Starter contamination question ?

[GSF]

I have a question for the experts

The information that comes with the starters states.....   "Sometimes during activation a culture becomes contaminated  with organisms present in all flour, if this happens you will need to wash your culture".

What if you were to essentially pasteurize your flour and water mix before adding the cultures.

What I am suggesting, is to mix the flour and water and then heat the mix to a temp high enough to kill any  organisms that exist in the flour, I do not mean to cook the mix, just heat it to 140 or 150 degrees. Won't most yeast organisms die at these temps ? Then let the mix cool to 85 degrees and then mix in the starter.

I know the starters come in 1oz of flour so unless the contamination is present in the starter packet, would this not greatly reduce the chance of contamination ?

I am no expert on such matters, and I know someone out there is probably laughing, but I would like to hear what the experts think. 

Thanks........................GSF

[Wazza McG]

Hi,

I am no expert, but it seems to me that at 140~150 you would kill all the other goodies in the flour eg enzymes and possibly the ability of the flour to accept water as you will be par baking the mixture.  Personally, I would not attempt this - it seems too radical for me.  Why don't you give it a go if it intrigues you.

Regards,

Wazza McG

[PizaJim]

Curious if anybody tried this.