Whilst I was researching ginger beer plants, I learned more about microbiology than I expected. A proper ginger beer plant is a symbiotic organism containing a yeast (saccharomyces pyriformis) and a bacteria species (brevibacterium vermiforme) living together in a mutually cooperative culture. That's pretty neat.There are other symbiotic microorganisms which humans make use of. For example sourdough bread is made with a "starter" which contains wild yeasts and lactobacteria, instead of shop-bought yeast. Just like the ginger beer plant, you keep your starter and feed it so it grows. When it has doubled in size you can take part of it to leaven some bread. As well as making the bread rise, the starter gives the bread a unique tangy taste.
As far as I know, there is only one authentic ginger beer plant. But there are many sourdough starters, with different qualities. I am trying to get hold of a couple to compare them, but I may try to make my own from scratch later today. Watch this space.
5 comments:
It's been years since I last played with sourdough cultures! Remeber 'Biohazard'?
ISTR the rec.foods.sourdough starter doctor FAQ is a great place to get started - describing how your starter should look and behave in order to be stable enough to bake bread from, and what to do about it if it is not.
It may be a little too late in the year now to easily start a new culture from airbourne yeasts and bacilli though. Good luck!
According to the FAQ the yests and bacilli come from the flour anyway, not the air. Temperature is the critical thing that may depend on the time of year, but in a centrally-heated house I have no trouble raising bread at any time of year so I think that won't be a problem.
Speaking of the ginger beer plant, I went to our local home brewing store looking for sources. The owner had absolutely no idea was a ginger beer plant was. I told him to google it!
So, still on the hunt for my own symbiotic organism here...
How funny, I almost mentioned sourdough when commenting on the soda bread. I haven't made it for a while (years?), but here's the starter method I used, taken from The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn. (Oh, it does use yeast! Here it is anyway.):
1 tablespoon yeast
2 cups chlorine-free water (don't know if they chlorinate your tap water in the UK, but if so, just put some in an open jar or jug and let it sit out for a couple days.)
2 cups white flour
Combine in a non-metal container. Cover loosely with plastic wrap (? may be able to use something else since it is "loosely"), and let sit at room temp for at least 48 hours. Cover and refrigerate. If it turns any kind of strange color at any point, throw it out. I never had this problem.
Let me know if you want the whole bread recipe. The procedure is rather long, but simple overall.
My sourdough starter is 12, or maybe 13, years old and still going strong. It gets fed every day, but I haven't gone so far as to name it yet...
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