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Salt-Rising Bread Yeast

MPCUMMINGS@aol.com
Mon, 11 Oct 1999 13:58:08 EDT
v099.n051.13
I ordered the salt-rising yeast from the Baker's Catalog, and the literature 
that came with it included the following bit of information.
"Speaking of fermentation, be prepared; the starter and dough will smell 
like...dirty socks?  Old sneakers mixed with parmesan cheese?  Something 
somewhat unpleasant, anyway, but please bear with it - it's just the enzymes 
and bacteria doing their jobs and giving the bread its special qualities." 
They also say that the bread is best made over a two to three day period.  I 
made it in two days, and the bread itself turned out looking very good.  
There was just one problem with it.  I couldn't decide whether it smelled 
like dirty socks, or old sneakers mixed with parmesan cheese, or a 
combination of both.  I had been prepared for the smell during the 
fermentation process, but I thought most of it would disperse somewhere along 
the way.  I wasn't prepared to have to clamp a clothespin on my nose to eat 
the bread.  I can report that the bread and the remaining yeast landed with a 
firm thud when they hit the trash can into which I tossed them.
So rturnbull, who asked the question, should check with his father and see if 
this is the way he remembers the bread smelling before spending 2 to 3 days 
making the stuff.