Venø the starter

You can't bottle up your vacation and take it back with you but this might come close.

Last winter I tried to capture wild yeast to make traditional Rugbrød.  There wasn't much to it - mix equal parts of rye flour and water together, expose to the air, feed twice a day for a week and then use it to make bread.

My starter worked, but it was lacklustre.  It took twice as long to work as what most recipes called for but the final product turned out ok.

Fast forward to our vacation and our second to last day on the island of Venø in Denmark. I found some flour in the cupboard, mixed it with water and let it sit in a wild flower patch next to the cottage with a steady ocean breeze blowing over it.

On the day that we left, I took a teaspoon of the exposed mixture and put it into a sealed bag and brought it back to Canada.  

I inoculated a new rye flour and water mixture with the Venø mixture and the results have been spectacular.  It doubled in size in less than 12 hours and produced all of the tell tale signs and smells of being an exceptional sour dough starter.

First loaf of bread will be made this weekend.

My starter - now called Venø