- Joined
- Apr 22, 2022
You don't need a starting culture. You are cultivating wild yeast, you can buy and use a starter but you can also literally just use the yeast in the air. It's a bacteria, every area has their own kind, that's why San Fransisco sourdough has a reputation because the yeast in that area is unique.I see, you still need a starting culture, but you can breed it this way, right?
What you're describing is essentially focaccia, you should look into that, it's an Italian low work bread that's very good for over leavened dough. Let me consult The TOME.I sometimes leaven my pizza dough too much (like forgetting it outside) and when that happens I bake it into a crumbly crackerish bread. As a bread aficionado, do you have any tips to make that kind of bread better?

What you're really doing is called a "pre ferment" it's when you allow part of the dough to ferment on its own, it improves the flavor and texture of the bread.
Since your drying the dough out what you're making is called a "biga" it is the stiffest of the pre ferments. It's made by mixing around half flour and water by weight as well as half the yeast required in the final dough. Usually you would ferment it for 2/3 of a day (16 to 18 hours) but you can do it in as low as 8 and then mix the big with a little bit of the liquid you're using for your final bread recipe to loosen it up so it will incorporate.
Focaccia is normally pressed down with the finger to make little pockets on the surface and then brushed with olive oil before baking. The dough is also normally made with olive oil.
It's an extremely fine bread to eat with toppings or some sort of oil or sauce.
If you make dough that's moist enough and you store it in a jar it will essentially become starter.I remember seeing on Youtube that you can leave your (leavened) dough in the fridge overnight to get the same effect.