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Effects of sugar, milk, and soda were examined by measuring starter pH during the course of development as well as sampling corresponding bread. Figure 1 illustrates the course of pH values for six starters lacking soda. All are made with 1/2 C flour, 2 Tbsp corn meal, 1/4 Campden, and 1 C hot water. Three incorporated King Arthur flour with Robin Hood flour in the rest. When pH moved through 5.5 to 4.5, the three KA starters produced foam as did one RH. The outlier (outlaw?) is a Robin Hood; recorded data can not identify it as the foamer. Foaming was relatively weak and had little or no cheesy odor. It is characteristic of King Arthur flour ("Never brominated - Never bleached") to support faster developing and stronger starters than Robin Hood flour. Robin Hood, as well as other bleached flour brands, works well in starters augmented with soda. Whether the lack of processing, a difference in gluten percentage, or a greater population of C.perfringens spores gives KA the edge is another conundrum for the student. |
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Increasing pH during initial hours occurs in most starters. Another bacteria might be the cause. Susan Ray Brown submitted her milk-based starter to Rtech for perfringens and lactobacilli analysis. Lactobacilli population exceeded perfringens. Lactobacilli are acid generators and an unlikely cause of pH increase, However, their presence in a starter suggests the possibility that still another bacteria may be active.
Another used-book store was visited a few days after experiments underlying the foregoing graphs were performed. That event yielded "The American Heritage Cookbook" published in 1964, but presenting historical recipes including a novel one for salt-rising bread. (There is no attribution for the recipe.) Two cups of corn meal in two cups of scalded milk with a tablespoon of sugar and a teaspoon of salt is assembled in the evening and sheltered under a tea towel overnight. In the morning, a half teaspoon of soda, a cup of warm water, and enough flour to make a stiff batter are stirred in and the bowl placed in a pan of warm water kept "at an even temperature - not too hot, not too cold". After it foams up "(this can take from 2 hours to half a day), knead in shortening and more flour (it may take as many as 8 cups) to make a stiff dough." and form two loaves are the directions.
Excellent bread is the result; in Nancy's view "The best ever!" Corn meal-based AH loaves are superior to those made on commercial "yeast" and better than most variants on the Bruce recipe. With-holding soda and flour from the original mix implies that perfringens specific to the corn meal can assert itself to subsequently dominate the slurry when soda and flour are added. Variations on this recipe were examined; in particular, an attempt was made to eliminate scalded milk. The recipes presented below are the result.
Variability of Clostridium perfringens behavior argues for a method to perpetuate a "good" strain somewhat as a sourdough sponge can be kept alive. Several experiments were fruitless. Sometimes, a portion of an active starter can be frozen and subsequently defrosted, fed more flour, and become useful. More often, the procedure failed. Fragments from a loaf of "good" bread can be dried to serve as initiator in a subsequent starter. The technique works, but the paucity of spores reported by Rtech argues against it; my imperfect palate does not recognize derivative bread to be identical to the parent. Dried starter or sponge has been recommended for perpetuation, but the question of spore population remains. More experimentation is necessary to address this aspiration. For more than twenty years, the Bruce recipe and its derivatives has been my recommendation for home-made salt-rising bread. Experience with the American Heritage recipe places Bruce in the shadow. The principal advantage of the AH technique is division of initiator activation from the flour and soda to ease time constraints. Furthermore, the initiator phase need not be maintained at constant temperature. An insulated coffee mug or soft drink server serves the tea towel function. The initiator will work properly even after cooling to room temperature.
Most home makers will not have a thermostatically controlled heat box to benefit Clostridium perfringens. An alternative can be assembled from a common expanded polystyrene food or drink cooler. The $2.00 cooler in my experiments is about eighteen inches high with internal dimensions of eight by fourteen inches. A small saucepan was placed in the box. A gallon of 125F tapwater was poured into the cooler with enough into the pan to prevent floating. A plate on the saucepan will support a bowl containing the sponge or the bread pans; I used a wood shingle to crowd two bowls into place. Before being put to use, the contraption was tested using a remote reading thermometer. Fourteen hours after being closed up with the gallon of 125F water, the temperature was 83F. |