I’m taking a shot at harvesting wild yeast to bake the dank San Francisco sourdough. So far i haven’t caught anything, but I’m feeling pretty good about my prospects. The technique is simple enough, mix equal parts flour (food for the yeasties) and water. Leave in a warm place for a couple days and you’ll know it works if it produces bubbles and foam. Here’s a shot of day 1:

A wild yeast trap!

While trying to catch wild yeasters, I’m baking with store-bought to get the hang of it. I’m using a simple baking recipe, which might not produce the best results but is good to experiment with. I’m just using flour, water, melted butter, salt and a little milk. I think bread baking relies more process than ingredients (although bad ingredients will certainly make bad bread) so I’m trying to be patient with the rising and yeast activation and kneading. It’s a shame that I can’t find really good, fresh baked bread in the city for cheap.