Can cultured buttermilk powder contain live cultures?

Question

I'm looking for some buttermilk starter, which I know I can buy online, but I wanted to shop locally first. The two local health food stores don't carry it, so I checked one of the local supermarkets, and came across some Saco Cultured Buttermilk Blend, which is a dry powder. I'm curious if this can possibly contain live cultures, though. One forum post I found claims it does not:

Because the SACO buttermilk is dried, it contains no live cultures and will not be a good buttermilk starter culture.

However, many other living organisms, (such as dry yeast, and the freeze-dried Kéfir starter I found in the store today) come in dry form, so I'm not convinced that a dried product cannot contain live cultures, but maybe dried buttermilk is different. So is it true that this type of product does not contain live cultures, or will it work as a buttermilk starter culture?

Asked by Flimzy

Answer

It is true that Saco Buttermilk Blend contains no live cultures. If you can have any further questions, please feel free to call our consumer line at 1-800-373-7226. We are happy to answer any questions you may have about our product! Amy Verheyden Director of Consumer Affairs Saco Foods, Inc.

Answered by Amy Verheyden

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What makes a good vessel for storing sourdough starter?

Question

I was going to buy the King Arthur set of starter + crock, but the crock is on backorder, so I plan to instead locally source a vessel for the starter. What should I look for? Should I find a similar crock? A jar of some kind?

ETA: More specifically, what should I be looking for? Size? Materials? Lid type? I read elsewhere that I don't want an airtight seal; I'm looking for more advice like that.

Asked by Yamikuronue

Answer

Admittedly I have only stored my starter in a glass jar, but I wouldn't want anything else.

You should look for a size that is neither too large, nor too small. It should comfortably hold your sourdough starter when you are simply feeding it - I usually store 200g of starter, at 100% hydration (100g flour, 100g water) or thereabouts. However, when actually making sourdough starter you make more - perhaps 400g or so, depending on how much bread you are making, plus you want to have something left to restart your bread. A typical recipe might call for 20% starter, so 200g for a kilo loaf. The other solution is to of course have two separate jars, and only use both when doubling for bread.

When I say it must be able to hold that much, I mean that it will have to hold it fully risen, which means around 2x to 2.5x of the original size. In addition, narrow and high is better than low and wide, since it makes it easier to tell how much it rises.

Also, you will want a wide opening, so that you can easily clean it.

As for covering it, I just use a sheet of plastic. Just take care not to get it gooey. It will hold in the moisture so the sourdough doesn't dry out, but won't trap the carbon dioxide.

Good luck

Answered by Max

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are there any appliances that can automate feeding of sourdough starter?

Question

I am a pretty busy person, and the last two times I've started a sourdough starter, I've ended up forgetting to feed it, and it went bad. I never got anything good out of it, but there were times where it seemed pretty alive (bubbling, etc.). Are there any appliances which automate the feeding of a starter? (Including those not intended for it?)

Thanks in advance!

Answer

I have not heard of any machine of that nature, and I try to keep up with an assortment of home beer brewing sources. If anyone would have come up with something, it would probably be brewers, since we tend to use large amounts of live yeast. About the most advanced thing I have heard of is storing wort in Nalgene bottles after boiling and using that for a starter. I can't think of an analog for sourdough that would be safe and keep the starter maintained with a good flavor. Pro brewers or bakers may have a tool that I'm unaware of, though.

I'm sure you could come up with some sort of Rube Goldberg machine to feed your starter, but really, it's like taking care of any living thing. You have to water and feed plants, animals, and yeast cultures. It's a small amount of work, too, really. Add water, flour, maybe some sugar, and stir. You might want to stick with non-sourdough breads if you can't make that kind of time investment.

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What is a poolish starter?

Question

I asked a question about what I could add to homemade bread to stop it going off so fast and someone suggested trying "a poolish starter". I've never heard of this before, so what is it?

Answer

Poolish is a type of sponge. You prepare it before mixing your dough. As in 16 hours before. Then, you mix it with the rest of the ingredients.

What I usually do is mix 150g of flour and 150g of water with a pinch of yeast (less than 1g) and no salt at all the night before the day I'm going to use it. The idea is to use the same amount, in weight, of flour and water, and the least amount possible of yeast and let it work as slow as possible.

This will depend on many factors. I'm giving you my quantities, but it changes from winter to summer, you will have to experiment. That's half of the fun. For the mixing I use a fork and a 1 litter/quarter container and 30 seconds of work, it shouldn't take you more. The poolish usually gets almost to the top in 14-18 hours. Once I put 5g of yeast and got to the top in 1 hour. This is not bad but defies the purpose of the poolish taking a lot of time. Some people even put in the refrigerator to make it take longer.

Why would you want it to take time? This is what I was told and makes sense to me: when you mix water, flour and yeast two things happen: the yeast transform the sugars and some good bacteria starts creating acids that will determine flavour. The yeast work depends on the temperature and amount of yeast (among other things, like water, salt, fat, etc). The bacteria doesn't. Also, the bacteria and the acids help preserve the bread.

Once it has reached the top you have 1 hour approx to use it. If not, it will collapse and you better start with a new one. If you think you are not going to use it in 1 hour, use a fork to degass it before it collapses and let it rise again. It will rise faster this time, but that will buy you some time. You can see what it looks like.

If you have a recipe you like, try replacing 150g flour and 150g water with the poolish and see what happens. You may replace between 10% and 50% of the final dough. You'll see changes in color and flavor.

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