Thought I would add a picture of my yeast water...you can see that it has an assortment of bits and pieces of fruit. It has a different or more so now...It works really well...

Ruthie, that process was completely unfamiliar to me - really interesting. I looked up some sites online where they showed using different fruits to produce yeast/starters, noticed grapefruit for one....Does the yeast add some flavor to the breads, and how do you know how much to use for a recipe?

You're just chopping up raw fruit and putting it in a jar to ferment?

Then using the liquid as a bread yeast?

This looks like fun.

Yes! Can you post links, please? I love baking bread (i refuse to buy it, too expensive in the stores! lol) I would love to try this technique.

The website where I got my interest started is at the link below and one particular thread that you might want to check is..........http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/23597/yeast-water-examples-photos-tfl-links-only...It is a thread with many links from the site all about yeast water and gathered into one thread....I don't know if you have to join to read or not but it is a great website about baking your own bread. I bake all our bread......

Yes fruit or fruit skins ....like when I peel and apple I stick the peel and the core in one of my jars...To start you pick a fruit, and put it in a jar, it can even be dried fruit, raisins, prunes, cranberries..It it is a fruit that isn't overly sweet you can add a little sugar or a little honey...I have added honey but it really isn't required...there is a ton of information at the website with lots of recipes using the yeast water or telling you how to use it in a recipe...

I haven't noticed that it adds a lot of flavor..It's not that strong..If it was lemon or lime it might add more but so far I haven't noticed. You certainly could use grapefruit...the only ones you need to stay away from would be fruits that breakdown protein...like pineapple....there are a few others but it's late and I can't think straight.

It really isn't to add flavor it's to take the place of yeast...Many people don't like the flavor or smell of regular yeast.....I do, I just tried the yeast water for the novelty of it.

Here is a link that might be useful: The fresh loaf....

The website where I got my interest started is at the link below and one particular thread that you might want to check is..........http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/23597/yeast-water-examples-photos-tfl-links-only...It is a thread with many links from the site all about yeast water and gathered into one thread....I don't know if you have to join to read or not but it is a great website about baking your own bread. I bake all our bread......

Yes fruit or fruit skins ....like when I peel and apple I stick the peel and the core in one of my jars...To start you pick a fruit, and put it in a jar, it can even be dried fruit, raisins, prunes, cranberries..It it is a fruit that isn't overly sweet you can add a little sugar or a little honey...I have added honey but it really isn't required...there is a ton of information at the website with lots of recipes using the yeast water or telling you how to use it in a recipe...

I haven't noticed that it adds a lot of flavor..It's not that strong..If it was lemon or lime it might add more but so far I haven't noticed. You certainly could use grapefruit...the only ones you need to stay away from would be fruits that breakdown protein...like pineapple....there are a few others but it's late and I can't think straight.

It really isn't to add flavor it's to take the place of yeast...Many people don't like the flavor or smell of regular yeast.....I do, I just tried the yeast water for the novelty of it.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/

Here is a link that might be useful: The fresh loaf

Sorry about the double post, I kept getting a page that said internal error so I thought it hadn't posted....

The picture of the jar above is ready to use. If I were going to use it, I would take it out of the fridge and let it come to room temp for a day or overnight....

I also have another container on the counter that is in the making........whatever I have in the way of fruit during the day, (if any) I toss into the container and add a little water......as you can see......it's fermenting away..soon I will put it in a larger container and eventually put it in the fridge....You can use all the same kind of fruit or just what ever you have. Since it really doesn't add any flavor, I just use whatever fruit I am having/using that day and make a mixed fruit yeast water.

yesterday...I had just refreshed it so it wasn't very bubbly

This morning....

I read this on the Fresh Loaf about a year ago and have been meaning to try it. So glad you like it. More reason for me to try it. Sometimes my husband doesn't want the twang of sourdough, so this could be a perfect alternative. I haven't been baking lately, need to get back to the kitchen!

I had some left over tomato skins and cores (from canning tomatoes) that I'm trying this with! I added a TBSP of sugar to it. Hopefully it works, keeping my fingers crossed!

I don't see why it wouldn't work with tomato skins....One of the suggestions was to take a piece of fruit and puree it in the blender or chopper and use it that way, and several people have made it in that manner but it works just as well and is less mess to just put them in there as is. Maybe it might add more taste to the bread if you puree your fruit but the example I saw showed the fruit puree layer separated from the yeast water, so I doubt it. You get a little dust gathering on the bottom of your jar and as I understand, that's the yeast...ie the good stuff so you shake your jar before you use the water. I have never had one bit of trouble getting mine to ferment and my home isn't even warm, it's pretty cool....I think it's like sourdough, basically a flour and water combo or fruit and water combo and the actual amount of fruit or flour is only crucial to the amount of water you add....so I try to add rather equal amounts like I do with my sourdough...

It's pretty funny when you think about it but I believe you could go outside and take a few leaves off one of your plants, like a shrub that you knew wasn't poison and it would make yeast for you.........I like sourdough but I don't want it with every loaf and I like trying different breads....My favorite is still Annie's WW......

Just a novelty but it's been fun playing with it......

I dunno about tomato bits and pieces, if it smells anything like fermenting tomato seeds and squeezed juice, which one does when seed saving, I sure wouldn't want that stench in my bread. Where as fermented fruit smells more pleasantly boozy.

I have read/heard that the white coating on plums, grapes, etc. is a form of yeast. But that may be an old tale, I don't know.

No need to worry, David! There's not enough living yeast in my tomato pieces. I do have a peach that is too ripe to eat that I'm going to cut up and try this with! Hopefully I can get yeast to grow in time so I can bake bread on Friday.