Working with Wild Yeast – How Not to Kill Your Mother

Why do I care about wild yeast? The older I get, the more fascinated I become with the unseen world. We are surrounded every day by microorganisms, shaping the foods we eat and the beverages we drink in numerous ways. It seems that our entire edible world is constrained by either controlling or harnessing these invisible creatures. What would cheese be without molds and bacteria? Preserving/curing meat is all about using salt, sugar, and more to remove moisture and inhibit the growth of microbes. And then we get to the magic of fermentation. Yeast! Microscopic fungi floating in the air, covering surfaces and responsible for beer, wine, pickles, chocolate and BREAD! Glorious bread!

I have a weakness for bread and for baking. I love my carbs and for years baked using commercial yeast packets not really caring to understand what was happening. I knew the basics of yeast fermentation – yeast eats sugar to make carbon dioxide and alcohol, but I didn’t think of yeast as a living organism growing and existing all around us. I don’t remember what initially peaked my interest in wild yeast, but about two years ago I decided it was time to learn more.

Imagine my shock when I discovered that you don’t have to use commercial yeast to make bread? It made sense really – how did I think bread baking began? It’s not like the freeze-dried yeast packets you buy today were available in 300 BCE. Back in the day, ground grain was added to grape or fruit skins, letting the yeast grow until it was strong enough to make bread. Then every time they baked, they held aside some of the dough. That scrap of dough could be added to new flour and water to continue the cycle. It’s a process that continues to this day in bakeries across Europe and the US. I found several recipes from prestigious bakers explaining how to do just that, cultivate yeast using grapes or fruit skins, feed the yeast cells by adding flour, and eventually growing a wild yeast starter, or yeast mother.

The idea of starting with grapes or apples seemed like such a pain, but then I stumbled across a recipe by King Arthur Flour for making a sourdough starter with flour and water alone. I started looking through my favorite bread books, The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum and The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart, and I came up with a process that works for me. Given time, coaxing, and feeding, you can create your own bread mother with just those two simple ingredients, flour and water.

Before we start, let’s get some terminology straight. What I am about to describe is the process for making your own yeast mother. Some people call it a sourdough starter, but I prefer mother because a) while it can be used for sourdough, it can be used for any yeast bread application and b) it’s the stuff that begets all my yeast bread. And just because I have a wild yeast mother doesn’t mean I’ve eschewed commercial yeast. For consistency and speed, I still use commercial yeast at least 75% of the time I’m baking. I’ll explain more on that later.

To make your own bread mother, there is some basic equipment you need.

A glass vessel (preferably 2) that holds at least 4 cups – I use glass mason jars
A spoon for mixing – I prefer a butter knife
Plastic wrap
Kitchen scale that measures in grams

Now, some people will tell you your spoon must be plastic or wood because metal interacts with the yeast. I have had no problems with a metal butter knife, it fits in my jar and helps me mix/measure. That being said, I don’t make my mother in a metal container, but stick with glass although I’ve read about folks making mothers just fine in metal bowls. I haven’t done it, so I can’t say if it works or not.

As to the ingredients, they are simple as well…

Whole wheat or rye flour (preferably organic)
Bread flour (preferably organic)
Water (preferably bottled or filtered)

Organic flour is preferred simply because you are using the yeast that already exists in your flour and in the air/atmosphere of your kitchen, and I think they simply taste better.

I like to start my mother with whole wheat or rye flour in the beginning, then change to bread flour  moving forward. Sporadically, I’ll do a feeding with some wheat or rye in the mix. How often you want is up to you, and honestly, starting with bread flour alone works as well.

As far as the water is concerned, I’ve read that the fluoride and chlorine in most city tap water can be inhospitable to natural/wild yeasts. non-organic flour will work perfectly fine, and while I always use bottled water for my mother, I’ve heard people say they use tap water with no problems. Seriously, this is science, but it’s not rocket science, there is plenty of room to play.

When you are ready to begin – place 120 grams of flour (I start with wheat or rye) and 120 grams of water in your mason jar. Stir it up, pop some plastic wrap on your counter and let it sit for 24 hours. Thats about 1 cup of flour and 1/2 cup of water.

You’ll probably notice nothing. But after a day, take out your 2nd jar, put 120 grams of the day old mixture in the new container and add 60 grams of bread flour (from this point on I’ll be sticking with bread flour) and 60 grams of water. Leave it on the counter, covered in plastic again and wait another 24 hours. *You can throw away the leftover starter, use it, or feed it as well.*

You are going to repeat that process every 24 hours until your starter is ready. After the 2nd or third day, I usually see some bubbles starting to form. By the 4th day, you may get a little funky sour aroma. Depending on your kitchen, your mother may be alive and active anywhere from 5 to 10 days. You’ll know she’s ready and kicking when she grows to at least 3 cups volume over a 24 hour period. Once this happens, you’ll want to encourage that growth and feed her once more.

From this point on, you have some decisions. You can leave her at room temperature if you plan on baking daily. Use half the mother (120 g) feed the other half and leave her on the counter. I don’t bake that often, so I store my mother in the refrigerator. If that’s your plan, for the first 2 weeks as she is getting stronger (both in rise strength and in flavor) you will want to feed her a couple of times a week. After that, she only needs feeding once a week to stay alive and happy. Mine has been living happily in my fridge for four months now.

Notice that you always have currently in your jar, a mother that is 240 grams,  50/50 flour/water by weight or 1 cup flour to 1/2 cup water by volume. When you feed it, you are removing half, 120 grams, roughly 1/2 cup flour and 1/4 cup water.  If your mother is alive and fully active, you can start reducing and eventually eliminating the commercial yeast in the recipe. It takes some getting used to, it can seem a bit tricky, but in my next bread post, I’ll show you how, give you a basic bread recipe using your mother as well as a sourdough loaf.

*Tips: 

I don’t see a reason to always throw that leftover starter away. You can use it in any yeasted baked good. From pretzels, to pancakes, to pizza dough, you can use leftover mother. Simply replace 1/2 cup flour and 1/4 cup of the water in the recipe with your leftover mother. When your mother isn’t fully active, you will keep the commercial yeast called for in the original recipe.

If you are using a recipe that needs more than 120 grams of starter, simply increase your mother by throwing out less, but always feeding an equal amount to what is there. So if you have a recipe that calls for 240 grams of starter, you can feed your current 240 g of mother with 120 g of flour and 120 g of water and go about your business.

If you keep more that 240 grams of starter, make sure you choose a larger vessel to store your mother. She will grow, and she does need room.

Do not worry if your mother deflates during the feeding process.

If you store in the fridge, don’t be afraid if you get a little liquid separation, just stir your mother back together.

Use your nose – your mother should smell funky, but not rancid. If she smells like gym shoes or dirty laundry, she’s probably not good.

Afraid your mother is dead? I’ve killed yeast mothers, particularly in those first two weeks. Rule of thumb, if you are unsure, feed her. If she grows in 8 hours, she’s alive. If she doesn’t, she’s dead and you need to start over. If she’s just barely alive, you may need to leave her at room temperature and feed her every 24 hours again to get her back and kicking.