Active Culture, Ready-to-use
The primary component in any sourdough bread is the yeast. Commercial yeasts are perfectly serviceable for a wide variety of breads, but in my opinion, the best sourdough is made the old-fashioned way-- with wild yeast. It is surprisingly easy to culture wild yeast at home, as these hardy microorganisms occur naturally on the skins of fruits and berries, to include the wheat that is used in the production of the most commonly used baking flours.
My preferred method of culturing yeast for baking begins with fruit. Strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, plums, peaches or even apples would be appropriate, though the softer fruits such as the berries are easier to work with.
Here's what we'll need:
- 1-2 pounds of fruit, enough to produce one to one and one-half cups when juiced.
- 2 cups of flour (preferrably unbleached, but all-purpose flour and bread flour will work. (DO NOT USE SELF-RISING FLOUR. The leavening agents present in self-rising flour will stunt the growth of your yeast colony, if not prevent it from growing at all.)
- Approx. 1 cup of water.
- Jar with lid, 16oz or larger.
First remove any seeds, pits or cores from your fruit. Crush by hand (or puree/liquefy in a blender or food processor) until soupy, and strain the juice into a container. Leaving some pulp/skin in the resulting juice is fine, as there won't really be any of it left by the time you get to baking.
Next, add two tablespoons of flour to the jar, along with two tablespoons of the fruit juice. Mix together until a wet, loose dough forms. Cover the jar lightly (not airtight!), and leave out at room temperature.
Now we have the be a little patient, as this part of the process involves mixing in another 2 tablespoons of both flour and juice every 24 hours for 5-7 days, then substituting the juice with 2 tablespoons of water for an additional 3-7 days or so. As you approach the two week mark, the little doughball should have grown a little bit, and begun smelling bready and a bit sour. It may even develop a little clear or yellowish liquid on top of it between feedings, this along with the odor is normal and a result of our yeast colony doing exactly what we want it to do, eat and reproduce.
Over the previous two weeks, we've taken a handful (relatively speaking) of yeast cells from some fruit and grown it into a colony numbering in the hundreds of millions, if not more. As they've fed and divided, they've produced some of the things that make sourdough taste the way it does, primarily lactic and acetic acids (and a fair bit of alcohol, which mostly what that liquid that accumulates is comprised of).
The final step involves the preparation of the culture for use and storage. While we have at this point created as much as a half a cup of culture, we're going to need more than that if we want to bake and maintain the culture for future use. Add approximately 1 cup of warm water and 1/2 cup of flour to the jar, or enough to fill it about 3/4 full before mixing. You can mix this with a spoon or put the lid on the jar (you still have the lid, don't you?) and shake it to mix the culture with the massive amount of food you just gave it.
Nice, clean jar and some fresh food for the colony.
The resulting mixture should be thinner than pancake batter.
We now have a yeast culture ready for baking! It's been a long couple of weeks, but the culture we've produced will easily last indefinitely if fed and stored properly (discard half of the culture and feed 1/2 cup each flour and water once a month if you haven't used it). For the most part it will live in the refrigerator, the yeast eating and reproducing at a much slower rate, until the next time you use it. It will likely develop separate into dense doughy substance and a clear to yellowish liquid over time, this is normal and you can mix it up before use or dispose of the liquid (compensating for with water in your recipie), if you so choose. The key is to leave 1/4-1/2 cup of the culture in the jar when you bake, and feeding it water and flour before returning it to the fridge. If I'm planning to bake again soon I'll feed it 1 cup each of flour and water, otherwise 1/2 cup each and mix well before putting it away. It will exist fine at room temperature for as long as a week or two if you're baking frequently, but any longer than that and you potentially risk spoilage.
Culture ready for storage.
To wake the culture again, simply set the jar out at room temperature for a few hours, then feed equal parts flour and water to make however much is needed at the time, plus the aforementioned 1/2-1/4 cup leftover to maintain the culture. I most commonly use one cup of culture when baking, but more may be needed if making larger amounts of baked goods. While I primarily make sourdough breads with mine, you can substitute one cup of culture for 1/2 cup each of flour and water in pretty much any bread, cookie or cake recipe. Feel free to experiment and enjoy the results!
Next:
No comments:
Post a Comment