Hunting the Wild Yeast-Beast
It's easy to buy domesticated yeast; it gives a nice flavor and very consistent results in everything from bread to beer. But predictable can be boring, and it offers only a tiny sliver of the taste range available. Those flavors can include floral, fruity, musky, pungent, and boozy notes. I've had wild-grape sourdoughs that tasted of grapes or beer.
Enter the wild yeast-beast. It roams the world in vast, invisible herds that flock to certain things like flowers and fruit. If you know its habits, you can attract it into a starter and make magically delicious things with it. In autumn, many fruits ripen, so if you like baiting yeast with fruit, now is an ideal time.
https://food52.com/blog/16792-the-wonderful-woolly-world-of-wild-yeast-and-how-to-catch-your-own
https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/fermenting/wild-yeast-zmaz80sozraw
https://insteading.com/blog/wild-yeast/
You can add all sorts of interesting things to your starter. Choosing different ingredients can influence the particular type of yeast it attracts, and thus the flavors you get.
Dried fruit
https://nourishedkitchen.com/wild-yeast/
Raisins
https://www.mashed.com/205120/how-to-make-your-own-yeast-using-raisins/
Fresh wild grapes
https://www.rebootedmom.com/grape-sourdough-starter-recipe/
Fresh organic apple
https://homesteadandchill.com/make-your-own-sourdough-starter/
Apple cider vinegar
https://nanasbestrecipes.com/sourdough-starter-2-quick/
Boiled potato water
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/24937/sourdough-starter-iv/
Sauerkraut juice
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/40407/making-sourdough-starter-sauerkraut-juice
Grapes, rhubarb, or beets
https://www.hellovictoriablog.com/2018/02/13/making-sourdough-starter/
Beer
https://www.bigoven.com/recipe/beer-sourdough-starter/36463
Yogurt
https://www.food.com/recipe/foolproof-sourdough-starter-137811
Note: If you are Pagan, work magic or prayers to entice a delicious yeast. This has worked for thousands of years.
And of course, once you have it going, you need things to do with sourdough:
https://truesourdough.com/16-inventive-ways-to-use-up-sourdough-discard/
If you are fond of kitchen science, you can do many fun experiments with wild yeast just by varying the starter and comparing results. I will warn you that consistency is very difficult to achieve -- you are, after all, herding wild invisible beasties so whimsical that people responded by domesticating the lazier ones long ago. But it's so interesting. Wild thing out of the wild woods, come into the kitchen ...
Enter the wild yeast-beast. It roams the world in vast, invisible herds that flock to certain things like flowers and fruit. If you know its habits, you can attract it into a starter and make magically delicious things with it. In autumn, many fruits ripen, so if you like baiting yeast with fruit, now is an ideal time.
https://food52.com/blog/16792-the-wonderful-woolly-world-of-wild-yeast-and-how-to-catch-your-own
https://www.motherearthnews.com/real-food/fermenting/wild-yeast-zmaz80sozraw
https://insteading.com/blog/wild-yeast/
You can add all sorts of interesting things to your starter. Choosing different ingredients can influence the particular type of yeast it attracts, and thus the flavors you get.
Dried fruit
https://nourishedkitchen.com/wild-yeast/
Raisins
https://www.mashed.com/205120/how-to-make-your-own-yeast-using-raisins/
Fresh wild grapes
https://www.rebootedmom.com/grape-sourdough-starter-recipe/
Fresh organic apple
https://homesteadandchill.com/make-your-own-sourdough-starter/
Apple cider vinegar
https://nanasbestrecipes.com/sourdough-starter-2-quick/
Boiled potato water
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/24937/sourdough-starter-iv/
Sauerkraut juice
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/40407/making-sourdough-starter-sauerkraut-juice
Grapes, rhubarb, or beets
https://www.hellovictoriablog.com/2018/02/13/making-sourdough-starter/
Beer
https://www.bigoven.com/recipe/beer-sourdough-starter/36463
Yogurt
https://www.food.com/recipe/foolproof-sourdough-starter-137811
Note: If you are Pagan, work magic or prayers to entice a delicious yeast. This has worked for thousands of years.
And of course, once you have it going, you need things to do with sourdough:
https://truesourdough.com/16-inventive-ways-to-use-up-sourdough-discard/
If you are fond of kitchen science, you can do many fun experiments with wild yeast just by varying the starter and comparing results. I will warn you that consistency is very difficult to achieve -- you are, after all, herding wild invisible beasties so whimsical that people responded by domesticating the lazier ones long ago. But it's so interesting. Wild thing out of the wild woods, come into the kitchen ...