Sourdough starter cheat?

Been a while since I made any sourdough bread and wanted to try and get my starter up quickly so I'm going to cheat. Used a tiny amount of commercial dry yeast to try and get it going. Used at most a dozen grains into 2 table spoons of organic whole wheat flour + water. It took right off and I was discarding and feeding within the first 12 hours. Now the question is will the wild yeast on the whole wheat flour get going and make a real sourdough starter or will it stay off? Should be interesting. If it does not work I will try the pineapple juice trick and maybe some cumin. Wish I could find some rye flour as it has worked the best for me in the past.

Will post follow up on how it goes, Dale

I've used pieces of blackberry bush brambles to make a sourdough starter. Not sure about using commercial yeast.

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Originally Posted by randyt

I've used pieces of blackberry bush brambles to make a sourdough starter. Not sure about using commercial yeast.

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Interesting, I have not heard of that one before. In the past I have had good success using rye flour. Last time I was in Whole Foods they had a large whole grain section. If my starter fails I think I will run by Whole Foods and get some rye grain and grind it myself. It (whole grain) also makes a nice addition to oatmeal. Roast it in a cast iron skillet over med or a bit more heat till it browns. Amazing taste.

Wild fruits are one of the best sources of yeast cultures, grapes and apples especially with most of the berries coming in close.

The wild yeast saturates the fruits for their sugars, which is why we have drunk deer in the orchards and experienced the invention of wine early on in human history.

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Originally Posted by kyratshooter

Wild fruits are one of the best sources of yeast cultures, grapes and apples especially with most of the berries coming in close.

The wild yeast saturates the fruits for their sugars, which is why we have drunk deer in the orchards and experienced the invention of wine early on in human history.

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I always thought the grain itself had the yeast on it but the fruit makes sense. Might have to try using some if my first or second batch do not go. So far the first batch has lot's of rise but smells bland. Decided to try a second batch using what I already had. Just organic whole wheat flour, water and a pinch of cumin. The cumin is suppose to suppress bacterial and has some of it's own yeast on it. We will see.

Yeast naturally occurs in the air and settles on just about everything. It then grows on any medium that is conducive such as fruits and grains. Every region has its own version of yeast. That's one of they reasons you have so many different flavor of breads.

The second batch is already showing signs of life, had some bubbles in it this morning. Hope it goes.

It's not "cheating". It's available, so use it to start, then keep it going. It's of a known quality, so you won't get something nasty.

I made a 11 bottles of formaldehyde from strawberries using the "natural" yeasts.

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." You have access to good bread yeast. Use it.

I'd try other stuff, too, but do it in parallel so, if they fail, you still have some good bread to console yourself with.

I have to second John Lee.

As soon as humans settled down and learned to brew beer they discovered that the liquid from the brew made bread rise and they used it daily.

You can sort of note that cultures of today have two types of bread, risen breads and flat-breads. Much of that is due to having a wine or beer history or a non-brewing history.

Cultivating good yeast cultures was essential for both staple daily food and stored calories in the beer.

Update - batch two looks to be going very well. Has a nice brew smell and it doubles in about 2 hours. I have batch one parked in the refrigerator for now. It would double in about 1/2 hour but it still has not developed a good brew like smell. Might be able to make some bread with batch two this weekend.

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2 ND update - I now have batch 2 parked in the refrigerator and took batch 1 out. It is starting to smell brewy so I fed it and may try using it for bread in a few days depending on how it does.

Sounds as if you'll soon be eating some very good bread, biscuits, and pancakes.

S.M.