A loaf of bread, a bottle of soda, and... not quite.

[vakkotaur]

The second bottle of soda, still using baker's yeast, turned out as one might expect: it smelled strongly of the yeast and wasn't very good. It met the same fate as the first bottle.

The third bottle, made with champagne yeast, is not a failure. It's not a complete success either, but it is progress. There is some yeast smell, but not very much. The carbonation is good. The flavor is weak. I will be drinking this bottle, albeit slowly due to the sugar content.

I've started another bottle, this time with more of the vanilla. A stronger flavor will also help mask what little yeast smell there is. I'm staying with the vanilla and using 1/2 cup sugar until I think I have the flavoring amount right. Then I'll see about easing back on the sugar (one source claims that less than 1/4 cup will do for a 2L bottle) and other flavors.

I made another loaf of bread and that also sort of turned out. It's not bad, but it is a bit more dense than I'd like. I probably didn't let it rise quite enough. I also probably haven't managed to judge the right amount of flour or water to get the dough just right. Still, it's not a brick, it's just a more dense loaf.

Comments

[rillaspins.livejournal.com]

Bread: Make sure the water you're adding to the yeast isn't too hot.

That will kill the yeast and make brick bread...but you probably already know that.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Sure you didn't put champagne yeast in the bread? ;p

Sounds like you're on the right track now. Probably the best way to get more vanilla flavor would be by using a whole vanilla bean, or a chunk of one. That would be pretty pricy though.

[vakkotaur.livejournal.com]

Quite sure of that. Though I am considering seeing if the dregs of bottle #3 would be active enough to consider for a loaf.

I expect that proper, real vanilla would be better than the artificial stuff I'm using now. Maybe once I think I have things about right I might go for something better. Vanilla bean would be ideal, but as you say it would be pricy.

I did break with my plans a little bit. I also started a 1 liter bottle, using anise for flavoring. I expect that it shouldn't have any noticeable yeast smell due to the natural intensity of anise. It will, however, have a more limited appeal. Since it's for me, that doesn't really matter. As to whether I like it, I'll sometime next week.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Anise might be nice. Actually, there used to be something a hundred years ago that they called "licorice water." I remember it being mentioned often in Booth Tarkington's books. And of course there was sasparilla (made from sassafras roots) and that later became "root beer." Then there's the real ginger beer, a spiritual (or should I say spirited?) ancestor of today's ginger ales. All of those would lend themselves to the method you're experimenting with now.