I have lived for some time in Australia but was never aware of Demeter starter.
I had worked in some artisanal bakeries for a brief period but I never heard the bakers calling their culture Demeter.
It was just called levain ...
BTW was the demeter cultures also distributed in Melbourne?
May I ask
How does it differ from other starter cultures in terms of dough making performance.
I baked with Demeter in Sydney for about 6 months back in the late 1980's. They used an imported German product, simply referred to as "Ferment", to culture their doughs. Ferment came freeze-dried and was a commercially isolated strain of yeast(s), probably cultured for its lactic acid forming (rather than acetic acid) qualities. "Ferment" produced a wonderfully neutral aroma and flavour. It was not sourdough as batches of culture were cultivated for single use (new brews were made for each bake). One of the head bakers once told me that this was in line with Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophical system...which I got the impression was not supportive of the sourdough process. But I do not know for certain.
It would be great to hear from some other old Demeter bakers in this forum (I feel so lonely).
My husband used to be the pastry cook Baker upstairs with Lionel his name was Bob I was actually looking up to see if the bakery was still around I had sorted hat folded can upon this page where is a bakery in Hobart that uses some of their recipes barber took this guy how to bake
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I have lived for some time in Australia but was never aware of Demeter starter.
I had worked in some artisanal bakeries for a brief period but I never heard the bakers calling their culture Demeter.
It was just called levain ...
BTW was the demeter cultures also distributed in Melbourne?
May I ask
How does it differ from other starter cultures in terms of dough making performance.
Hi brian and chembake.
I baked with Demeter in Sydney for about 6 months back in the late 1980's. They used an imported German product, simply referred to as "Ferment", to culture their doughs. Ferment came freeze-dried and was a commercially isolated strain of yeast(s), probably cultured for its lactic acid forming (rather than acetic acid) qualities. "Ferment" produced a wonderfully neutral aroma and flavour. It was not sourdough as batches of culture were cultivated for single use (new brews were made for each bake). One of the head bakers once told me that this was in line with Rudolf Steiner's Anthroposophical system...which I got the impression was not supportive of the sourdough process. But I do not know for certain.
It would be great to hear from some other old Demeter bakers in this forum (I feel so lonely).
Graham