[NTLK] QuickFigure / Spreadsheet questions (OT)

[Mike Rodgers]

I do have a recipe for creating a starter and using that.  And I have 
done this successfully in the past year.  However, the recipes are more 
complex, take longer, and no 2 authors can agree as to the consistency 
of the starter.  This is called sourdough and personally I do not feel 
that the taste difference between home cultivated yeast and purchased 
yeast justifies the work.  With store bought yeast I can still create 
multi-stage breads requiring long slow rises.  Making it in winter 
requires a proofing bin where I can regulate the temperature.  My normal 
house temperature in winter (65) is a mite too cool for most 
breadmaking.  And you have to feed starters routinely to keep them 
alive.  If you do not bake every couple of days, you toss out part.  
Thus, more waste.

I guess I just ain't a sourdough kind of guy.
Mike

Jim Lee wrote:
> On Jan 31, 2010, at 9:28 AM, Mike Rodgers wrote:
>
>   
>> I go through about 2 lbs of yeast a year making bread.  If I bought  
>> the
>> little packages sold in the stores, I'd go broke.  [...]
>>     
>
> Just out of curiosity, why do you buy yeast at all?  I have a friend  
> who is a breadmaker, and she hasn't bought yeast since the early  
> 1970's.  She keeps it going perpetually from the original batch, and  
> it keeps getting better over time.
>
> I thought all breadmakers did that, but I must be wrong...
>
>