WRK wrote:
> The initial inoculation in Dick's recipe was 30g in 705g+ water/ flour
> slurry or slightly less than 5% (See note below.). I assume that the
> Russian culture is still predominate in this starter and won any
> culture war with organisms contained in the ground organic rye.
>
> Question 1: Is this assumption valid?
Probably. The concentration of organisms in the culture is much higher
than in the flour. If the culture you used to inoculate the rye is
weak, then things could change.
> Question 2: If question one is indeed valid and my rye starter (used
> to inoculate the stiff, slow, 72-hour starter) is predominantly a rye,
> Russian culture then what would be the effect of using my OSF culture
> in the second, fresher thinner starter? Let the culture war begin <g>.
Who knows? I think you are introducing too many variables to make the
bread reproducible. Since we don't know what critters are in either
culture, and we don't know how they interact, it is hard to predict what
would happen. I'd guess the faster/healthier culture would tend to
dominate the bread, up to the point where it is baked.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Note: This should be the subject of a whole, separate thread. If one
> does the math one discovers that both Ed Wood's washing technique
> at http://www.sourdo.com/recipies.html and the one recommended
> in http://tinyurl.com/lxjxn {thanks again Dick} net a 5% inoculation
> to re-grow the culture. A main difference is Ed Wood recommends
> stirring the hooch back into the neglected culture, the later removes
> a 1 tablespoon sample from the center of the settled, neglected
> culture. Thus, the latter technique assumes that there are no living,
> desirable organisms contained in the hooch. Perhaps someone can
> empirically confirm that premise. Until then, I continue to
> personally prefer Ed Wood's method.
I think that the hootch is poured off not so much because it doesn't
have any viable organisms in it, but because it does have an unhealthy
concentration of metabolic wastes. If your culture is neglected, it is
probably better to pour off the hooch and replacing it with the water
you usually maintain your starter with.

I usually draw the line at an inch of hooch. If it's less, I stir it
in; if it's more, I pour it off. However, since I've maintained my
starter at around 60% hydration, hooch has stopped being an issue.


Mike


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