Many people buy yeast from the store to make homemade bread. Baking with such yeast is not considered healthy.
Not everyone knows that you can make a natural sourdough yourself. It will serve as the basis for delicious homemade baked goods and other baking uses.
Making a sourdough, or starter, as it is called abroad, is not at all difficult. There are many recipes for sourdoughs. It is made from wheat, rye, rice, buckwheat flour. The sourdough can be used for white bread, baguette, ciabatta, pizza, pancakes and other baked goods.
The first recipe. Classic starter without yeast
For this simple recipe you need to take:
- 50 g wheat flour;
- 50 g ml of mineral or filtered water.
Step by step:
Step 1. Choose a container that will contain your starter. The volume of the container should be designed for 500-1000 ml. A plastic container is recommended, but glass is the best option. Do not use containers made of aluminum or other metals. The container must be clean and dry. It is allowed to lubricate the bottom and walls of the container with the thinnest layer of sunflower oil.
Step 2. Knead the starter. To do this, mix 50 g of flour with 50 g of room temperature water until smooth.
Step 3. Transfer the starter culture to a container, cover with a cloth or cling film, make a few holes - the dough should "breathe". The ambient temperature, which is considered optimal for the start of starter fermentation, is 18-30 ° C. The container should be placed in a quiet place, preferably dark. Stir the starter culture 1-3 times every day or it will crust over.
Step 4. It is important to be patient, because the ripening of the sourdough is not a quick matter. As soon as the first bubbles appeared in the leaven, this can be considered a good sign, because the fermentation process has intensified. The first bubbles usually appear after 12 hours, in some cases after 36 hours if the ambient temperature is low enough. If nothing happens after 36 hours, make the starter again. Perhaps it's the quality of the wheat flour or water. As the fermentation process progresses, the sourdough increases significantly in volume.
Step 5. The sourdough must be “fed”. Each new portion of flour and water maintains an active fermentation process. To do this, add 50 ml of room temperature water and stir with a wooden stick or spatula, not a metal spoon. Then add 50 g of wheat flour and mix again until smooth. Wait for new bubbles (12-36 hours).
Step 6. It is too early to use the leaven for baking. When the starter is activated a second time, half of the starter must be removed.
Step 7. Then you need to "feed" the starter culture: once again add a new portion of flour (50 g) and water (50 ml). Stir until smooth.
Step 8. Wait for the third fermentation. The leaven should be "strong" and rise steadily.
Now you can take half of the sourdough and use it to knead the dough. Every time you take out half of the starter, remember to add a new batch of flour and water so that the bacteria have "food" to multiply all the time. At this stage, it is possible to slow down the fermentation process, if, for example, you are leaving somewhere. It is enough to place the container with the starter in the refrigerator.
The second recipe. Yeast-free sourdough on grapes
Even in ancient Rome, a similar method was used to provide baked bread with a lift and aroma. Required:
- 1 glass of wheat flour (150 g);
- 2 glasses of mineral or spring water at room temperature (about 500 ml);
- a bunch of unwashed homemade grapes.
Step by step:
Step 1. Mix 150 g wheat flour and 500 ml water in a large container. Better to take mineral, filtered or spring water. Even melt water is acceptable in some recipes. It is not recommended to use tap water, especially if it is chlorinated.
Step 2. Add the whole bunch of grapes to the sourdough. Do not use store grapes as they use chemicals in growing and transporting them. Better to use your own homemade grapes. It is allowed to take other berries, for example, plums. It is impossible to wash the grapes, because it is thanks to the wild yeast that the fermentation process starts on the surface of the berries. You can also put the berries individually, or you can put the grapes in cheesecloth and place them in the sourdough.
Another option is possible: use a spoon to select the perishable pulp of fruits, for example, pears, and add to the sourdough.
Step 3. Cover the container with a clean towel or cling film, punch holes, and place in a dark and warm, but not hot place, away from noise. Change the sourdough every day to keep the fermentation process evenly.
Step 4. Feed the starter culture. Add 1 tbsp every day. l. water and 1 tbsp. l. flour. The first bubbles should appear in a few days. If nothing happens after 48 hours, repeat the process of creating the starter again.
Step 5. After the first signs of fermentation, in 5-6 days the leaven will acquire a pleasant sour smell. Do not forget to "feed" the starter every day, the fermentation process should not be interrupted.
Step 6. After about a week, the berries can be removed from the sourdough. Remember to stir the starter every day.
Step 7. When fermentation in the container becomes stable, it can be moved to the refrigerator and "fed" at least 1 time per week, otherwise the bacteria will die. Before use, the starter culture should be removed from the refrigerator and allowed to rise. Before "feeding" the container should be taken out of the refrigerator, allowed to stand for 1 hour, add a fresh portion of flour and water, wait for the reaction and put it back in the refrigerator.
You can maintain your homemade starter culture for weeks, even months, as long as you have enough patience. The famous French baker and author of the bestsellers "Own Bread" and "Bread Business", Richard Bertinet, has been using his own sourdough for many years in a row, thanks to which his bread is incredibly tasty and aromatic.
The third recipe. Non-yeast starter culture on pineapple juice
This method was created by Debra Wink (a popular foreign baking blogger and author of a book on baking). To successfully make bread sourdough, she advises you to adhere to three important conditions:
- use whole grain flour. Whole grain rye or wheat flour works well here, as wild yeast lives on the hulls of the grains.
- acidify the leaven at the beginning of its fermentation. The use of sugar-free pineapple juice has worked well. Can be substituted with apple juice without sugar.
- maintain a temperature of about 24 ° C. Warm ambient temperatures speed up the fermentation process.
Day 1. Mix 2 tbsp. l. flour and 2 tbsp. l pineapple juice.
Day 2. Add 2 tbsp. l. flour and 2 tbsp. l. pineapple juice.
Day 3. Repeat one more time.
Day 4. Remove half of the starter mass and add 2 tbsp. l. flour and 2 tbsp. l. purified water (filtered, spring). Now you can add ordinary wheat or rye flour. Wait for the starter culture to bubble well and increase in size. After that, one part of the sourdough can be used to prepare the dough. The other part must be "fed" and refrigerated. "Feed" once a week.
Debra Wink's Sourdough Bread Recipe
To knead dough for bread you will need:
- 1 cup whole grain flour (if not available, you can replace ordinary wheat or any other);
- 2 cups wheat flour;
- 1, 5 Art. l. salt;
- 1, 5 cups of filtered water (not from the tap);
- ¼ glasses of leaven.
Step 1. In a large bowl, combine the sifted flour and salt. Dissolve the leaven in 1, 5 glasses of water and knead the dough.
Step 2. Shape the dough into a ball and transfer to a bowl, covered with cling film (or a bag). If the dough is too thin, add just a little flour. The dough shouldn't be tough.
Step 3. Leave the dough at room temperature in the warmest place (about 24 ° C) for about 18 hours. After this time, the dough should double in size.
Step 4. Lightly dust the surface with flour. Spoon out the risen dough. Stretch the dough gently to fold three times. Fold up again. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes. The dough at this stage will be a little sticky; you should not add excessive flour.
Step 5. Take a large bowl, cover with parchment, towel or cotton rag. The towel will allow the excess moisture in the dough to be absorbed. The dough is left in a warm place for 1-2 hours before rising.
Step 6. Sprinkle the work surface with flour and shape the dough into a ball. Take an embossed basket sprinkled with flour. You can sprinkle the bottom of the basket with oat, wheat or any other bran, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or sunflower seeds. It is also possible to add dried fruits to the dough. Transfer the dough. Cover with cling film. Let the dough rise.
Step 7. When the dough has risen, turn the basket over and put the dough in a round dish greased with sunflower oil (a cauldron, a large saucepan with a lid, a deep cast-iron pan with a lid, etc. will do).
Step 8. Bake at 200-220 ° C under the lid for 30 minutes, remove the lid and cook for another 15 minutes.
How to use sourdough in baked goods?
After about a week (5-7 days), when the activity of the sourdough bacteria stabilized and a pleasant sour smell appeared, it can be safely used for kneading the main dough and baking bakery products.
It is important to observe the starter: the barely increased sourdough began to fall - this is the very moment when the sourdough can be used for bread dough.
You should take half of the active starter culture (according to the first recipe, this is about 100 g, according to the second - one glass, or 200-220 g, according to the third - 2 tablespoons), while not forgetting to add a fresh batch of flour-water, observing proportion.
If you add more active starter to the dough, then the time to rise the dough will be reduced, but the whole aroma of bread will not be revealed in the baked goods. Conversely, less starter - the bread rises longer in time, but its aroma will be richer.
It is important to know that bread dough with homemade sourdough rises much more slowly than with the usual yeast. Therefore, baking should be planned in advance and kneaded the day before baking.
Yeast in any recipe can be replaced with sourdough, depending on the dough. On average, 1 sachet of dry yeast is replaced by 1 cup of starter culture. It is best to start with sourdough when kneading the dough, then add flour, salt, and at the end add water - this way it is easier to control the consistency of the dough.
