Naturally leavened bread experiment.

[Pappa]

I've been doing a bit of reading about naturally leavened bread (using no added yeast) recently and I thought I'd try a few experiments.

I prepared two starters:

250g (15 Tbsp) Strong Wolemeal Bread Flour
175ml Brecon Carreg Mineral Water

Then I added 4 tsp of melted Pure Welsh Honey to one of the starters.

They were both mixed an kneaded, then placed out the garden in bowls for 30 minutes to capture the required natural yeasts and bacteria from the air. I don't think this is really necessary, as there are enough in my kitchen anyway, but I figured it probably wouldn't hurt.

The bowls were covered over with aluminium foil and placed in my living room to provide a bit of warmth.

I will need to feed and water them over the next week, then I'll report any successes or failures.

Pappa

 

[British Red]

I've been doing a bit of reading about naturally leavened bread (using no added yeast) recently and I thought I'd try a few experiments.

I prepared two starters:

250g (15 Tbsp) Strong Wolemeal Bread Flour
175ml Brecon Carreg Mineral Water

Then I added 4 tsp of melted Pure Welsh Honey to one of the starters.

They were both mixed an kneaded, then placed out the garden in bowls for 30 minutes to capture the required natural yeasts and bacteria from the air. I don't think this is really necessary, as there are enough in my kitchen anyway, but I figured it probably wouldn't hurt.

The bowls were covered over with aluminium foil and placed in my living room to provide a bit of warmth.

I will need to feed and water them over the next week, then I'll report any successes or failures.

Pappa

Pappa,

I'd be fascinated to hear how you get on - do let us know

Red

 

[jdlenton]

Please let us know how you get on this sounds very interesting. Where did you find out about this technique?

 

[Jjv110]

Pappa,

I hope achieve good results. I have tried this a few times and the bread is generally good.

I think if you're using wholemeal flour, the dough will not rise as much as if you were using white strong flour.

I think the secret to making good bread is to source the best possible flour you can. Some makes sold in the supermarket are totally useless and you'll never get the good results you could with top quailty flour.

After 5 days, you should put the fermented flour and water in the fridge and it won't keep any longer than 2 weeks, without care. Once you have made your first loaf, you top up the starter with equal amounts of flour and water, unless you use the whole lot, of course.

Keep some of the dough behind to add to your next loaf.

Good luck and tell of the results.

Cheers, Julian.

 

[Pappa]

Where did you find out about this technique?

I can't remember what I was looking for exactly, but I came accross this article and then the book it refers to:

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/105-02252004-252859.html
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1579547591/

Which got me interested, so I just started searching for naturally leavened bread on Google. There's tons of info out there, so I figured I'd try it out and keep notes of my attempts.

Julian, thanks for the info. Do you know what I should do if the starter is collonised by undesirable moulds? I assume it would be best to cut them out or throw it away, but I haven't read anything mentioning it as a problem.

Pappa

 

[match]

I've done a sourdough starter like this - rye flour, wheat flour, water, honey or sugar - and then kept adding to it at various points to increase its quantity - can't remember exact details, but will dig out my recipe and post it here some time soon.

 

[Pappa]

I checked the starters today. I'd left them a little bit longer than I should, so there were tiny patches of mould on the surface. The starter without honey had actually risen more than the one with honey, but only by a little bit. I discarded the one with honey in to concentrate on the other one. After scraping off and discarding the top layer I could see a good spongy texture, full of bubbles inside. I was actually quite surprised how much it had risen.

I added enough water and flour (the same types as before) to double its size. I made the mixture a lot wetter than I would normally for bread dough (following recommendations I read somewhere).

I'll leave it for another 3 or 4 days and then use some of it to make bread.

 

[clcuckow]

I checked the starters today. I'd left them a little bit longer than I should, so there were tiny patches of mould on the surface. The starter without honey had actually risen more than the one with honey, but only by a little bit. I discarded the one with honey in to concentrate on the other one. After scraping off and discarding the top layer I could see a good spongy texture, full of bubbles inside. I was actually quite surprised how much it had risen.

I added enough water and flour (the same types as before) to double its size. I made the mixture a lot wetter than I would normally for bread dough (following recommendations I read somewhere).

I'll leave it for another 3 or 4 days and then use some of it to make bread.

I was just thinking about the one with honey before I popped into this thread. I was thinking that isn't honey a natural antibiotic(the reason that is keep indefinatly)? and as such wouldn't it kill of a lot of the natural yeasts?

 

[Pappa]

I was just thinking about the one with honey before I popped into this thread. I was thinking that isn't honey a natural antibiotic(the reason that is keep indefinatly)? and as such wouldn't it kill of a lot of the natural yeasts?

I was thinking that before I used it, but I assumed that, watered down so much, it probably wouldn't work that well as an antibiotic (honey being super-saturated sugar solution). Plus the sugar would be food for the microbes too. It's impossible to say if there was any real difference because of the honey though; not unless I perform the same test 99 more times.

Pappa

 

[Pappa]

Hmmm, the end result was a bit of a disaster. The last addition of flour and water didn't rise much. I baked it anyway, just to see. It rose fairly well in the oven, although it was still quite a dense bread. Unfortunately, I then ate the bread. The initial flavour was nice, sweet and nutty, but then the aftertaste kicked in. I can't really describe the flavour, but it was not unlike the experience of swigging back a load of milk, only to discover, to late, that it's gone off.

With hindsight, I did leave the starter for longer than I should have. I also checked some of the stuff I'd been reading, and apparently, whole wheat flour ferments much quicker than white four, it needs to be kept in check by being drier and refrigerating it once it's risen.

Never mind. I'll just have to try again.

Pappa