Posted on 08/18/2020 11:02:16 PM PDT by Oshkalaboomboom
The Covid-19 pandemic has tightened our social circles and narrowed the scope of our lives in ways no one imagined just a year ago. But the lockdown also brought an unexpected solace: Everyone, it seems, turned to baking sourdough bread. Social media has been overflowing with photos of frothy sourdough starters — many of them named, like a family pet — and the fresh-baked loaves that result. And though peak sourdough may have passed, many a fridge still contains that jar of starter.
Most home sourdough bakers know that their starter contains a vibrant herd of microbes, which leaven and flavor their bread. But where conventional breads rely on a single species of baker’s yeast — the microbial equivalent of a cattle ranch — sourdough is more like the Serengeti, a diverse ecosystem of interacting yeasts and bacteria. The nature of that ecosystem, and hence the flavor of the bread, is a profound expression of a particular time and place. Scientists are beginning to discover that the microbes in a sourdough depend not just on the native microbial flora of the baker’s house and hands, but also on other factors like the choice of flour, the temperature of the kitchen, and when and how often the starter is fed.
“When we study sourdough science, we learn that we know remarkably little for a technology that’s — what? — 12,000 years old,” says Anne Madden, a microbiologist at North Carolina State University. But even that limited knowledge is enough to cast light on a diverse, tumultuous microbial world — and provide a few hints to home bakers hoping to up their game. (We probably still have plenty of time to be baking, alas.)
(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...
Bookmarked!
Thank you.
LOL! Sad, but true!
Great! Thanks!
The panic caused a shortage of bread flour and yeast. We found some at an Amish Store and rescued a few people.
King Arthur is a great brand of flour and equipment, who cares if they felt they had to kowtow to social pressure? Everyone does.
In all seriousness there was a lot of science going on...
Priests brewing beer has been said to be the start of the scientific method.
I suppose to a point you are correct. So they had a choice. They could have come out with a wishy-washy statement on how they support justice but they try to stay out of politics and left it at that. Instead they proudly donated to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which specializes in branding people or organizations that don't agree with the Democratic Party platform as hate groups. You can support that if you like. I choose not to.
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