Reintroduction


 
Brett_Roundy

Brett_Roundy

TVWBB Fan
Hi all,

I used to post on this forum back in the early 2000s as Brett Roundy (I couldn't remember my old password so I created this new account), but after getting a job at a large aerospace company in the Puget Sound area and working lots of overtime I kind of drifted away. I'm now retired and living in the Yakima Valley area of eastern Washington. We'll be moving in to our new house in a month or so and my first purchases will be a Weber Bullet smoker and a kettle grill (not sure what sizes or how many yet) and am very looking forward to smoking meats and cheeses on a weekly basis, if not more often.

Also looking forward to baking sourdough bread and lots of other fermentation (miso paste, kombucha, cheeses, ginger ale, yogurt, vinegars etc.)

Looking forward to good/interesting discussions. :)

Brett
 
WOW Brett, I'm sure glad you came back. I hope you will be posting a lot of recipes and results. Sounds like a lot of fun days ahead. I know
DH will be watching for your CHEESE threads,. (he is a BIG cheese lover).
 
So, Brett, is Stubb's still your favorite store bought sauce? In a thread from '04, that was yours, mine was Bone Suckin' Sauce (...and it still is....for store bought.) :)

Good luck with your fermentation endeavors. I'm an avid sourdough baker, former cheesemaker, and former home brewer..... Give a shout, I might be able to point you in some good directions! ;)

Oh, and, welcome back.

R
 
Steve Madden said:
Thanks for the recommendation! I bookmarked this one today. Ever heard of it?

Homebrewed Vinegar: How to Ferment 60 Delicious Varieties, Including Carrot-Ginger, Beet, Brown Banana, Pineapple, Corncob, Honey, and Apple Cider Vinegar
Click to expand...
I was making all kinds of vinegar for a while....the easiest way is to start it with 1/3 Bragg raw cider vinegar and 2/3 whatever wine/beer/cider you want in a mason jar with a paper towel over the top held on with the jar lid ring. Once stablished you can make new batches from the older ones. Mickey's Malt Liquor makes great fish and chips vinegar, and one of my favorites was a prickly pear/pineapple cider.
 
Steve Madden said:
And this was delivered today. Looking forward to digging in.

Koji Alchemy: Rediscovering the Magic of Mold-Based Fermentation (Soy Sauce, Miso, Sake, Mirin, Amazake, Charcuterie)
Click to expand...
I've had great results using the organic brown rice koji from here: https://rhapsodynaturalfoods.com/product-category/koji/

I personally didn't see much difference from the short term vs. long term koji. I used it for sweet/white miso, yellow miso, red miso and a gochujang inspired 'kanpai miso' by adding red peppers added to the ferment, either gochugaru korean red pepper or piri piri red pepper

At one point i had 10+ gallons or different misos fermenting, some around 4 years old

These containers work great for long term (3+) year ferments: https://www.amazon.com/stores/page/...c619-ae11-4820-b83a-1d27a6e8e470&ref_=ast_bln
 
Rich G said:
So, Brett, is Stubb's still your favorite store bought sauce? In a thread from '04, that was yours, mine was Bone Suckin' Sauce (...and it still is....for store bought.) :)

Good luck with your fermentation endeavors. I'm an avid sourdough baker, former cheesemaker, and former home brewer..... Give a shout, I might be able to point you in some good directions! ;)

Oh, and, welcome back.

R
Click to expand...
I will usually make homemade BBQ sauce depending on what I'm making, but for quick off-the-shelf sauce I still like Stubbs and my wife loves Sweet Baby Ray's so we usually have a bottle of one or the other in the fridge

Have you tried 'catching' a wild sourdough culture?....basically even amount of water/flour mixed in a bowl with cheesecloth to keep out bugs and put it on the counter/bar until it bubbles and smells good, then feed as usual...
 
Brett_Roundy said:
I will usually make homemade BBQ sauce depending on what I'm making, but for quick off-the-shelf sauce I still like Stubbs and my wife loves Sweet Baby Ray's so we usually have a bottle of one or the other in the fridge

Have you tried 'catching' a wild sourdough culture?....basically even amount of water/flour mixed in a bowl with cheesecloth to keep out bugs and put it on the counter/bar until it bubbles and smells good, then feed as usual...
Click to expand...
Yep, both my starters were "naturally" conceived (one I got from Cliff here on the TVWBB, the other I started myself.) FWIW, I think the "catching" yeast from your environment is a bit of a myth. Most of the organisms that will form the characteristics of your starter are actually on the flour themselves. Check out The Perfect Loaf. Maurizio has a very well documented process for creating your own starter that I have used successfully a couple of times. Then, of course, you get to figure out how to maintain it based on how often you bake......it's a bit like having a toddler. :)

Oh, and I usually do the homemade sauce, too (either my house recipe, or good ol' #5 from here.) Again, good to see you back!

R
 
Rich G said:
Yep, both my starters were "naturally" conceived (one I got from Cliff here on the TVWBB, the other I started myself.) FWIW, I think the "catching" yeast from your environment is a bit of a myth. Most of the organisms that will form the characteristics of your starter are actually on the flour themselves. Check out The Perfect Loaf. Maurizio has a very well documented process for creating your own starter that I have used successfully a couple of times. Then, of course, you get to figure out how to maintain it based on how often you bake......it's a bit like having a toddler. :)

Oh, and I usually do the homemade sauce, too (either my house recipe, or good ol' #5 from here.) Again, good to see you back!

R
Click to expand...
I partially agree that most of bugs in the culture were already on the ingredients, however....I think if you have a lot of different ferments going on then your house's biome will be more diverse and you have a better chance of getting a more complex result...for better or worse

"it's a bit like having a toddler"....lol....i used to take sourdough in to work for potlucks and such and people were amazed that i made it in my kitchen....there was always someone asking 'how long did it take' and they looked at me like i was crazy when i said '4 days' while they kept stuffing the bread in their face :)
 
Brett_Roundy said:
I partially agree that most of bugs in the culture were already on the ingredients, however....I think if you have a lot of different ferments going on then your house's biome will be more diverse and you have a better chance of getting a more complex result...for better or worse
Click to expand...
For sure, there are environmental factors, which is one of the reasons why if you took some of my starter, and fed it your flour, in your kitchen, it wouldn't take long for it to lose the unique characteristics of "my" starter, and take on those of "your" starter (though some of the original populations of organisms would likely still be a significant part of the mix......so it would still be different than a starter you started yourself.) .....and that's where my knowledge of biology ends! :)

Fun stuff!

R
 
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