panettone mother

[mianbao]

I hope this question isn't too off base, but I've been enjoying making an egg-rich sweet fruited Italian Christmas bread called panettone the last few years.

I've used commercial dry or fresh yeast. Now a baking supply place I buy from is selling panettone mother. I get the impression this is some kind of sourdough starter.

Does anyone know anything about it? Could I extend its use to other sourdough breads?

[Donna M.]

mianbao wrote:
I hope this question isn't too off base, but I've been enjoying making an egg-rich sweet fruited Italian Christmas bread called panettone the last few years.

I've used commercial dry or fresh yeast. Now a baking supply place I buy from is selling panettone mother. I get the impression this is some kind of sourdough starter.

Does anyone know anything about it? Could I extend its use to other sourdough breads?

Hi Mianbao! I'm guessing that the panettone mother is some sort of sourdough. Check the ingredients list to see what it contains. If it is a sourdough it should contain flour and lactobacillus cultures as the main ingredients. It should NOT contain milk, eggs, sugar or commercial yeast, etc. If there are not any other ingredients then, yes, you could use it for other breads.

If you would like to have a really good starter, I can send you some of mine for a SASE. I dry it into a thin flake and then crush it into a powder. It only takes a spoonful or two to get it started. I know you are overseas so I'm not sure how the postage would work. I recently sent some to Israel, and she had a family member who lives here in the States send me the SASE.

[mianbao]

Donna M. wrote:


Hi Mianbao! I'm guessing that the panettone mother is some sort of sourdough. Check the ingredients list to see what it contains. If it is a sourdough it should contain flour and lactobacillus cultures as the main ingredients. It should NOT contain milk, eggs, sugar or commercial yeast, etc. If there are not any other ingredients then, yes, you could use it for other breads.

If you would like to have a really good starter, I can send you some of mine for a SASE. I dry it into a thin flake and then crush it into a powder. It only takes a spoonful or two to get it started. I know you are overseas so I'm not sure how the postage would work. I recently sent some to Israel, and she had a family member who lives here in the States send me the SASE.

Thanks, Donna, it's so nice of you to offer to send me your starter. I keep thinking it would be interesting, but am still not sure I'm ready yet.

I didn't buy the panettone mother, but the package looked too small to contain a lot of other things like eggs and sugar. I'll have to take a better look at it. I don't make panettone all year round, so didn't want something I could use just for that purpose. Thank you

[Donna M.]

You are welcome. Any time you decide that you want to try it, just let me know. Keep reading these threads and you will soon be wanting to try it!

[carole carlson]

I would like to try your starter.......send me what you want me to do.
Thanks
Carole

[Donna M.]

Carole, I sent you an email about the starter.