Later today I am guest-lecturing for Dr. Don Pfister’s Harvard College mycology class, one I took myself back when I was one of his graduate students. He asked me to speak to the class about the Quarantinystarter project, sourdough starters, and sourdough microbiology. Seeing as I had to brush up on the details around all that stuff for the lecture, I figured now would be a good time to also write something up for all of you. Apologies in advance for the technical nature of this post, but there’s no way to further simplify what is a complex subject (and trust me, what follows is actually a
I really appreciate this in-depth explanation of what's actually going on with the sourdough culture! I do have an extremely silly, perhaps nitpicky question: A lot of bakers/recipe developers will refer to their sourdough loaves as "naturally leavened." I understand this is to distinguish that there is no added commercial yeast in the loaves, but my semantic side takes over and wonders what about a yeast-raised loaf is not "natural"?
Just double checking... I've always heard that as a rough rule of thumb, drier sourdough doughs favor acetic acid production, and higher hydration favors lactic. Your post says the opposite. Was that a typo, or do you stand by that?
I really appreciate this in-depth explanation of what's actually going on with the sourdough culture! I do have an extremely silly, perhaps nitpicky question: A lot of bakers/recipe developers will refer to their sourdough loaves as "naturally leavened." I understand this is to distinguish that there is no added commercial yeast in the loaves, but my semantic side takes over and wonders what about a yeast-raised loaf is not "natural"?
Great stuff!
Just double checking... I've always heard that as a rough rule of thumb, drier sourdough doughs favor acetic acid production, and higher hydration favors lactic. Your post says the opposite. Was that a typo, or do you stand by that?
Thanks,
Allen