Let's Grow Some Bacteria! Part 3

In my last two posts I discussed some of the history of bacteria, including the vilification and attempt at control of the bacteria around us. In this post, I intend to show you how to cultivate your own bacteria that can be used in bread-making or pizza dough making, etc.

There are a few good things about making your own yeast, or shall I say "capturing" your own yeast as yeast is always around us looking for a host. Yeast gets its energy from sugars found in various fruits and vegetables. It's bacteria and ultimately a decomposer- as it works, it releases gases which are used in the manufacturing of alcohol and the rising of bread.

In order to capture or "make" (you like how I reversed the quotations?) your own yeast, you need 2 essential ingredients and 2-3 important pieces of hardware.

Ingredients
1. Flour- either whole wheat or rye
2. Water- either spring or filtered

Supplies
1. Cheese cloth
2. Medium sized ceramic, clay, stainless steel or wooden bowl (NOT PLASTIC)
*3. Optional- rubber band or rope and/or wooden spoon

Process
1. Put 1/2 cup of flour into the bowl
2. Add 1/2 cup of water + 2 tablespoons
3. Stir, then cover and secure with the cheesecloth- leave out in the kitchen (you may want to transfer it to the top of the fridge or somewhere out of the way as it develops)
4. Every morning- uncover it, stir it and re-cover
5. Every evening- add 2 tablespoons flour and 2 tablespoons water then stir and re-cover

The transformation will be interesting, nerve-wracking, and fascinating all at the same time. The mixture will bubble up, subside, show small bubbles, stink like rotten milk, smell like old beer, smell like bread and so on for about 2 weeks. After two weeks or so, you should have a yeasty starter ready for your first breads.

Like I've said before- simplicity is king here... simplicity and patience and you will have a healthy, tasty starter ready for nutritious bread baking for you and your family.

Once the starter has been used once for bread baking, then you have a choice. You can leave it out, continually feeding it, or you can cover it with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator... then you only need to feed it once or twice a week. Either way, if you follow these simple directions, consider it a first step in reducing the dependency on foreign yeast and bacteria and one step closer to being off-the-grid.

As the bacteria grows, stay tuned for my new series... how to make the bread.

God bless, and good luck!
Paul