The Starter for Pivotal Sourdough...
A unit of Lasting
Forests
Sustained forests; sustained profits
evolving since March 30,
1999
Project Pivotal-Rig
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The Starter for Pivotal Sourdough... |
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As you may know, a "start" is about a half-cup of plain wheat flour full of wild yeast. The yeast allowed the miners, hunters, and settlers to bake tasty bread when there was no baking soda in the wilds. The people who made sourdough bread were eventually called "sourdoughs", the hardworking people of the wildlands and the American frontiers. Two distinctive flavors are available ...
Sourdough hotcakes, the main breakfast of prospectors, miners, and old-time Alaskans, differ from other hotcakes in that the batter is leavened with a yeast starter and soda. The starter must be set the night before it is to be used. The starter, replenished every week with flour and water, will last weeks, even years. Some Alaskans are still using starters traced back to an original starter brought into the country with the gold rush. To them, the sourdough pot is a prized possession.
The starter is used mainly for hotcakes, but may also be used for waffles, muffins, and bread. Sourdough hotcakes are tender and moist, not thick and fluffy. The bread is apt to be heavy, but keeps moist for a long time. It molds easily.
In 1890, an Alaskan prospector married an Indian girl. They started a sourdough pot and kept the starter going by using it regularly. When the wife died and the husband be-came i1l he refused to go to the hospital if it meant leaving his sourdough pot. It was given to a friend to guard. She kept her promise and used the starter once a week. From this good starter with its clean aroma and flavor, she has given starters to countless other Alaskans. That tradition is being repeated in the Eagan Mountain region.
One old sourdough warns: If the starter turns orange it is not spoiled, but if it turns green, it must be discarded. Modern Alaskans do not use discolored starters, but keep the starter clean and fresh in a refrigerator or other cool place and use it weekly. For best results, use glass or pottery containers. Never use a metal container or leave a metal spoon in the starter. A good starter contains only flour, water, and yeast. It has a clean sour milk odor. The liquid will separate from the batter when it stands several days, but this does not matter. If it is replenished every few days with a little flour and water, the starter keeps fresh. If the starter is not to be used for several weeks, freeze or dry it to keep it from spoiling. To carry it to camp, add enough flour to shape it into a ball and place it in a sack of flour.
In the dried form, the yeast goes into a spore stage that will keep inert for a long time like old-fashioned yeast foam. Water and warmth bring the yeast plants back to the active stage. Commercial sourdough starters now on the market are dried and powdered. Simply add water to bring it to fife. In growing, the yeast gives off carbon dioxide gas that bubbles in the dough. The starch and sugar are changed to lactic acid, giving the dough a sour odor. When soda is added, it reacts with the acid to form more gas, which makes the batter light. If too much soda is added, the product becomes brownish when baked. If too little soda is used, the product tastes sour. Add soda just before baking, but never add soda to the starter since it kills the yeast.
A True Story
Here is a true story that's hard to believe but it is part of the Ranging story, one about care of the essential small things, all of them, over long periods.
Sometime before 1952 a graduate student of Professor Lee Sharp of the range management department of the University of Idaho, Moscow, brought to him a sourdough "start" from Alaska. Dr. Sharp kept that sourdough "going" (replenishing it after each use [see the instructions] and keeping it in the refrigerator). He gave a start to Dr. Bob Giles in 1968 when Bob left the University of Idaho to start teaching and doing research at Virginia Tech. Bob 'raised two girls' on the sourdough and shared it with friends and parents in Blacksburg and Lynchburg, Virginia, his home place. In 2002 shared his start with Ranging for the people of Roanoke and the region where it became popular.
In 1997 Bob's 87-year old mother, Anna Trevey, and her friends began experimenting with the sourdough. They were an energetic, creative little group who enjoyed each other's company. One of them, Mary Lenker, was a dietician, and all knew their way around the kitchen. They all knew what they liked and didn't like about pancakes, waffles, rolls, and 'breads for walks'-- backpacker stuff. (They especially like the sourdough waffles.) They got help from Margaret Gilecki, Bob's daughter, who had a degree in food sciences. They developed recipes (the three below are from an Alaska Extension Service leaflet) and are now working on a book of recipes for two new pure strains of wild yeasts. These sourdough starts were collected from the wilds of the region where farmers, woodcutters, and backcountry people once cooked their breads.
One start, the original, is called the Alaskan.
The Wilderness is a sourdough strain collected near an ancient forest.
Each strain of sourdough imparts a slightly different taste to food. Each one is more or less 'powerful' in its ability to cause bread to rise. Commercial yeasts have been selected for their ability to reproduce and to produce the carbon dioxide gas that causes the bubbles to form in dough. The wild yeasts of Pivotal-Rig, Inc. were selected only for their differences and because they are part of the biosphere. They are a resource that can be used and one that has special value to each person. The value of a start comes from its history, from how people see themselves as part of that history, but especially from how they see their future and that of their Pivotal sourdough start. Will it be passed on to future generations as the Alaskan start was?
Hotcakes for Three (use the Pivotal Starter only for the first batch) Mix:
Set in a warm place in a closed cupboard overnight. In the morning, take out 1/4 cup of the batter and put it back into the starter container (a small jar or plastic refrigerator storage jar with lid) or in a scalded pint fruit jar. Cover and store in the refrigerator or cool place for a starter for the next batch. To the remaining batter add:
Beat with a fork and stir in 2 tablespoons melted fat or butter. If batter is too thick, add a tablespoon of milk, enough to make a batter that will pour. Bake on a hot griddle; brown nicely on both sides. Serve hot off the griddle with molasses, jelly or your favorite syrup. Hot melted butter and honey is also a good topping.
Never add leftover batter to the starter. Use it for muffins or keep until the next morning. It will not spoil in a day, but would eventually spoil the starter.
For variations, add a little whole-wheat flour or cornmeal to the batter after starter has been saved out for the next batch. Wheat germ and bran flakes are also nice variations.
Sourdough Waffles (a favorite of Bob's mother):
Mix the sponge as for hotcakes, making it slightly thicker. Let stand over-night. Save out 1/2 cup of starter for next starter and keep in a cool place. To remaining batter sprinkle:
Mix well and add fat just before baking. Bake like other waffles.
Sourdough Muffins
In the evening, set the sponge as for hotcakes. In the morning, take out 1/4 cup for next starter and place in a cool place. To the remaining sponge, add:
Sift dry ingredients into a bowl. Make a "well" in the center of it. Mix eggs and fat with the sponge in the well. Stir only enough to moisten the flour. Fill greased muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake in a 375-degree F oven for 30-35 minutes. (Yields 20 small or 12 large muffins.)
We welcome your comments, advice, and recipes. A website for outdoor cooks and old sourdoughs to share their recipes and experiences will soon be available.
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This Web site is maintained by R. H. Giles, Jr.
Last revision June 10,
2002.