erica

So, I've been experimenting with trying to capture wild yeast in the house.  I've done some reading about it, and ever since I first heard about doing it I've been curious.  It's funny;  there is quite a lot of information out there - and most people seem to think they have the right idea, so it's hard to figure out what actually might work.  When starting this whole thing I decided it was going to be more of a science experiment, for my own enjoyment really, and I wasn't going to get to stressed about the results.  It's Day 7 since Erica joined us, and so far so good.  I find the whole thing very bizarre and intriguing - a live thing growing on the window seat, feeding her, smelling her, stirring air into her.  It's an unusual project for me.

She looked like she did some crazy 'peaking' about Day 3, and I was hoping by the time I got around to baking with her on Saturday, that she wouldn't have lost her luster.  She looked a lot different by then - she wasn't about ready to creep out of the jar, which, when it happened, terrified and thrilled me to no end, but she was still smelling pretty 'yeasty' and also looking pretty bubbly and frothy - so I decided to give it a go.

I mixed up a sponge with a generous scoop of Erica and let it sit overnight.  I finished it off on Sunday with two more risings.  Ty and I had the results for dinner.  It was pretty great.  I was very pleased.  The bread didn't come out looking exactly like I wanted, but it tasted really nice, so that made me happy.  I'm hopeful that I can continue keeping Erica alive, and also start a couple other ones, using different methods and see what happens.  The thing that made me most giddy I think, was that there were yeast spores in our house!  And that these specific spores will make our bread taste differently than any other spores could......kinda cool.