Tuesday, 5 February 2013

Second Clarification for Varda


The second fundamental assumption I am challenging (and which has been confirmed in a variety of studies from the last five years) is the assumption that LB SF has a latency period.

This "myth" has been repeatedly echoed time and again.  If you're an observant reader, you'll notice that most bakers will tell you it takes two days to create a culture and then two weeks for LB SF to "drop" into the mix.  All of this has been based upon one finding by Stolz et al. years and years ago.

Sigh.

This is simply not true.

Under non-sterile conditions and under optimal processing-conditions (which I keep repeating and repeating until I turn blue in the face), LB SF will occur after one refreshment.  Problem with LB SF is, it requires a sub-dominant microflora to be present for it to really do well and become dominant.

Most schema that involve the creation of a starter do so at sub-optimal conditions, and the establishment of LB SF hence takes longer.  These "normal" way of creating and building a starter is inefficient because it assumes that (i) LB SF takes two weeks to get going (remember time means nothing to these organisms; only temperature does, which actively changes their implied energy-state and "sense" of time), and (ii) most recommend process-parameters that would decrease the presence of LB SF in a continually-maintained starter (over 3 - 5 generations).  That is, the temperature and inoculation percentage are usually much too low and much to high, respectively, to establish LB SF.

Let us arrive at the truth and make better bread.

4 comments:

  1. Very clear. Thanks. How are you establishing your facts? Active testing or known behavior based on other people's testing? (For instance, how do you know that LB SF is present after one refreshment?

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    Replies
    1. several laboratory studies from the last 5 years that map and genetically assay the evolution of starters at every conceivable point from refreshment zero through to 10.

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    2. every conclusion i am making is empirically derived, minus my hypothesis about the origin of lb sf. we do know that it plays a role in the colon and that it talks to the host and other organisms. we also know where it does NOT originate from. i began looking at different organ systems in the human body and discovered that the only place of origin that matches lb sfs optimal growth requirements is in the colon or rectum. then, well, there have been heaps of studies that have begun tolead in this direction. it also would not surprised me if its grain based too but at very very almost undetectable levels.

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  2. Hi!

    If "the temperature is usually much too low and inoculation percentage is much to high to establish LB SF", does that mean that keeping starter at low temperature, let's say at 20-22C, and feeding it large amounts of food (let's say 1:5, 1:20) will effectively decrease the population of LB SF in the starter over 3-5 feedings?

    I am trying to understand that statement:

    ...most [recipes for developing starters] recommend process-parameters that would decrease the presence of LB SF in a continually-maintained starter (over 3 - 5 generations).

    How long does it take (at 20-22C) to change 3-5 generations of LB SF? How many feedings? What temperature is considered to be (or experimentally determined to be) "much too low" and what inoculation is "much too high" for lb sf?

    Thanks!

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