Britesea
Sustainability Master
Saving some of the starter for the next batch of bread was pretty much how ALL bread was made until modern times. If you keep the starter cool, it doesn't need feeding as often. It develops a slight tang, but doesn't turn as sour as standard "sourdough." As a matter of fact, my mother (who was raised in rural France) told me that if their yeast culture got sour, her mother would throw it out because it had "gone bad"- Sourdough was not popular in France until quite recently. I suspect that sourdough came into being amongst the goldminers of California because they were living in tents and other rough housing that didn't provide much in the way of a cool environment like a cellar or springhouse, so they made do with sour yeast cultures and learned to like the flavor.
According to Jon Townsend (a historical reenactor focusing on 18th C America) a common practice was to pinch off a little bit of the risen dough and dry it for use when traveling. You just needed to add the dried dough to some warm water and let it sit for a bit, until it got foamy-- just like our modern dried yeast. That may even be where Red Star got the idea, lol.
There's your history lesson for the day, children.
According to Jon Townsend (a historical reenactor focusing on 18th C America) a common practice was to pinch off a little bit of the risen dough and dry it for use when traveling. You just needed to add the dried dough to some warm water and let it sit for a bit, until it got foamy-- just like our modern dried yeast. That may even be where Red Star got the idea, lol.
There's your history lesson for the day, children.
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i've done worse.
