Wild Yeast

What was your latest baking experiment gone right? Here’s mine:

2 pm: I remembered to take the pork out of the freezer yesterday. I remembered to start slow-cooking it early this morning. I’m starting the sandwich rolls so they’ll be fresh out of the oven when the pork is done… Doh! I’ve forgotten to make the prefermented dough.

There’s no time to make a preferment now. I have my sourdough starter, but only about 60 grams of it, not enough to make true sourdough rolls. OK, it’s not a mega-disaster in the scheme of things. With what will (hopefully) be a super-flavorful pulled pork on top of them, a straight-dough roll will be just fine. Sure to top store-bought, anyway.

But I’m feeling experimental. I’ve been saving the toss-off from a few days’ worth of sourdough feedings. I have a couple hundred grams of it in the refrigerator, waiting to be used in pancakes, or maybe destined for the compost bin. Those wild yeast have been languishing, close to death, and will not be very effective as little fermenting machines in my dough. But maybe I can use that old starter to bring some flavor and acidity to my rolls, which is what preferments do best. It’s worth a try.

7 pm: Dinner. The pulled pork is lovely, and the sour rolls provide a very nice counterpoint to its sweetness. I’m calling my experiment a success.

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I’m a big fan of pesto. In recent years I haven’t made it as much as I’d like because I haven’t had access to a ready supply of basil. Of course I could buy it, and sometimes did, but I got spoiled for fresh-picked basil pesto when we lived in Vermont and I had a decent vegetable garden, something I’ve never managed to quite get going in all the years we’ve lived in California. It’s quite lame, actually.

I’m happy to report that this year, inspired by my brother-in-law’s incredible garden, I now have a small plot of my own, a raised bed in our tiny but eminently sunny front yard. It’s not what the real estate agents would tell you makes for optimal curb appeal in this suburban neighborhood, but the back yard is just too shady for most summer vegetables. Grass lawns are so 20th-century anyway.

I got a late start, so while other gardeners around here are already harvesting squash, peppers, and tomatoes, mine won’t be ready for another few weeks. But I have herbs! Last night I picked the first basil of the season, and buried my nose in it for about 20 minutes before I got down to the business of making the pesto.

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Happy Fourth, everyone. Please have a safe holiday weekend!

Now for the yeast sightings:

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My son B and his girlfriend J called from school the other day, wanting to know the ingredients in the potato salad I made when they were here a couple of weekends ago. They were planning to cook a steak also. They are cooking, hallelujah! I don’t know, and can’t honestly say I want to know, everything B is up to when he’s out of my reach, but it’s a little comforting to know it’s not all fast food all the time.

This is the potato salad I have made ever since I can remember, and it’s notable if for no other reason than that both my kids like it. Now I normally am not the person you want to go to for any recipes that don’t include yeast, or at least flour. But what the heck, it’s really good potato salad, and the Fourth is coming, and it’s not really a recipe anyway, more like a collection of ingredients.

Of course having this online could mean B calls just that much less often (because does he call when he doesn’t want or need something? not so much), but he doesn’t read here that I know of. So if you see him, please keep your mouth shut about it, OK?

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