Hans, the yeast colony

[elainegrey]

So, It's been well past the advised 5 days of feeding and nurturing a colony. Hans is bubbly and makes "hooch" (as some blogger described a liquid that collects on the top of a colony that could use more feeding). I increased the flour in response to the "hooch." I haven't witnessed it surging in volume, though. Impatient, and not trusting my attention span, i decided to mix up the first dough today.

Well, this recipe i have: it is HUGE. 1.5 kilograms of flour, 3 and a third pounds. I don't know why i didn't think to halve it until i was attempting to mix, split between my largest bowl and another giant cake pan, the instructed half the flour (.75 k), the 1.5 liters of warm water, and Hans. Bubbling commenced as soon as i was mixing. Once blended i could pour it all into the cake pan and there was some room at the top. I've put it in the oven and have periodically turned on the light to keep it warm. The house is above 70°F, but i'm feeling like perhaps a little warmer won't hurt Hans, as they seemed quite happy when the warm water was added.

The scent when i open the oven is fairly strong: yogurty came to mind at first, but it's richer now. The "preferment" has risen to the very top of the pan, but seems stalled at the top. (That's pre-ferment, not prefer-ment, as i misread it for a while.) I have a sheet pan to catch anything that spills over.

I guess it's working?

--== ∞ ==--

For the Singing Revolution in Estonia, the documentary (https://singingrevolution.com/) is available to rent via Amazon's streaming service.


https://singingrevolution.com/about-the-history
http://www.estonica.org/en/The_Singing_Revolution/
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/11/estonia-music-singing-revolution/415464/

I hope to at least sketch out notes for speaking in Meeting, so i will write more.

Comments

[annie_r]

So when does it get to be bread? More rising?

[elainegrey]

Well, i turned it into bread yesterday - -and forgot to let it rise before baking. Doh.

[warriorsavant]

"Hooch" usually means illicit liquor. Somewhere have a recipe for that. Hope your cake (bread?) works out well.

[elainegrey]

I think here the parallel is that it is the by-product of fermentation.

Hrm, https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Moonshine-Mash. Good grief, i wonder how many folks go blind trying to follow these instructions with the pipe through the bucket process. I presume a rented still would carefully explain how to separate methanol from the moonshine.

[warriorsavant]

I suppose it could be used to mean that, but most dictionaries list it as (1) homemade, especially illicit booze (2) ramshackle dwelling. In my military days, the latter was used for quarters when deployed overseas, be it tent, wood, or converted shipping container. Also used it in the former sense. I have recipe somewhere, using fruit juice, sugar, yeast, and old soda bottles. I never did that, but the person who told me how apparently did so. He didn’t tell me about it when we met overseas, because he thought I was too straight and might turn him in (I was, but I wouldn’t have). He’d learned the “recipe” when he was prison guard. He was a serious alcoholic, which was how he dealt with his then-hidden transsexuality.