretty good if it isn't being maintained.


It will (probably) last (much) longer if you feed it like it's sourdough.


.
 

JoeV

Dough Boy
Site Supporter
Ok, I've successfully made a starter dough from a recipe, but that same recipes it's only good for 2 weeks am I reading it wrong?

Post the recipe you used so we can look it over, because like Wart said, a starter should last longer than 2 weeks. It almost sounds like you made the Master Dough from Artisan Breads in 5 Minutes a Day. That dough is only good for 2 weeks in the fridge, but it's not a starter. i must admit that in my brief tenure with flour & yeast, you're the first to become consumed with "growing yeast." :lol:
 

Derek

Banned
Post the recipe you used so we can look it over, because like Wart said, a starter should last longer than 2 weeks. It almost sounds like you made the Master Dough from Artisan Breads in 5 Minutes a Day. That dough is only good for 2 weeks in the fridge, but it's not a starter. i must admit that in my brief tenure with flour & yeast, you're the first to become consumed with "growing yeast." :lol:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sourdough-Starter-2/Detail.aspx

That one, And I've read it wrong it. So I apologize :).


By the way I've added olive oil to my starter and it still fermented.
 

JoeV

Dough Boy
Site Supporter
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Sourdough-Starter-2/Detail.aspx

That one, And I've read it wrong it. So I apologize :).


By the way I've added olive oil to my starter and it still fermented.

If you are going to use this starter recipe, make sure you feed it every 10-14 days with equal weights of flour and water. If you start to have too much starter, just throw out half and start over with a good feeding.

Regarding adding olive oil to your starter, I'm not touching that one. You're on your own. IMO, you have contaminated the starter, and I would not use it past 1 week, regardless of how much you feed it, nurture it, pamper it or whatever you do to it. Actually, I would not use it all. Good Luck, FMD, cuz you're on your own.
 

Derek

Banned
If you are going to use this starter recipe, make sure you feed it every 10-14 days with equal weights of flour and water. If you start to have too much starter, just throw out half and start over with a good feeding.

Regarding adding olive oil to your starter, I'm not touching that one. You're on your own. IMO, you have contaminated the starter, and I would not use it past 1 week, regardless of how much you feed it, nurture it, pamper it or whatever you do to it. Actually, I would not use it all. Good Luck, FMD, cuz you're on your own.
because of the olive oil? but if I contaminated it, Why did it ferment and work?
 

Wart

Banned
because of the olive oil? but if I contaminated it, Why did it ferment and work?

Because you used commercial yeast and it ate the flour.

Far as I know yeast does not eat oil so I'm not sure what putting oil in a starter would do except make a barrier between the yeast and the food it needs. Apparently you didn't put in enough oil to make an absolute barrier.
 
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Derek

Banned
Because you used commercial yeast and it ate the flour.

Far as I know yeast does not eat oil so I'm not sure what putting oil in a starter would do except make a barrier between the yeast and the food it needs. Apparently you didn't put in enough oil to make an absolute barrier.
I've put about 2 teaspoons in and it ate it right away.
 

Derek

Banned
Ate what?

Not the oil.

If there is no oil floating it soaked into the flour.



.
Well, there is a pizza dough that called for the oil to be mixed with the yeast right before the proofing and it worked for that. "Food Network recipe!"

So that's where I got my idea from.
 

Wart

Banned
Well, there is a pizza dough that called for the oil to be mixed with the yeast right before the proofing and it worked for that. "Food Network recipe!"

So that's where I got my idea from.


I'm not going to knock experimentation.

And I'm not going to argue with you.

Proofing yeast is different than a starter/sponge.

I'm not sure if putting oil in a starter/sponge hurts the starter/sponge, I'm pretty sure it does nothing to help the yeast to acclimate to it's environment. Yeast adapts to it's medium, and I'm pretty sure yeast finds oils only slightly more palatable than the bowl it's living in.


FROM A PRACTICAL point of view, I use the same sponge (post 9?) for all my yeast breads, effectively. What I do with it makes the difference. Pizza gets olive oil, bread and buns can get shortening (though not for a while), olive oil (sometimes), butter (my favorite grease), or nothing (most common). Whats in the starter is in the dough.


If I were you I would make something out of the starter you already have and start over with a new batch.

And not to be a snob, but let's be real here. ... A Sourdough Snob would make a big deal out of your using commercial yeast to create a starter. I say big Whoop. Thing is, you don't have weeks invested in nurturing natural yeast, and you didn't put oil in your Great Grandmothers generational starter, just use what you have or toss it and start over.


.
 

Derek

Banned
I'm not going to knock experimentation.

And I'm not going to argue with you.

Proofing yeast is different than a starter/sponge.

I'm not sure if putting oil in a starter/sponge hurts the starter/sponge, I'm pretty sure it does nothing to help the yeast to acclimate to it's environment. Yeast adapts to it's medium, and I'm pretty sure yeast finds oils only slightly more palatable than the bowl it's living in.


FROM A PRACTICAL point of view, I use the same sponge (post 9?) for all my yeast breads, effectively. What I do with it makes the difference. Pizza gets olive oil, bread and buns can get shortening (though not for a while), olive oil (sometimes), butter (my favorite grease), or nothing (most common). Whats in the starter is in the dough.


If I were you I would make something out of the starter you already have and start over with a new batch.

And not to be a snob, but let's be real here. ... A Sourdough Snob would make a big deal out of your using commercial yeast to create a starter. I say big Whoop. Thing is, you don't have weeks invested in nurturing natural yeast, and you didn't put oil in your Great Grandmothers generational starter, just use what you have or toss it and start over.


.
Wart, Your not being a snob, Your trying to keep me healthy and point me in the right direction, Like most folks are doing on this forum.
 

PieSusan

Tortes Are Us
Super Site Supporter
Derek, before you start experimenting I believe you need to read some serious bread baking books and get familiar with breadbaking recipes in general before you choose to go off on your own. There are certain formulae that work and there is a reason why they work. JoeV likes to weigh his ingredients when he bakes bread so that he is assured the same outcome.
 

Wart

Banned
Wart, Your not being a snob,

I can be ... Try not to be ... Most of us know a site where had you posted about using commercial yeast to make a starter they would have made an ungodly squawking noise. You won't find that level of pretention in these forums ... except mayhaps when Knives are the subject ... LMAO!


Derek, before you start experimenting I believe you need to read some serious bread baking books and get familiar with breadbaking recipes in general before you choose to go off on your own.

Yes, and not yes.

First breads I made were from a Betty Crocker recipe, and it was good.

Then I watched {link}Elton Browns Dr. Strangeloaf{link}. S8E P1 & P2. Got me started using a preferment and I haven't looked back. Least not very often.

Thing about EB is he gives a bit of the why behind the what so when you decide to deviate you have an idea why things are different.

There are certain formulae that work and there is a reason why they work. JoeV likes to weigh his ingredients when he bakes bread so that he is assured the same outcome.

I too cook by weight.

A handy bit of information is, you won't get the same thing twice unless everything is exactly the same way both times. Even the wind needs to blow from the same direction.

And yeast doesn't react well to the crack of a whip.

.
 

PieSusan

Tortes Are Us
Super Site Supporter
Wart, his name is Alton Brown and I have met him and watched his demonstrations several times and even had my photo taken with him. We talked about baking long before he even conceived of his baking book. He knows very little about the subject and most of his baking recipes don't work--I have had to explain over and over again to people why his recipes fail--usually it is the recipes and not the person. Blame him or blame foodtv, his name is still attached. I won't make any of his recipes. There are so many errors in his first book that I refused to buy anything else. I would never recommend him. Although, I agree that his show is entertaining. If you want to go to one of his source materials--use Shirley O'Corriher's formulae for bread. She will explain the science behind all the whys and tell you how to get the results that you want. The last demo he did that I attended was candymaking and it was a horrible disaster.
 

PieSusan

Tortes Are Us
Super Site Supporter
Although this book does not go by weight but rather cups and spoons, I think it is an excellent beginner bread book. I own it. I have made the breads in it successfully and there are lots of pictures that explains the steps of bread baking--even how to use steam.

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Ultimate-Bread-Eric-Treuille/dp/0789435136/ref=ed_oe_h[/ame]
 
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