DIVING INTO MY RISING EXPERIMENTS AND THE BREADS BEHIND THE CULTURES THAT BROUGHT US PEACHES AND LEMONS
THE END OF A YEASTY JOURNEY (SEPTEMBER 14TH-21ST, 2020):
The last week of growing my sourdough starters was a journey in its own way, but not because there were any real challenges. In fact, all of my sourdough starters this week were still consistent with the results of last week (they were all brownish-white in color, they all smelled fermented (yeasty), and they each rose every day).
The most adventurous part of this week was the fact that I made a second batch of each of the sourdough starters by taking out a scoop from the old starter (as I usually do each time I feed them) and then putting them each in their own new cup. I then fed them, alongside my original starters, with 1.5 scoops of flour and 1 scoop of water for a span of three days (I started on Friday, September 11th, 2020 and finished at 12:48 AM on Monday, September 14th, 2020).
On Monday, September 14th, 2020, I put three to four scoops of each of my new starters in plastic bags and labelled them with "control", "peach 1.1", and "lemon 1.2". I then took a bus over to Thomas Hall, where I dropped off my bags for DNA sequencing.
A Double-Up of Sourdough - This photo was taken on Day 18, September 14th, 2020 at 12:48 AM. From left to right, you can see (1) peach 1.1, (2) lemon 1.2, and (3) control 1. This was once I had fed my starters and was just about to put them in bags to turn in for DNA sequencing.
While making a double batch of sourdough starters took a little extra time than usual, the overall process of making them and getting them to where they needed to be went extraordinarily smoothly.
THE FIRST ATTEMPT AT A RISING RATE EXPERIMENT:
I attempted the rising rate experiment a total of two times. The first time, I only got one data point in which case my starter had already reached "high tide" (the highest point in which it would rise). I decided to perform the experiment again, but this time, I slightly changed some of the procedures (with approval). For instance, the first time I only fed the starters 1.5 cups of flour and measured it (in centimeters) approximately every three hours. The second time, I fed the starters 2 cups of flour and measured it approximately every one-and-a-half hours.
The results of my first rising experiment were as follows:
Control 1:
September 14th, 2020
4:14 PM (0 minutes) - 1.6 cm
7:16 PM (183 minutes) - 3.2 cm
10:55 PM (401 minutes) - 3.9 cm
September 15th, 2020
1:58 AM (584 minutes) - 3.5 cm
2:18 PM (1324 minutes) - 1.6 cm
Peach 1.1:
September 14th, 2020
4:14 PM (0 minutes) - 1.8 cm
7:16 PM (183 minutes) - 3.7 cm
10:55 PM (401 minutes) - 4.3 cm
September 15th, 2020
1:58 AM (584 minutes) - 3.9 cm
2:18 PM (1324 minutes) - 1.8 cm
Lemon 1.2:
September 14th, 2020
4:14 PM (0 minutes) - 1.9 cm
7:16 PM (183 minutes) - 3.9 cm
10:55 PM (401 minutes) - 4.2 cm
September 15th, 2020
1:58 AM (584 minutes) - 4.2 cm
2:18 PM (1324 minutes) - 1.9 cm
And the results of my second rising experiment were as follows:
Control 1:
September, 20th, 2020
4:15 PM (0 min) - 1.9 cm
6:15 PM (90 min) - 3.1 cm
8:15 PM (180 min) - 4.2 cm
10:15 PM (270 min) - 4.2 cm
September 21st, 2020
12:15 AM (360 min) - 4.6 cm
[STARTER STOPPED RISING]
Peach 1.1:
September, 20th, 2020
4:15 PM (0 min) - 2.3 cm
6:15 PM (90 min) - 3.2 cm
8:15 PM (180 min) - 5.1 cm
[STARTER STOPPED RISING]
10:15 PM (270 min) - 5.1 cm
September 21st, 2020
12:15 AM (360 min) - 5.1 cm
Lemon 1.2:
September, 20th, 2020
4:15 PM (0 min) - 2.4 cm
6:15 PM (90 min) - 4.2 cm
8:15 PM (180 min) - 6.1 cm
[STARTER STOPPED RISING]
10:15 PM (270 min) - 6.1 cm
September 21st, 2020
12:15 AM (360 min) - 6.1 cm
As you can see, the high tides for my second experiment were 4.6 cm for my control, 5.1 cm for peach 1.1, and 6.1 cm for lemon 1.2. The graphs for the rising rate experiment will be posted on my partner's blog, which can be found here.
The second time success - This photo was taken on September 20th, 2020 at 4:10 PM. There were more data points in this retry of the experiment due to increasing the amount of flour fed to the starters and increasing the amount of time I was checking the starters after I started the experiment (approximately every one-and-a-half hours).
THE BREAD BEHIND THE CULTURES OF LEMON AND PEACH:
In my previous blog post, I explored the fact that the peach is native to northwest China and the peach blossom has played a very significant role in Chinese culture. For this week's blog post, I did some research to see what I could find about bread in terms of its role in Chinese culture and I found a decent amount on the topic.
According to an article I read, bread is very abundant in China. In the words of Eloise Basuki, "the story of Chinese bread begins in the Han Dynasty, about 1500 years ago when rotary stone mills became popular across the country".
The article then goes on to discuss the different types of breads made, starting with mantou (one of the first breads that was made in the rotary stone mills). When I read on, I learned that mantou, also referred to as steamed buns, is a bread that is made with yeast.
After reading more about the texture of sourdough and the texture of mantou, I quickly learned that the textures are very different. While mantou is described as being "soft" and "fluffy", sourdough is described as being "chewy", "crisp", and "crackly".
Mantou - Above is a picture of mantou from the Red House Spice website.
As a recall from last week's blog post, I wasn't able to find much about the origin story of lemons or where they have the most culturally significant impact today (since they are used all around the world). However, I did state that scientists believed that it probably originated in northwestern India. With this being said, I decided to use the Internet to travel to India and learn more about some of their traditional breads/bread-like products.
One example of a bread that is made in India is baati. After looking up the recipe of baati, I quickly learned that they require wheat flour, thymol seeds, salt, melted ghee (an equivalent to butter), and baking powder. Since baati doesn't really rise, but rather they are cooked to look like the dough balls in which you form them into, they don't require any yeasts or any other microbes from what I could find.
The texture of baatis is similar to sourdough, in the sense that they are described as "hard" in texture, which is similar to the sourdough description of being "crackly". From these descriptions, it seems as though the sourdough is just slightly softer in texture than the baatis.
Baati - Above is a picture of baati from the Enhance Your Palate website.
TO BE CONTINUED...
In conclusion, I have reached the end of my sourdough starter journey. I turned in samples of each of my starters for DNA sequencing and I completed the rising rate experiment (twice). However, even though I'm finished with my starters, I still have a lot to learn about the genetics and history behind yeast/bread. For instance, this week I learned about the cultural impact of bread and the breads grown in China, where peaches are native, and India, where lemons are believed to have originated from.
REFERENCES:
https://www.sbs.com.au/food/article/2017/04/30/beyond-pork-floss-buns-chinas-traditional-breads-need-your-attention
https://www.theclevercarrot.com/2014/01/sourdough-bread-a-beginners-guide/
https://www.thebetterindia.com/72665/traditional-indian-breads/
https://www.enhanceyourpalate.com/bati/
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