Fermentation Support Forum

I just started my first sourdough bread and have a few questions. Just to fill people in on process: I made a sour dough starter about 2 weeks ago, with flour, water, sugar, and bits of grain from my homebrewing barley stash (which has lactobacillis on it) and a bit of wild yeast from a beer I made (Brettanomyces claussenii). About 2 days ago I poured about half of this starter into the flour I planned to make the bread out of. This really took off yesterday but I didn't have time to make loafs and bake.

This morning there's a very strong solventy aroma. I wonder if this is normal or what could have caused it. Any thoughts?

I'll probably bake something tonight.

Cheers,

Ethyl acetate maybe? Could be the brett is producing some "off" compounds due to the change in fermenting environment. I would bake a little and see if it gets driven off with heat.

I'm curious if the brett will leaven bread. I've used wine yeast before, and it worked pretty well...even had a fruity bouquet.

Let us know how it goes.