The Sourdough Project: Week 4 – GN 312 Sourdough Project: Zoe Tyree

Difficulties

This week I ran into a ton of difficulties. Firstly, my starters would not thicken up even as I added two scoops of flour. This means that my starters are unable to be sequenced and I could not perform the rising rate experiment on my own. Next, fruit flies got into my control starter and I had to try and remove them from the starter. This caused me to remove some of the starter as well, which I counted as the scoop of starter that needed to be removed. For the grand finale, while I was traveling back to my parent’s house to visit, I spilled the control starter all over the floorboard of my car while trying to take it inside. My poor control starter really struggled this week, but at least I was able to remove it from my car.

Rising Rate Experiment

Since my starters were too runny to perform the rising rate experiment, I used data from Rainy Williams. I cannot list a link to her blog post as she did not post it in the spreadsheet, but her email address is rmwill23@ncsu.edu. Her starter was a control starter, a lime starter, and a plantain starter. I completed the two graphs for the experiment, which you can find in the link below.
Rising Rate Experiment Graphs

Blackberries and Bread

Because blackberries are found around the globe, I will be focusing on the Ancient Greeks who used blackberries as a remedy for Gout. Ancient Greeks used flour imported from Egypt and kneaded their dough with their feet, a tradition also imported from Egypt. The three main types of bread used during this time were leavened bread and unleavened bread. Leavened bread was made with flour, water, and yeast while unleavened bread was made from just flour and water. Therefore, the Greeks used yeast to form their bread either by adding it directly or by using the yeast found within flour, like in the process of making sourdough bread.

Starter Chart

Date and Time	Control Starter	Blackberry Starter
9/12/20 2:00 am	Taller than previously, most likely due to added flour Does not have a layer of hooch Smells like bread Consistency is in between dough and batter	Taller than previously, most likely due to added flour Does not have a layer of hooch Smells like beer Consistency is in between dough and batter
9/12/20 2:50 pm	Blackberry starter is now taller than the control starter Smells like bread Does not have a layer of hooch Thicker in consistency than yesterday but still not doughlike	Blackberry starter is now taller than the control starter Smells like beer Does not have a layer of hooch Thicker in consistency than yesterday but still not doughlike
9/13/20 1:47 am	Blackberry starter is still taller than the control Smells like bread Still not the consistency of dough	Blackberry starter is still taller than the control Smells like beer Still not the consistency of dough
9/13/20 12:46 pm	Same consistency Smells like beer	Same consistency Smells like beer
9/14/20 2:34 am	Same consistency Smells like yeast	Same consistency Still smells like beer, but the scent is now a little sourer
9/14/20 2:23 pm	Has become slightly thicker in consistency but is still too runny to send in a sample Still smells like yeast	Has become slightly thicker in consistency but is still too runny to send in a sample Still smells like beer
9/15/20 2:04 am	Is progressively getting thicker with the addition of flour, but is still too runny Smells like beer	Is progressively getting thicker with the addition of flour, but is still too runny Smells like beer
9/15/20 2:51 pm	Still in between doughlike and batterlike consistency Smells like sour cream	Still in between doughlike and batterlike consistency Smells like sour cream
9/16/20 1:51 am	Same consistency Smells like sour cream, but is a bit sourer than the blackberry starter	Same consistency Smells like sour cream, but is a bit sourer than the blackberry starter
9/16/20 2:11pm	Fruit flies that have been on the lid this week, found a rip in the paper towel and got into the control starter. I fished them out with a spoon and counted that as removing a scoop from the starter. I also replaced the paper towel Same consistency Smells like bread	Same consistency Smells like bread Replaced the paper towel to prevent fruit flies from coming in
9/17/20 3:01 am	Same consistency A film has formed on top of the control starter Smells like bread	Same consistency Smells like glue or builder’s putty
9/17/20 1:44 pm	Consistency has gotten thinner Smells like bread	Consistency has gotten thinner Smells like glue
9/18/20 1:45 am (Final Day)	I spilled half of the control starter in the front of my car as I was traveling to my parent’s house I tried to add extra scoops of flour to compensate for the loss Smells like bread	Smells like glue Is not all over my car 🙂

Citations

https://fournosveneti.gr/en/the-history-of-bread/#:~:text=Amongst%20different%20bread%20types%20produced,wheat)%2C%20and%20so%20forth.