Janet D. Stemwedel (whose nom de blog is Dr. Free-Ride) is an associate professor of philosophy at San Jose State University. Before becoming a philosopher, she earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry. Email her at dr.freeride@gmail.com.
Tonight in the kitchen, I have cultures to attend to. Since I won't be on the road again for months, I brought out my jar of sourdough starter to revive with fresh water, flour, and some time at room temperature. And, I have some kefir culture from our friends in Santa Barbara that'll be wanting more milk. In my mental list this morning, I tracked these as "Don't forget to feed yeast and bacterium."
But, it turns out, even if I only fed one of these two, I'd be nourishing yeast and bacterium.
Let's start with the kefir, with which my acquaintance is more recent. The stuff you can buy in stores is kind of like a thin yogurt, and yogurt is produced by bacterial fermentation of milk, so you'd guess that kefir is, too. But "the beast" that our friends gave us part of to grow our own kefir is a big, whitish mass that looks like a weird hybrid of a brain and tripe. (The "grains of kefir" pictured in the Wikipedia entry look far less likely to try to overpower humans than what we brought home.)
That scary looking mass includes bacteria and yeast in a casein-polysaccharide matrix. Two kinds of microorganism for the price of one.
The sourdough starter, of course, has yeast -- that's what makes the dough rise. But what makes it sour is bacteria, lactobacilli to be specific. Symbiosis, anyone?
So now, I'm thinking I need to make some kefir-based soft cheese to spread on some home-baked sourdough bread. Or, I could go "Iron Chef" and work out a multi-course menu in which each course features a food made from a yeast-bacterium culture.
Is anyone else enslaving microorganisms in their kitchen to make something tasty?
Comments
Ni Hao! Kannichi Wa!
Science blogger busted on suspicion of kitchen bioterrorism?
Hope this doesn't trigger the keywords on the Homeland Security surveillance robot.
Remember what happened at U. Buffalo and Pitt when science and art came together.
MOTYR
Posted by: Mouth of the Yellow River | August 8, 2006 8:35 PM
I think you have some acetobacter in there too!
Posted by: Molecule of the Day | August 8, 2006 10:01 PM
I've got a sourdough culture sat in my fridge, but I didn't start it with years: just wheat flour, rye flour, honey and water.
I have a couple of recipes for a rye bread made with this culture, in Danish. One is really nice, because the rye gives it a strong flavour, and slowly absorbs water so it becomes softer. It can last a couple of weeks as well, because of the rye.
Mmmmmm...
Bob
Posted by: Bob O'H | August 9, 2006 1:12 PM
At some point, I might try to capture my own wild yeasty beasties (for a "homemade" sourdough starter), but at present I'm working off the descendant of a starter culture purchased from King Arthur Flour.
Posted by: Janet D. Stemwedel | August 9, 2006 1:28 PM
I have a home-caught sourdough starter, although it hasn't been fed for some time and has, apparently, gone dormant. There is a white powder on top of the culture, and it doesn't look like mold.
I used the recipe from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice, although I didn't use high-gluten flour as he suggests -- just KA bread flour. The three times I tried it with the HG flour were all disasters for various reasons. I feed it with some high-gluten stuff to keep the flavor up.
Thanks for reminding me... I need to feed this before we go on vacation.
Sourdough... yummmmm.
Posted by: ArtK | August 9, 2006 2:13 PM
Does anyone have anything definitive on whether the culture is "caught" or is present naturally on the grain? I've heard both (and could probably believe either).
Posted by: Molecule of the Day | August 9, 2006 5:08 PM
I seem to remember from something read years ago that certain of the blue-veined cheeses (Stilton?) benefit from combined fungal/bacterial activity.
Posted by: chezjake | August 9, 2006 9:12 PM
Posted by: Bob O'H | August 11, 2006 1:32 AM