And another one… since I’m on a roll with fermented foodstuffs, I thought I’d bring up sourdough.
Sourdough is the traditional origin of leavened bread as we know it - at some point in the dim and distant past, someone left some bread dough out. Wild yeasts and other microbes got in, and fermentation started. When baked, this fermentation caused it to rise, and a whole new world of food was discovered.
Making sourdough is easy, and baking sourdough too. Rye flour is particularly suited to sourdough, since it attracts wild yeasts very well, develops amazing flavours, and is the kind of bread you can’t easily go out and buy without some effort. Rye is a traditional grain from Eastern Europe, and rye bread makes up a huge part of the Russian and Slavic diet.
To create a starter, do the following:
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Mix half a cup each rye flour and water together in a bowl.
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Cover with some muslin to keep dust and insects out, and leave it out to pick up some wild yeasts and bacteria.
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After a few days (3-7 usually) this mixture should have a yeasty, bready smell to it, and be full of bubbles.
You now have a sourdough starter, which is used in place of yeast in bread recipes (1/3 cup starter equates to 1tsp dried yeast). Put in a jar with a loose-fitting lid or cover.
Keep the starter in the fridge when not in use, to slow down fermentation. Remember to always keep some back when you bake to allow your starter to continue growing (just leaving the starter jar unwashed and adding fresh flour and water will suffice). Every now and then (1-2 weeks) pour out some starter and top up with fresh flour and water to renew the plant. Don’t worry if a grey/green liquid forms on the surface of the plant - this is alcohol - a by-product of the fermentation. Don’t try drinking it though! Just pour it off.
Sourdough Rye Bread
50g Starter
150g Rye Flour
300ml water
Mix the ingredients together, cover loosely and place in a warm place for 24 hours. This creates a large amount of starter, ready to make your bread rise.
Just before baking the bread, take 50g of mix back out again. This can be used to bake your next batch.
Starter mix
330g Rye Flour
200ml Water
5g Salt
Mix the ingredients together - the resulting mix should look like wet concrete. Place into a 2lb bread tin, and cover loosely. Prove for 2-4 hours, until the dough has risen to close to the top of the tin.
Bake at 240C for 15 minutes, then at 220C for a further 45 minutes. Cool completely, then wrap in a cloth or plastic wrap. This bread tastes best after the first 24 hours, and will keep for up to a week.
