The subject of lively debate over the past decade has been the health risks of foods containing yeast. Scientists have not yet managed to come to a consensus, but the fact that homemade bread made with yeast-free sourdough is much tastier and more aromatic than store-bought bread is obvious.
It takes a little patience to bake bread at home. preparation of yeast-free starter culture can take about three days. But this almost does not require your participation - it is enough to spend just a few minutes a day on mixing and "feeding" the fermented mass.
Sourdough preparation
Depending on whether you plan to bake bread - rye or wheat, you will need the appropriate flour. Although some home bakers claim that the starter starter can be mixed with any flour, regardless of the type of bread baked.
For starter culture, mix 100 g of rye or wheat flour with 100 ml of water or milk whey. The resulting mass should be similar in consistency to thick, homogeneous sour cream.
The sourdough is covered with a clean cloth and removed for fermentation in a warm place. 2-3 times a day, the mass is gently mixed to improve the acidification process. The appearance of small bubbles signals that the sourdough begins to "ripen".
On the second day, "feeding" is necessary - add another 100 flour and 100 ml of water to the mass and mix thoroughly. When a lot of bubbles appear in the leaven and a significant increase in size occurs, this means that it is fully "ripe" and ready to eat.
The prepared sourdough can be used for baking bread, but at the same time a small part of the mass must be deposited in a separate vessel and stored in the refrigerator in order to prepare the next portions of the sourdough on its basis.
Storage in the refrigerator slows down the fermentation process a little, so you need to "feed" the rest of the sourdough only once every 2-3 days. The new sourdough will be ready much faster this time, because it turns sour based on the fermentation result of the previous batch.
Baking rye yeast-free bread
Homemade rye bread on homemade sourdough is obtained even by the most inept housewives, it never grows moldy, has a unique aroma and taste.
To prepare the dough, you will need 1 part of sourdough, 1 part of water and as much flour as the dough takes to obtain a homogeneous plastic consistency. Do not be afraid to spend the leaven - you can take the entire resulting volume, because to prepare a new portion, it is enough what remains on the walls of the vessel in which the leaven was stored.
The dough is left in a warm place for 2-3 hours until it rises, after which a loaf is formed from it and placed on a baking sheet covered with baking paper. To prevent the loaf from sticking, the paper can be slightly greased with vegetable oil.
If desired, you can add flax seed, a little nutmeg, sesame seeds to the dough, and sprinkle the surface with coriander seeds. So that the bread does not stale for a long time, sometimes two tablespoons of vegetable oil is added to the dough: olive, sunflower, sesame, etc.
In order to avoid cracking of the upper crust, small cuts are made over the entire surface of the loaf with a sharp knife. Lightly sprinkle the bread with wheat flour on top and place in a cold oven.
Slow heating of the oven helps to bake the bread better and to form a fluffy crumb. The baking time will depend on the characteristics of the oven, the readiness of the bread is checked with a toothpick - if it can be stuck into a loaf and taken out dry, then the bread is already ready.
After turning off the oven, it is recommended to hold the bread in it for a while, so that it slowly cools down to "reach" full readiness.
Baking wheat yeast-free bread
In 600 g of carefully sifted wheat flour, add 2 tsp. salt, 2 tbsp. granulated sugar, 2 tbsp. l. vegetable oil and mix all ingredients thoroughly.
Add 7-10 spoons of starter culture and a glass of water or whey to the resulting mixture. The dough is kneaded until it stops sticking to your hands, after which it is removed to a warm place to rise.
As additives to the dough, you can use seeds, raisins, candied fruits, dried fruits, dried herbs and other healthy products.
The raised dough is lightly crushed, placed on a baking sheet and a loaf or loaf is formed. After this, the test is allowed to come up a little more - about 1-2 hours. It is baked in the same way as rye bread - in a slowly heating oven.
