How to capture wild yeast for bread (and WHY it works)

[@aragusea]

Q: What if I don't like sourdough? Can I use a method like this to make dough that isn't sour? A: Not really, no. That's why yeast harvested from breweries (and later dried commercial yeast) was such a big advancement for baking. It allowed the development of yeast-risen "sweet" breads - sweet meaning not sour, in this context. (You can actually make fantastic desserts with sourdough.) If you're having trouble finding commercial yeast but you want to make yeast bread that isn't sourdough, there are some other options. I've heard it's possible to grow some yeast from an unfiltered beer. Never tried that, but sounds interesting! You can also get a small amount of commercial dried yeast reproducing in a little wet dough (or other mixture of carbs and water) and keep it going in the fridge for some duration of time. I've heard of people doing that, but I imagine that it would eventually become a sourdough starter, since bacteria are gonna get going in there eventually. That last part is a guess. Q: Can I cook with the starter I discard every day? A: Absolutely, there are lots of "discard" recipes on the internet. It's popular to make pancakes with it. However, be aware that in that first 1-2 weeks when you're getting your starter going, your discard might taste and smell terrible, and it might not have much rising power. In a mature starter, the acid-producing bacteria have "defeated" all the other bacteria and undesirable fungi. (Yeast are acid tolerant, that's why they work so well with these bacteria.) If I had cooked that nasty pink 3-day-old starter I showed you in the vid, it probably would have tasted like foot rot, because it was filled with undesirable microbes. Q: Does it really have to be unchlorinated water? Does it have to be unbleached flour? Does it have to be X, Y, Z? A: As I said in the vid, we don't really know. People have successfully made starters with just about anything, but we don't know what works best, or even what you might define as "best." The folks at NC State recommend unchlorinated simply because it's so easy to obtain, but it might not even be necessary. (Be aware that some cities use chloramine to sterilize their water, and that won't just go "poof" if you leave your water out for a day, like chlorine will.) Regarding bleached flour, people have absolutely made good starters with bleached flour. Maybe the bleaching process kills some of the beneficial microbes in the flour that help get your starter going? This is one of the question the folks at the Dunn Lab are trying to answer with their current citizen science project. Remember, if you gather some data for them, I'll thank you in a vid: robdunnlab.com/projects/wildsourdough/ Q: Didn't you say in this old video that you think sourdough starters are too much work? kzbin.info/www/bejne/pWWkc4KBma14i9U A: Yes. You can make a sourdough-like product by simply making a dough with commercial yeast and letting it sit in the fridge for a week. I'm a fan of that. And it may literally be sourdough. I'm not sure, but the folks at the Dunn Lab have some ideas about how we might use science to determine exactly what's going on in my old fridge dough. Stay tuned. But yes, a sourdough starter is too much work for me. As I said in the vid, the only reason I'm interested it now is because of the COVID yeast shortage. Also I try to make videos about things that might be interesting to you, even if they're not terribly interesting to me.

[@teaartist6455]

Unchlorinated water you say? *laughs in German*

[@stluanne]

" If I had cooked that nasty pink 3-day-old starter I showed you in the vid, it probably would have tasted like foot rot, because..." Um... asking for a friend ... how do you know what foot rot tastes like?

[@merricc5218]

Will you be able to do an asian style dish like pho or udon?

[@Piktogrammdd1234]

Not liking sour dough bread? That's nonsense.

[@BenJamin-en3jb]

@@matthewlawton9241 Just speaking from personal experience, failed sourdough starters are typically super gross. Good starter can be reasonably gross if it's been sitting unfed in the fridge for a longer time. But after feeding and letting it rise, it should have a nice cream or light brown colour, depending on the used flour. The smell is usually yeast, yoghurt, and maybe a hint of vinegar and alcohol. If your starter rises nicely and smells pleasant and yields a tasty, soft bread, it's pretty certain that the good microbes have won.

[@trusarmor4957]

my Dad and i used to rise before the Spring Sun and Hunt the Wild Yeast across the warm rain swept Plains of Brooklyn.

[@B9-s3ns3]

Bruh

[@rockaway0beach]

That's what pepperidge farm remembers

[@sauravbasu8805]

Meh. I take yeasts from my armpits, whenever I need some. Domestic yeasts are far better.

[@emsk9567]

@@sauravbasu8805 ode to a lump of green putty I found in my armpit one midsummer morning

[@JenovaGirzz]

@@emsk9567 DansGame

[@marjoriejohnson6535]

50+ years ago I started my starter in several places on my property..and yes with same water ( rain water) ,same flour ( organic from healthfood store...the first one in my area) and hanging it in several places...the starter hanging in the woods from a pine tree tasted different from the one started in the orchard near a very large hay field that was full of wild flowers..

[@jafafafa9206]

Definitely giving this a shot out of curiosity

[@marjoriejohnson6535]

@@jafafafa9206 add very small amount of sugar and cover bowl with cheese cloth.

[@jafafafa9206]

@@marjoriejohnson6535 thanks

[@revimfadli4666]

@@jafafafa9206 palm sugar might work better than white sugar, perhaps due to nutrients and such. Only use less than 2% of flour weight if you don't want too much alcohol in the starter

[@jafafafa9206]

@@revimfadli4666 I'll be sure to try it

[@christosbelibasakis2296]

Why I capture wild yeast and not domesticated yeast

[@jadonlee821]

LOL

[@sajb6041]

i season my yeast not the bread

[@greenfun50monkyarby35]

dead meme

[@rajikkumastah452]

I'm gonna be here before it blows up

[@dhirensingh8989]

*GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL*

[@krovek]

When you "discard" have your starter it doesn't have to go in the trash! it can be useful for adding to other types of baked goods simply to add some flavor. King Arthur has a great recipe for sourdough crackers. You can also just drop it right in a fry pan with some herbs or whatever you want to make a savory pancake.

[@niranjhannair606]

not in first week tho its not edible till the first week is complete it will contain 'bad' microbes

[@krovek]

@@niranjhannair606 For sure. I didn't do that when I was forming my starting. It's also not great with starter that has developed hooch. I tend to only do it with stater that's 24-48 hours old. I leave my starter in the fridge and feed it once a week when not in use, and I start feeding it daily 1-2 days before I plan to use it. So I end up with some edible starter that would otherwise go in the bin.

[@penguin_reader_yt9510]

I will try this thanks for the tip

[@omegamatsu]

From the yeast's POV theres a Thanos snap every 24hrs

[@TheRguru1]

A small price to pay for sourdough.

[@Ananamitron]

I used the starter to kill the starter.

[@kyletorfin]

You don't know that! I'm the only one who knows that

[@miketacos9034]

5:45 Thanos Confirmed

[@luiss428]

"all that for a drop of *h o o c h* ?"

[@apollyon5792]

I love your journalistic approach to cooking. Its refreshing. Unlike anything I've seen before. Just like a good journalist, you're just trying to inform people of raw facts using scientific data.

[@corsun5351]

1:23 "researchers are actively recruiting HOME BAKERS like YOU and ME" me: :’D

[@iododendron3416]

THEY: :(

[@aragusea]

I don’t get it?

[@DatSuKid]

@@aragusea As a millennial, it's ok. I don't get it either :/

[@achat77]

Adam Ragusea They feel honored to be grouped in with you.

[@hak9786]

@@DatSuKid I don't think it's got to do anything with being a millennial

[@billjoyce]

Using a starter that has been in my wife's family for decades. One relative tried using whole wheat flour with it and it eventually got weaker. I have two sets, one using unbleached all purpose flour and one using whole wheat flour to feed it and after about 2 years, both are running strong.

[@Chris_seh]

Lets get this bread: No Lets MAKE this bread: YES

[@DumpeNordlie]

A fellow Norwegian?

[@daddysuburban1029]

two fellow norwegians?

[@Createrz2015]

Bo

[@Tomek_i]

3 Norwegians makes a gruppe

[@elwoje]

four fellow Norwegians?

[@КрасныйКайзер]

I grew up in North Carolina and my high school statistics teacher had us make sourdough starters and take data on how our starter developed every day, which we then submitted to that lab at State. I didn’t appreciate it at the time, but that was such a great lesson. Let us learn about statistics and help advance research in the food sciences.

[@TaylorIserman]

These researchers are crazy good on camera. Most researchers I’ve met would probably not be as good at KZbin videos.

[@jackismname]

A huge part of academia is presenting your findings.

[@squelchedotter]

Once you have a starter going, you can actually fry the discarded starter in a pan! It tastes pretty good.

[@Beunibster]

I'm a fried starter, twisted fried starter

[@cmisis14]

I always make a scallion pancake with my discard. Just add some toasted sesame oil to a cast iron pan, heat it up, pour on your discard. Then I sprinkle on some salt, pepper, sesame seeds, and sliced scallions. After flipping, the scallions and sesame seeds get deliciously toasty. It's great dipped in some soy sauce and black vinegar 👍

[@OldManJenkins69]

@@cmisis14 Pro Home Cooks does a similar thing! Cool, looks like that's what'll do with mine

[@strider_hiryu850]

So many great recipes

[@ExDefecit]

@@Beunibster LMAO

[@belmin3905]

I made my starter waaay back before all this stuff. So I'll just tell you a few things from my experience: - It's probably best to use rye flour, it's easiest to sustain - You can make it without discarding any, just start with small amount, and before using it calculate desired weight and feed it like that - If you calculated it good, you'll be left just with scraps in your jar, but don't worry, just keep those scraps in fridge, and when you want to use it again, just feed it 2-3 times to desirable weight - Don't keep it longer then 10 days in fridge - It's gonna be sticky oh boy - It's easiest to use grams when feeding, sou you feed it in 1:1 ratio (exp. 10 grams of water:10 grams of flour) I'll edit if I remeber of something new.

[@1998tkhri]

Can you elaborate on how to make it without discarding any? Like, just start with 25g flour and water or something like that, and continually add that amount every day?

[@belmin3905]

@@1998tkhri Yeah, I started I think with 20 grams of water and 20 grams of flour and just did that for 5-6 days and it was ready. I left scraps and just feed it again. You can also store it in fridge for a few days without feeding

[@1998tkhri]

@@belmin3905 So, you started with 20g flour, 20g water. Then on day 2, you discarded it, and added new flour/water, or you added the new flout and water without discarding anything?

[@belmin3905]

@@1998tkhri just kept on adding 20 grams of both every next day, no discarding

[@bioemiliano]

just use ml of water, 1ml and 1 gram of water is the same but using grams for water looks weird

[@Shinigami13133]

fun fact: the symbol on the right at 1:01 is called the Rod of Caduseus and is associated with the god Hermes. It is often misconstrued as a symbol for medicine but the correct symbol for that would be what is called the Rod of Asclepius which only features one snake.

[@rossanderson4156]

Interesting, thanks

[@Tinky1rs]

Yep, the US (hospitals) often use the Rod of Caduseus for some reason.

[@sashas3362]

@@Tinky1rs They use the staff of hermes because it is a symbol for the hermetic arts, alchemy, which is the origin of pharmaceuticals (medicines). Some say that the staff of hermes is associated with scam artists and thieves though, because most alchemists were con artists, and that one should beware any practitioner which uses the staff of hermes.

[@douchebag235]

holy shit I am learning a lot today

[@ricksanchez8259]

The -Rod of- Caduceus has been used as a symbol for medicine in the United States for over a hundred years. It is perfectly acceptable to use in a medical context. Edit: Corrected "Rod of Caduceus" to just "Caduceus" as Ryan B pointed out.

[@GogiRegion]

I actually recently learned of a different style of sourdough like product that is very different and way less sour. Instead of using wild yeast and bacteria, the starter begins with still fermenting rice wine. It has way less lactic acid bacteria, and also has Rhizopus oryzae (a mold that breaks down protein into amino acids and starch into sugar). As a result, the starch and the gluten is broken down at a much faster rate than yeast can do, so it creates sweet and fluffy cake-like bread that is great for buns and small baked goods.

[@BigNews2021]

I recently watched a video from an Italian creator where he mashed up apples, let the juice ferment and used that yeast (it was still fermenting and very active) to make ciabatta bread.

[@ellsappelle9929]

9:40 this is why I love your channel Adam! Demystifying and taking the myth out of the kitchen, and your willingness to mix the ‘art’ of cooking with the science of what is actually going on is very refreshing! You’re a legend

[@dillpickle5973]

The fact that you involve the food science in explanations of your already delicious recipes is what sets you apart from other youtubers. I’ve been subscribed for a hot minute. Today I made your roast chicken recipe, but I stuffed the chicken with orange, sage, and garlic, instead of the lemon, rosemary, and shallot. absolutely delicious. I simmered the sage and garlic in the gravy, and I squeezed a bit of that roasted orange into it as well. Thanks for the inspiration for my own recipe dude, and thanks for always putting out quality content!!

[@diablominero]

I started my starter with wild elderflower yeast that settled to the bottom of some elderflower champagne, unfiltered apple cider vinegar, and yogurt whey. It's still going great a year later.

[@calebstorm9285]

Can I get some step-by-step instructions

[@xhivo97]

Dude, wrong timeline!

[@diablominero]

@@xhivo97 Why? What's wrong with me saying this here?

[@diablominero]

@@calebstorm9285 I had saved and dried the yeast already. I dissolved enough sugar to taste a bit sweet into some water (probably a few tablespoons of water, but the amount isn't that important). Then I dissolved in a piece of my yeast (probably about equivalent to an eighth or a quarter teaspoon of commercial yeast) into the sugar-water. I added a bit (maybe a half teaspoon) of unfiltered vinegar, and a quarter teaspoon of the whey that rose to the top of some yogurt (I made sure to use one that had live and active cultures). I stirred in enough flour to reach the right consistency, and left it overnight. Then I started feeding it like a starter. It started bubbling enthusiastically within a day, but it took a few days for the sourness to get going and the sugar to get diluted away.

[@xhivo97]

@@diablominero Such a trippy comment that it made me think you have to be from an alternate timeline.

[@Feniantimmy]

We made our starter by leaving the bowl of flour and water out for a day. At the Quartz Creek campground on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. It has been fed and used now for about 3 years. If not used every 5 days, I feed it as per a usual feeding. I now bake a boule with it every 5 days using this recipe: 1k dough bowl: flour, filtered water, salt, 100 g starter. I cold ferment for 5 days, stretch and pull once every day. I've been doing this for 3 years. I use King Arthur rye flour for the starter exclusively. I keep it in the fridge. I made the dough using cold starter (it's going to get cold anyway).

[@MarschelArts]

I've started baking with my own sour dough a few years ago out of couriosity and try it on and off since then. Was pretty handy once the yeast wasn't available anymore. I experiment with different flours and felt the best result was with a mix of rye and whole wheat flour. Starting with rye, then mix rye and wheat 50 50 or alternating. Never tried destilled water, though I get why it might help. Tap water has a lot of stuff in it, depending where you live. Mine seems to work fine. As to what to do with the surplus Starter: I started to mix that into a bit of extra water and flour, some salt and sometimes Olive oil or melted butter, knead it up into a small batch of doughlet it sit a bit and make a flat pan bread out of that for breakfast. Usually I get two good pieces out of that. It's sometimes like pita, sometimes it resembles naan a bit more. Better than just throwing it away.

[@chezmoi42]

Good idea. I know I've come along late, but for variety, you can also make an English muffin - just roll it into a ball, flatten it to about 1+ cm (1/2"), and let it rise to double height, then fry it on a griddle for about 5 min on each side. Separate by piercing around its waist with a fork, to make a nice rough texture that will hold the butter, honey, jam, whatever.

[@JoniWan77]

@@chezmoi42 You speaking about a scone?

[@chezmoi42]

@@JoniWan77 No, a scone dough is made with baking powder and baked in the oven. Perhaps English muffins are not common where you live or you've not noticed them. They are more closely related to a crumpet, which is made with a batter. They are both made on a griddle and used in similar ways. Here's a visual explanation - do try them if you like to make bread. tastessence.com/what-is-difference-between-crumpets-english-muffins

[@JoniWan77]

@@chezmoi42 Ah, okay, thanks. The description on how they were made just sounded similar to a scone.

[@chezmoi42]

@@JoniWan77 I can see that; my English friends make little round scones. I'm American, and I tend to form mine into a big round, then cut it into wedges. My recipe is also less rich than theirs.

[@bbstucki]

I've had a starter for about 3 years now. I made it myself with wheat flour, and orange juice which was swapped out for water after week one. Once it was established (week 2) I began experimenting. I have fed it with fresh ground whole wheat flour, bleached AP flour, 100% rye flour, unbleached AP flour, bread flour and a mixture of many of those. I'm sure I have cycled through several bacteria and yeast strains to get to the point it is now. It has gone through a range of smells from sweaty socks, to fruity vinegar in the first year, but I never abandoned it. I've put it in the fridge for 4-6 weeks and left it to come back to a greyish top with a 1/4" of hooch on top, you just stir it up, discard some and feed it. I've made some amazing bread and pizza in the last 3 years. I now use a mix of bread flour with 20% whole wheat and 10% rye for feeding. It seems pretty consistent now. These microbial biomes are pretty resilient.

[@michaelsanchez972]

A fun starter I’ve been experimenting with recently is using onion juice instead of water once or twice a week. The smell is very funky and mildly sweet. The bread has a very very mild onion taste in the background. I wouldn’t recommend this on an established starter as the acid in the onion may harm your yeast.

[@sankalpsrivatsa179]

Adam I was LITERALLY like 2 secs ago searching for how to make bread. You're reading my mind bro

[@ogreunderbridge5204]

Man, this channel covers a lot of things I several times have tried and failed looking into. I´m binge watching! Thanks a lot :)

[@ninjaeris131]

No one has ever explained what a sourdough starter is, in all the videos I've watch... THANK YOU SO FREAKING MUCH!!!!

[@cnhoffman]

Adam, A long time ago I had a sourdough starter that I got particularly lazy with feeding. Eventually some of the breads that I made from it would mold extremely quickly. I suspect that I was cultivating some nasty molds because of my lazy schedule. (These were all rye breads in my starter is fed with rye flour only). Oftentimes the internal temperature of a bread doesn't get over 200 degrees Fahrenheit.

[@2adamast]

Bread is normally fully pasteurised for milk at 200°F the time needed is 0.1sec

[@colossusjak2]

U didn’t die tho

[@colossusjak2]

U didn’t die tho

[@churchgest]

These scientist look like they are having a bunch of fun

[@B9-s3ns3]

Yeah thats nice

[@真太郎緑間-f4j]

They look like they breathing some good grass iykwim hehe

[@injeborg]

Yeah, they really seem like they love what they do and it's great to see!

[@tdiaz5555]

From experience, I can tell you that most scientists (at a university) do what they do out of interest. If you want money, industry is better.

[@rohan1_]

Can you imagine researching YEAST for a living and someone contacts you asking for an interview about your work? I'd be ecstatic too.

[@summerp7811]

I am 51 years old, I have starter from my great grandmother, it is really a family thing, now 5th generation sour dough starter. Best bread ever!

[@fglend73]

My starter is over 2 years old now and from my experience you don’t have to be very particular with it. It’s surprisingly resilient. I feed it with whatever flour I have on hand. I’ve ignored it for up to 2 months while it sits in the fridge, and it revives pretty quickly with a couple of feedings.

[@infernaldaedra]

Another reason to use pure water is because it prevents dangerous bacteria or molds from culturing in the starter. It's just much safer and cleaner so you should definitely do that. another interesting thing is that people have successfully captured ancient or specific yeast strains by making starters around old breweries or bakeries. :D

[@JM-yz6zb]

ooooo that is interesting!

[@guacre2675]

How would purified water reduce the risk of bad bacteria or mold infection?

[@wuxxy]

@@guacre2675 purified means clean. clean water means less bad bacteria

[@Mallchad]

​@@guacre2675Tap water is usually treated with chlorine-containing chemicals to steralize it of microorganiusms that could make you ill but its not really complete. Chlorine isn't magic and some (many) species of bacteria will survive. More still will accumulate in your pipes and kitchen utensils and evade damage. Filtered water will help remove most of the microorganisms but again, its limited by how clean your kitchen utensils and containers are. Spring water and generic bottled water realistically is about the same as filtered water. Realistically you're not going to get rid of bad microorganisms, the goal is really to encourage non-harmful microorganisms like yeast to outcompete (kill) the ones you don't want.

[@michaelsanchez972]

It would have to be a significant amount of bad bacteria or mold hiding in that water to colonize. Otherwise your yeast culture can and will overpower bacteria/mold if it’s already established and well fed.

[@armaansamirizvi3354]

Holy smokes, I literally was using the premade pizza bases and they tasted like crap, but i couldn't help it, because there was no yeast available anywhere.. This video is exactly what I needed man, thanks Adam

[@BloodSprite-tan]

yeah it's really easy too, sourdough starter makes great pizza dough! i have been having a lot of fun with my sourdough starter, already on my 4 product.

[@jessicali8594]

The easiest pizza base dough is made with plain yogurt and flour; delicious too, once cooked as pizza.

[@creepyloner1979]

yeast and bacteria grow naturally on any grain crop, and the specific varieties growing on grain in the field have had countless generations to adapt to the specific grain they're on. that's all you want or need in your starter. random microbes in your home's filthy indoor air should be kept out of your starter as much as possible. chlorinated tap water is fine. the dominant yeast and bacteria strains will adapt to it quickly. use unbleached flour to start your starter, but any flour can be used for feeding.

[@nicolejones1107]

"I'm calling my starter Gary."

[@deadfr0g]

Can’t tell if this about Spongebob or Pokemon.

[@lughildana]

@@deadfr0g yes

[@funkygawy]

I'm super glad to be able to help you make bread. I'm quite sour.

[@MegaPossesed]

I have Fallout 3 memories so I dislike the name entirely.

[@nicolejones1107]

@@MegaPossesed Gaaaaaaaaary?

[@whitemane380]

My grandma used to sour the dough with watered yogurt.Yogurt includes these bacterias also.And you can wait the wet flour outside just like this dude.Its not that complicated actually.And once you sour it you can use it all the way.Just take some,and add some flour and so on.You can make beer,mead,wine or any drink includes alcohol by using wild yeasts too.But be carefull it can be end up being vinegar.It is really good to see a video like this by the way.Thank you!

[@zacharyg623]

Literally this morning just started my first starter. Quit spying on me Adam

[@TheAndersDanilet]

Started mine last night. I’m fine if Adam, Babish, Chef John, Kenji Lope or Josh Weissman spy on me and then teach me how to cook. But Zuckerberg better stay away.

[@HussiAli123]

And im about to make one

[@epicepidemic7131]

You do realize it's Google doing the spying through your phone's mic. I tested it by talking out loud about buying toys for my dog...and got dog-toy ads a few hours later. I don't have a dog.

[@RedRoseSeptember22]

@@epicepidemic7131 Yep it does spy, same thing happened to me when I talked about wanting Round Table pizza, then I got the ad soon after lol.

[@carolinablue6987]

How did it go?

[@1cleandude]

Bro that dangling hair in the beginning almost ran me off but that kick arse pizza hooked me! Thanks!🙏

[@13Luk6iul]

You don‘t have to throw away anything. Once you have a mature starter, take out half and set aside! Feed the starter, and use the „discard“ to bake your bread.

[@footstomppodcast4]

for real though it says on the website to throw away or compost. I am curious how much you use or need for a loaf im guessing this just takes the place of dry yeast in the recipe?

[@13Luk6iul]

@@footstomppodcast4 i usually add 10-20% of starter relative to the weight of the flour

[@bryanharrison3889]

Its also good to note that once your starter is alive and healthy you can use your discarded starter to make pancakes or fritters every morning. So you cut your starter in half, feed it, take the half you took out, put it in a warm pan with a little butter, and make a pancake with it. If you already have enough starter that your discard is enough to make more than one pancake, then that's awesome, especially if you have a large family. This way you're not WASTING anything and your starter is always getting fed and is alive and well and at room temperature. And the best part is, the discard is perfect as it is to go STRAIGHT INTO THE PAN. you can add stuff if you want, but if you stir it up or mess with it too much you kill some of the bubbles and it doesn't make as fluffy of a pancake. THESE are my favorite pancakes, just regular unbleached flour starter discard fried in butter, straight out of the starter jar. ZERO WASTE. I live by myself and have a relatively small starter, so my discard every morning is enough to make 2 pancakes that are big enough to use to make a sausage patty pancake sandwich with. Let me tell you, you can't BUY that kind of breakfast sandwich, its incredible.

[@spirits4616]

Thanks Adam! Your videos really help me and my family. I love showing them to my parents so I can help them cook your recipies! Thanks for the recipies that me and my family enjoy.

[@HyperactiveNeuron]

2022 and I think you convinced me to give this a shot. My mother is an long time avid sour dough baker. She has only gone without a continuous starter for a couple of months due to a power outage from an ice storm years ago. That starter was her original one and was told enough to buy it's own alcohol even though it made it. Her current starter which is actually more or less a clone for one is her best friends starter that my mom actually gave her is now approximately 16 years old but it came from a starter that was about 20 years old so I guess it's actually 36. She's refined her process and has practically done it in her sleep and I've even seen her in the last couple of years get up at 5 am, turn on the coffee maker, the stove light and get a couple of loaves started rising and going back to bed. When I was in highschool it was so good a couple of our friends bribed my brother and I to let them know when she was baking. For years she's brided her youngest brother to do things like fix stuff with her bread LOL! It really is that good.

[@geraldhommemusic]

Literally just baked my first sourdough bread, than sat down and saw this. Making a few adjustments to my starter set up thanks to this!

[@CopenhagenDreaming]

A friend of mine is a teacher, and one of the topics she taught when doing remote learning classes for her students during lockdown was... Sourdough! They combined home ec, biology and maths lessons, and her class was each making their own sourdough starter at home and reporting on the progress with charts and measurements of actual and projected growth, as well as their families' reviews of the bread they made. (Some results were apparently... Not great? But the quality of the bread obviously had no influence on their grade.) Teachers really did a heck of a job in Lockdown, trying to find ways to teach in an engaging way via webcam. Kudos to all of them!

[@rikkowastaken]

I made a starter a year ago, haven't feed it in 9 months and still in the fridge. Must be an ecosystem there right now.

[@aihwhejskskkksjdjfjncbs]

Or ya know, it could be dead

[@skip123davis]

if it's still alive check your visa bill. it may have achieved sentience, and ordering things online.

[@smievil]

@@skip123davis hate it when that happens

[@lindavolker3692]

Thank you so much for posting a video on this topic! I went to the website to learn more about the project and followed the link to sign up for the "Fermentology mini-seminar series". I've already learned some pretty fascinating facts about fermentation posted from the previous seminars and now I have TWO things to look forward to on Thursdays: Adam's new vid and the weekly Fermentation Seminar.

[@shaquilleoneal117]

I though that capturing wild yeast was digging in my backyard and grinding a rock into a powder or something.

[@harryw.174]

Hey shaq :D

[@thereisonlyone6357]

Salaam Alekum Shaquille!😁

[@corteltube]

I have been making sour dough...I have a great starter...but your video has answered some nagging questions and misconceptions from other videos...thank you. 😌 One thing for sure, once you start making real sour dough goodies, you won’t go back to any other bread. It is labor intensive at first, but gets easier with every loaf.

[@willykanos1044]

I have used sourdough starter for years. I lived in Alaska for a long time. I have also lived in Mexico so I am curious about using corn flour. It's available in several ways. Masa is corn flour that is milled much finer than corn meal. There is also an even finer grind of corn. I have some of both and would like to try them.

[@thereaper2762]

Why has it taken so long for me to find this video? As said, people have been baking bread for thousands of years, with dirty hands and things found in the woods. We don't need all the modern day scientific formulas and scare tactics like in every other video. People either want to make money or don't want you to know their REAL secrets. Just make it easy for everyone! Flour and water, cover but let breathe, room temperature, results may vary but cooking kills all the nasties. Perfect! Thank You so much for this video!

[@BoBoCooking]

i couldnt keep my attention in class for more than 5 minutes.... but I finished watchng your video :D Absolutely love it & great education

[@gagne6928]

Nope! I hate you now

[@guynakash]

I started baking sourdough bread about a year ago, and I used regular all purpose flour for the starter, for the bread itself I use strong bread flour with high protein content but for the actual starter plain white all purpose flour worked just fine. Great video, as usual.

[@usmaniqbal9207]

White Whine Report: There have been no mention of White Wine. Thank you for watching

[@callumsuttie3911]

Usman Iqbal lol

[@PLANDerLinde99]

I don't care. I'll substitute my water for white wine when mixing with the flour

[@UrbanPanic]

Well, if you did this with more water and changed a couple steps this could be considered a wheat wine. In german, wheat (weizen) and white (weiss) sound kinda similar. So, Weizenwein (wheat wine) and Weisswein (white wine) sound similar enough to a non-german speaker that I'll call them the same thing. So, no mention of white wine because he MADE white wine. Just not very good white wine. Which is fine, because you want to use your good wine for drinking, not for cooking.

[@watercressfabrique3333]

I mean, he did mention Hooch!

[@shu830]

Hooch tho

[@ZsOtherBrother]

This is the best and most complete video on sourdough yeast that I've seen so far, thank you.

[@العربي-ظ1غ]

1:51 Adam flexing his yeast packets at us, good god we get it you got yeast ok

[@Solbashio]

Stores near me don't even have dry yeast

[@sazji]

Solbashio I haven’t seen yeast in the stores for ages but decent flour has reappeared. No sign of rye flour anywhere tho!

[@suncopper1841]

Here in Chile we have a lot

[@aviationchannel6204]

I have 3 packets of active dry yeast that's going to last me about a few months, and the supermarket is still selling yeast.

[@lifebeginstoday10]

i started off looking for an easy oatmeal cookie recipe and ended up here. I am so glad I did. I don't know if the sourdough project is still taking samples in the 3rd quarter of 2022. But I am going to review their website and try my hand at making my own starter. Mine will be using flour that is available in The Gambia where I am currently located. Then I will try again when I return home to Michigan next year. It will be interesting to see how different the starter will be using this African Atlantic Ocean water and the Michigan Great Lakes water and the different brands of flour available.

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Incredible video as always; Recommendation: You should make carbonara, one of the best italian dishes ever, i would love to see your take on it.

[@xyzsame4081]

In case another shutdown would ever ration yeast for a short time: Commercially bought yeast can be levelled up. They will tell you to use one whole package per xx amount of flour. Nope, you can use 20 or 10 % of the content (so a tiny quantity) and add it too warm (not hot) water / milk / fluid * - use half a mug or a little more fluid. Then add a few spoons of flour so it will be a runny paste and to really boost the yeast and create ideal conditions you can add a teaspoon of sugar. If you return to the mixture, ideally kept at a warm spot after 30 minutes the yeast has started to multiply and it will soon overtake the number of yeast that was in the original package. That is also a way to work with old yeast that you found in your pantry (it often stays useable for years after the best before date). Or more like: a few survive even though most have died off. I had to repeat that for old (and I mean old) yeast: used a little bit, nothing happened, used some more, in the third round I got to at least a few yeast organisms that could be resurrected. (I was curious, so I did not use the whole package to increase my chances).

[@rayhankhan903]

This is what I'm going to do since all the pet adoption centers around me are closed.

[@KyrieFortune]

Don't shop for yeast, adopt from your local yeast shelter

[@kamo7293]

Sourdough starter really is like a pet

[@ndzd07]

@@kamo7293 Yeah like cats, they sit around all day wasting materials and also like cats they sourdough starter catches bacteria just like cats catch mice. Conclusion: Sourdough starter is a better cat

[@jvallas]

Or a tamagotchi

[@bl6973]

KyrieFortune Don’t support your local PETY shelter. Support an actually no-kill yeast shelter. (PETY stands for people’s ethical treatment of yeast)

[@lilyrowlett5624]

For anyone that finds this, discard tortillas are amazing. Take discard add a bit of oil (1 tablespoon per 1/2c starter) then add enough flour to make a dough. Let rest 10 minutes. Roll out and cook on flat top until middle of bubbles turn brown then flip . I make these every morning. Love the discard more than the actual sourdough bread.

[@wernerlindorfer3693]

I love how she giggles when she says pooping and farting.

[@bruceU]

Scientists are people too and usually dorky people

[@acab9120]

Seamus ah yes gate keeping giggling over something

[@RedRoseSeptember22]

@Seamus Aside from the stuck up ones who act like it's a horrible thing to do and pretend they don't do it themselves lol.

[@nahrafe]

@@bruceU don't forget they're certified nerds

[@rustyschackleford5800]

I think honeybees could be useful. They use lactic acid producing microbes to preserve pollen in the comb. Also, honey contains Saccharomyces cerevisiae, aka yeast. I took some fresh comb from a hive and washed it with water, then used that in a sourdough culture. Don't know if it had any effect but it's probably worth researching. Bees fly all over, picking up microbes from flowers.

[@eliz5950]

Why do I season my yeast, not my bread.

[@manishchavan]

Why do I put a gulg of wine on my tomato plants!

[@שון-ט8ר]

אל תחפור

[@eliz5950]

@@שון-ט8ר לא חופר

[@prateekkarn9277]

@@eliz5950 what language is that

[@eliz5950]

@@prateekkarn9277 hebrew

[@kevinu.k.7042]

This is very good video. Thank you. Industrial baking is now funding research on sourdough. They want so get in on that growing niche. Sour dough starters do not take a week and a half! I have been making and using them for thirty years. What follows in in agreement with the current scientific research and does not contradict anything you have said in your video. Wheat berries have natural yeasts and Lactobacilli on them just the same way that wine grapes do. Wine grapes have different yeasts to those found on grains. Its as if the yeasts on each are hanging around their preferred food wating for a chance. The problem is people try to make a sourdough starter from white flour. Most of the yeasts were on the bran and were mainly removed by bolting, or roller mill separation. The trick is to use wholegrain flour with all of the yeasty bran. Better still use freshly milled wholegrain flour. Because this has not aged and the germ has not yet oxidised and the level of nutrients available to the yeasts is far higher. My starters just get a 50:50 freshly milled wholegrain flour and water and they are ready to use in 48 hours. To get a starter going never add fruit and such those yeasts are different from the ones naturally found on grain. There is far too much rubbish and especial "do precisely this" and "be careful of that" talk about sourdough starters. The challenge would be to stop them developing. As an aside we are so often told that at some point in prehistory someone must have mixed beer into bread and invented the leaven. The archaeologists who dreamt that one up simply knew nothing of baking. It's thought that wheat was first eaten as a kind of porridge and then as a simple flat bread much like a flour and water mix poured onto a hot stone near a fire. Well, mix that flour and water and leave it handy by the warm fire with some left unused until the next day and they had their first leavened breads. Manage the starter in the fridge and there are no discards. Simply get it out the night before the bake feed it and leave it on the side to get going use it the next day and put some 50g of it back in the fridge. Another great video. Thank you.

[@JAEVideogroup]

This is cool! I've always been nervous about making my own starter, but this video and the website have convinced me to give it a shot!

[@gagne6928]

Wimp

[@sazji]

SpookyKabuki Do It! I’d baked for years but always thought maintaining sourdough seemed too much hassle. Then lockdown came and I figured “I have the time, so why not?” And was surprised by how much trouble it’s not. Making the bread is a bit more involved but once you do it a couple times and aren’t willing to screw up (though it’s pretty forgiving) it becomes second nature.

[@Dj992Music]

How did it turn out??

[@spacial2]

Gonna sign up for this project. I make all my own bread and would love to get into this method. Never have I been more happy to be a non-American. I live on S Coast England in a house built 130 years ago and has hosted at least 10 different familys in that time. Anyway, love your channel, not least because it gets me thinking. Which is you think about it, is thinking my way to good health. I think..

[@bilkins9638]

This video is incredibly comprehensive and well developed (or prooved?). Thanks for taking the time to understand all aspects of culinary topics and present unbiased information regarding preferences, techniques, and outcomes. After watching hours of videos on different sourdough starters, this one really helps you understand the underlying mechanics of the starter. It should allow home bakers to nurture a starter more effectively.

[@jasperchristie133]

Erin was one of my professors at Governor’s School! This was a really cool video and now I’m inspired to make a sourdough starter again for science!

[@michaelkpp7285]

"Why I feed my starters not my children" _please come home_

[@kinesslop651]

Haha i once heard about a story like that so.... I can guess yours will end the same too. The father never come back.

[@taustyz5875]

Why I fed my children to the starter

[@jnsnj1]

I had a starter last year that I inoculated with kombucha and fed a mix of whole wheat and milled oatmeal. It started off a little funky but over time had a smell like apple cider, malt, and oatmeal(duh). It was fantastic, especially for making pancakes.

[@jaspervanheycop9722]

11:56 "When's the last time you heard about a major food outbreak from sourdough?" Ergot poisoning. (Also why if you're going to start doing sourdough on the regular DO NOT start with rye)

[@xyzsame4081]

Ergot would also be dangerous when it is not fermented at all. If anything fermentation might break it down (?). And I think these days wheat isn't a source of ergot as it used to be back in the day (depending on weather and growing conditions). but I heard of _organic_ millet having problems (from a certain region because they do not use herbizides, fungicides and the growing conditions were good for ergot). They had to call them back.

[@nycbearff]

I remember reading that the ergot mold didn't grow on flour, but on the grain in the fields, and the ergot was just ground along with the grain. So - you may have no problem at all with using rye flour.

[@bay0r]

i left a sourdough starter unfed for like 6months or so and all that happened was it created a more solid top layer that was coated with alcohol that was also alcohol producing yeast / bacteria. scraped the top of it and fed the starter as usual and it was active again. it stayed at 3°C in the fridge so it was always sleeping while the alcohol layer was protecting the top and I woke them up after a long sleep :)

[@callioscope]

I created a starter in September. With it, I bake: sourdough bread, banana bread (my favorite because it’s not cloyingly sweet), my husband’s super delicious chocolate birthday cake earlier this month, waffles, pancakes, crepes, crackers and coffee cake. I loved creating it, finding just the right ratio of flour and water to feed it, and caring for it. I can’t cook worth a damn and started anxiety baking with the presidential election. If I can do this, anyone can.

[@CarlAlex2]

I am using a 30+ year old sourdough and either I have never fed it or feeding is part of my breadmaking process. When I want to make rye bread I first mix flours, grains and seeds, then mix in water and finally mix in sourdough from last time i baked. Then I let that sit and ferment in a warm place for about 24 hours. When that is done I take some of the dough aside to be used next time. I take about 2 deciliters, put it in a clean glass, put salt on top to protect it from infection, put a lid on that and store it in my fridge. I then add more water and flour to the dough, form the loaves, let them raise in a warm place for about 2 hours and finally bake them. Maybe my initial step does something similar to feeding the starter ? But essentially what I store and use next time is the product of this initial step - dough - not a liquid. I have had it stored (in fridge) up to about 8 weeks between use without it dying or go bad on me. I have had i go berserk in the fridge, push its lid off and invade its sorroundings a few times and very rarely form a very little mold in a spot I must have mised with the salt. When I open the glass I remove the top (salted - and sometimes dry) layer and check the smell - it smells like the smell from a freshly opened bootle of lager. The dough has never gone bad and the bread has never been bad - and the taste doesnt seem sour to me. So do I get away with not feeding my starter or am I just feeding it in an alternative way ?

[@rexnihilum7822]

10:54 "so you see a rapid rise *chuckle* in the rye flour"

[@xyzsame4081]

User +Pete Davis had a very useful suggestion for hommeade "dried" yeast / sourdough as a use of discards. His comment: (you can skip to second paragraph). Actually, you can control the sourness quite a bit. There's not really enough acid in the starter to sour your bread. If you don't do an overnight ferment in the fridge, your dough will have far less sour flavor. Additionally, if you use white flour for your starter (rye & whole wheat = more sour) and if you keep your starter on the wetter side (a little more water than flour), your starter will produce less sour starters. I personally like sour, so I do a full ferment, I use rye for my starter and I keep my starter on the drier side. Also, you can avoid the *whole waste issue of throwing out starter* by using this method. I don't make bread with any regularity and I sometimes leave town for over a month at a time. Far too long to leave a starter sitting, even in the fridge, without feeding. So what I do is I make a regular starter and instead of throwing out the excess, I *spread it out very thin on a cookie sheet and let it dry* through the day. At the end of the day, I scrape it up, throw it in a blender, and pulverize it and put the powder in a large pickle jar I keep in my fridge. Once the jar is full, I stop maintaining a starter. To reconstitute my starter, 2 days prior to baking a loaf, I take a tablespoon of my powdered starter and add 1 tablespoon of flour and 1 tablespoon of water. I do this on an afternoon. I do 2 normal feedings the following day. The day after, it's good to go. Feed it once and when it's ready, make bread. I've made about 40 loaves from the latest batch so far and still have over half my jar of dried starter left. I found the comment in the top thread pinned by AdamRagusea. My 2 cents if would scrape down the cookie sheet, and keep it in the oven (no cleaning, it is not necessary if it is DRY and kept protected from dust IN the cold oven). Once there are enough yeasty scraps I would ground them in one setting and only then I would clean the cookie sheet (or other flat surface) reserved for the job. an old cookie sheet or flat pan could be reserved for it. Or a wooden board. ** I just would not use any metal surface that reacts to acidity and would stay the hell away from aluminium. (Alu and acid = toxicity). I saw a method to get starchy, dried on wood residue from a cutting board. the man (a baker by training) bought a flat "scraper" in the DIY store. the kind which bricklayers and tilers use to apply putty or concrete / mortar. (tile spatula, they come in different widths, and it would be good if it had some edge (or you could sharpen it like a knife. But even a blung edge should work fairly well). Or a ceran field scraper whould work too, they hold razor blades (that baker had a large cutting board to clean, and he did only a dry clean, no washing. But with the scraper he got everything off nicely and w/o hassle.

[@jonathansetzer6456]

I just made a starter! :)

[@incognito253]

I was just gonna say re: the end of this video about mold - once you have a healthy starter it seems like you'd just want to transfer it to a fresh container every now and then, and then if you decide you wanna make a run on some bread, instead of discarding half on a feeding you can just split off half on a feeding and then feed THAT half and use it up for baking!

[@HerpDerpityDude2]

"Without the rise, bread wouldn't have the bubbles or taste as good" *Me: [cackles in Matzo]*

[@hiroyopoetker]

Purely awesome! Sourdough is great and I have a starter thats about a year and half in. My grandma had a 30 year old starter that she recently threw out because she is getting older ( close to 90) and can see as well as she used to. I live in Japan and my grandma is in California. I really wish that when she thew her out I was there to get some. She grew, raised and cared for her starter with bread flour, white bread flour for 30 years or so. My starter is using bread flour mixed with whole wheat flour and I add graham flour which is a mix of the bran and germ and it adds a nice crunch or bite to the bread. My favorite is sourdough pizza! Thank you for the awesome video!

[@xyzsame4081]

One commenter wrote that he or she spreads out the discard thinly and let's it dry (w/o heat of course). And again. You can reserve a cookie sheet for that and keep it in the stove, so no need to clean it every use. Just scrape off what will go off easily. If it is DRY nothing will rot and if kept IN the oven the cookie sheet is safe from getting dusty. Then the dried batch is ground to a powder and kept in a jar. (the comment should be in the first pinned comment thread) or below that, I think the user does a quick activation of the powder and then adds it to dough.

[@hiroyopoetker]

Yes that's how they used to use yeast in the olden days. Dry it out then reactivate it in water, basically a homemade dry yeast. I think you would just need to keep the yeast jerky in cool temps as I think higher temperature would kill the yeast colony.

[@f3wbs]

I’ve used wild yeast for soda and it is quite interesting.

[@jadonlee821]

Nice, what happened tho? Did it explode or....

[@bas3547]

Have used it too, for univeristy

[@freddiebvw113]

It's not soda bread then. It's just sourdough bread

[@f3wbs]

It did about a week in but the bottle was fine.

[@f3wbs]

I mean for actual soda pop. There was wild yeast on my grapes so I just used that.

[@TMatt007]

I've been making and baking sourdough for around 7 years. I don't buy bread any more, I make it. I learn by doing and your video was close to spot on. I found that unbleached flour works best because natural yeast is so fragile that it can't handle the bleached flours. I experimented a lot on what it prefers to eat and found that Rye is it's favorite. I get the starter going with rye if it has sat for a while in the fridge and then transfer to unbleached wheat over a a span of a week. I never bake before 7 "generations" because the flavors are undeveloped. By generations, I mean 7 cycles of dumping half or more and re-feeding. Temperature is the biggest factor in how long this takes. Cold fermentation only adds to the complexity of the taste as you are making the dough for your bread. I have a very personal relationship with my starter. I have used the phase "yeast is ubiquitous" many times in describing the process to others. Thank you for your approach on food, life and what works for you. I find meaning and insight in your methods and presentation. As a journalist and cinematographer, you could branch out into any subject with your same platform. Thanks for your efforts. If anyone is interested in doing sourdough, just put the word out that you need a starter. Any avid home baker would be more than happy to share.

[@samsunnahar6722]

So the "Aroma" of those fancy breads are actually the Farts of the bacteria there? WTF?!

[@junkiejackflash]

Same with Swiss cheese

[@damienthonk1506]

@Seamus That is literally the most disturbing and gross way you could've possibly put that.

[@maxsmith8196]

Seamus not much sex going on with single celled organisms :(

[@robinsss]

@@damienthonk1506 there is no pretty explanation

[@RedRoseSeptember22]

Yep lol XD at least they smell good yeah?

[@dr.feelgood2358]

i use whole wheat flour for the first day, then used unbleached APF for the other 6 days of the week. repeat until its nice and bubbly. i have started refrigerating my starter between feedings..like 3 or 4 days or even 7..and found it to not harm the starter. in fact as soon as it warms to room temp it is very active. i take some off to add to a batch of dough and replace the same amount of flour and water, let it proof for an hour and throw it back in the fridge for another week possibly. if i feed it twice a day the yeast dominates and the bread doesn't taste sour at all. just my experience with my sourdough starter i've been feeding for about 5 months.

[@robinsuj]

This video made me remember to feed my starter (that I started last week, the first one :D)

[@flightffeather]

your production quality has increased so much over the last year it's insane

[@kfgfkhg]

"pooping out, wait no farting out" I don't think that's a technicality that anyone cared about

[@taejaskudva2543]

I dunno - I think this is the phrasing that makes kids and dads think baking is awesome...

[@robinsss]

@Seamus there's just no pretty way to explain it

[@RedRoseSeptember22]

I found it humorous though lol XD reminds me of when Dr. Mike talked about certain bacterias "farting" lol.

[@MagiFeesh]

just as a quick tip for any homebakers who like to make quick breads (yeast) but kinda miss the deep flavor original sourdough brings. Just add a splash of vinegar (one you like) to your commercial yeast dough before kneading, adds a bit of that sour acidic aroma that the usual sourdough would have. Not completely the same thing, but it gives your fast yeast recipe a new layer of flavor,

[@shyasaturtle]

I'm also gonna be naming my starters too.

[@gagne6928]

Can I be your next one my name is Ben Dover

[@riseofthethorax]

I like watching Adams videos, Im not a cook, it just answers some questions I've had like what yeast do, where they come from, etc

[@jurieccilliers]

Is there an update on this study as of July 2024?

[@gaylenanut7035]

There are many recipes on KZbin for sourdough discard from crackers, focaccia bread, to pizza dough. If you were to throw away a half cup starter each day or 60 grams flour, you could make about six (6) loaves a bread a month. Thank you for this informative video.

[@roberthoople]

I am now calling bread: "Structured Microbe Fart Loaf"

[@PriyasKonguNaatuSamayal]

Excellent. I used bread itself instead of yeast when no yeast was available in quarantine. It worked.

[@samdragonborn5864]

I didn’t start dumping out bits of my starter until I realized I needed to control the population 😬 Edit: I started with a small amount, so I never needed to really do it. Cheryl’s fine

[@vizprave6721]

Townsends made a video on this. He talked about the common types of yeast used during the 18th century which are lager yeast, ale yeast and wild yeast and when there was a shortage of ale yeast, the people used to make sourdough bread with wild yeast

[@abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz9102]

Idk why but I just thought of bear Grylls when I saw "wild" and "capture"

[@JohnDlugosz]

Some years ago, I did a careful experiment. One glass of tapwater from the kitchen sink, one glass of bottled spring water. Same amount of yeast and sugar in each glass. Put both glasses in a washbasin half full of tepid water so that the temperature is the same in both glasses. The action of the yeast in the tapwater was pathetic compared with the bottled spring water. Later, in another location, I tested chlorine and found that the amount can be vanishingly small; it varies as necessary to treat the water.

[@ToddHowardWithAGun]

This is a pretty neat project. I was literally just wondering about this myself and what the best way to grow sourdough was.

[@Tomek_i]

Definitely don't call it "Gary", he's a total asshole.

[@nicopinchak9970]

Best sourdough video on KZbin by miles. Thanks!

[@joemiller9522]

Adam: It's easy to make the starter, first you get some flour then stir in some water, then Me: Please don't add white wine

[@brianwilgus8363]

I like using grapes from the vineyard. The "Bloom" on the grapes is wild yeast. The sugar in the grapes helps it get going. It's an all in one package. I just squeeze the grapes over the bowl rinsing the yeast into the bowl with the juice.