I was just thinking about this today as I made a batch of Italian bread. I worked with a non-profit, and we were building a handicap ramp for this couple's elderly live-in mother. The wife baked a LOT. She baked bread every single day, to sell in order to augment their income (she had regular customers) and for bake sales for her various organizations. She fed us when we worked there: cold cuts on homemade bread. Mmmmm... Made it tough to go back to work. Since I like to cook, she and I were talking about the stuff she made. She told me that she never buys yeast...that she captures it out of the air!!! They moved here from across the state (where she did the same thing), and she was pleased at the quality and the quantity of yeast in the air here in the county. I had never heard of such a thing, but I guess before factories and grocery stores, people had to get their yeast from somewhere. Once you get the starter, you can refrigerate it or feed it to keep it going. Here is an article on this. Following is an excerpt on the obvious question as to how you get the good critters [there's that word again] that are floating all around us while avoiding the bad critters that are floating all around us. Fascinating stuff.
My mother always had a 'sourdough starter, as I do also. I use it for breakfast pancakes and bread. It's somewhat slower than yeast from the store, but it also works better cold. I keep it in the refrigerator for weeks between uses. Even when I cheat a bit and add some store yeast, it still provides a nice flavor. I'm very picky about my bread. Most of what is in the supermarket shouldn't be considered 'bread.' My bread is two parts whole wheat and one part rye.
I have never heard of using a yeast base for pancakes. I agree about store-bought bread. When I was a kid, my mother bought our bread from the local bakery. It was a whole loaf, and they would run it through the slicer upon request. I'm still in search of a good sandwich bread recipe, if you've got one you could share. I find that most of the wheat flour recipes I've got are just way too dense for me, but I don't want bread that's 100% processed white flour. Can't find one that's "just right."
Years ago, I had some sourdough starter and I remember that it made wonderful pancakes and sourdough biscuits. I just ran across an old recipe for making a sourdough starter, and it seems simple enough for even an anti-cooking person like myself to try. So, I will be doing the great Sourdough Experiment today. Here is the recipe. It says for pancakes, but it seems to me like it could also be used to make sourdough biscuits. If that turns out, then I am going to make cinnamon rolls with it.
Interesting, isn't it? Let us know how they turn out. I've never done sourdough, but I have done a ton of Italian bread and ciabatta buns from a biga (overnight starter.) @James Hintze talked about his slow-rise yeast. That's how flavors develop. My favorite pizza dough rises in the fridge for 3 days. The one thing I'd like to throw out again is Diastatic Malt Powder. This enzyme breaks down the sugars in flour so as to make them more available to the yeast, getting a better rise and a browner crust. 1/2 tsp per 3 cups of flour is all it takes. I rarely make a yeast dough without it. It really makes a difference.
So..... the Grand Experiment is underway ! I used part white flour, part WW flour, and then took some wheat berries and ground them into a coarse flour for extra help making the wild yeast, since it is supposed to come from the flour coatings. I ended up with almost a quart jar of mix, and put one of my little lids that I use for sauerkraut on it, so it keeps everything from getting inside the jar, but will let gas escape. It is now sitting on my kitchen counter, and ready to start fermenting.
@Yvonne Smith You raised two points I was unaware of: 1-I have wheat berries and thought their only use to be in making flour when the Zombie Apocalypse is upon us. Are you saying they are a source of yeast? 2-I have wanted to make sauerkraut but was afraid to just wing it without experienced supervision because of the mold that grows on it. But I thought that mold to be a required part of the process. Do those lids prevent such mold but still allow the cabbage to ferment??? Do they eliminate that risk I've been worried about?
When you make sauerkraut, it should not mold at all. You have to make sure that all of the cabbage is under the salty water, and weighted down. The salt in the water stops any mold from growing. If it is simple enough for me, then anyone can do it. I found an easy recipe, and just followed that to start with, and it is just basically chopped up cabbage (in whatever size you like it), put salt on it, and then work it with your hands or pound it with a plastic thing that is made for making sauerkraut. Once it becomes softer and watery, then pack it into a quart jar, pushing it down with the pounder (I am sure it has some kind of actual name ?) as you go until it is tightly packed. I have some of those little glass weights that go on top if the cabbage to hold it under the brine . Pack it close to the top, but leave room for the weight, and fill to the top with more brine, so that the cabbage is all covered up in about an inch of brine. Make sure that nothing is floating on top, because that is what is apt to mold. You can sample it every day until it is the taste that you like. It keeps well in the refrigerator once it is done fermenting. I think there is a thread in here somewhere about my sauerkraut experiment. http://www.seniorsonly.club/threads/the-great-sauerkraut-experiment-has-begun.4637/ About the wheat berries, when I was looking at youtube videos about making sourdough, it said that the yeast comes off of the flour, and that WW or rye flour are good because they have more of the whole grain. Since I have lots of wheat berries, I just took about a half cup, washed them and added some water and put it in the Ninja blender until it was well blended. This page has good information . http://www.fermentacap.com/HeritagePickling.pdf
Here is the bowl and the thing to pound the cabbage for making sauerkraut or kimchi. I got it from the Korean Store down the road, but anything similar would work, or you can just knead the cabbage with your hands until it is soft enough. And these are the fermenting weights.
Interesting. I'll have to revisit this. I read about making sauerkraut in large crocks, and there was a discussion of the mold that formed on top and the need to scrape it away, and that dissuaded me from even trying.
I am intrested in making my own bread. Whatever bread is easiest for a beginner. What do i need and what kind of pan...stuff like that.
Here's a recipe I used over Thanksgiving that makes a single loaf of bread (many recipes make 2 loaves.) All you really need is a bowl large enough to hold the dough after its risen, and a loaf pan (although you can make rolls & buns out of most any bread dough.) If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, it takes the kneading part off of your back. Some folks buy a bread machine solely to let it do the kneading, then they make loaves or rolls or buns with it and bake in the oven. ********** White Bread Single Loaf 1 1⁄4 cups water (110° to 115°) 2 tablespoons butter 2 teaspoons sugar 3⁄4 teaspoon salt 1 (1/4 ounce) package yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp jarred yeast) 1 tablespoon flour 3 1⁄4 cups flour Mix the butter, sugar, and salt into the warm water. Stir in 1 tablespoon flour and the yeast. Wait 5 minutes; if yeast does not bubble buy new yeast. Put flour in a large bowl; stir in yeast mix. Stir thoroughly; turn onto a floured board and knead. Knead in as much of the flour as possible to make a satiny dough; if dough is sticky to the touch knead in more flour a tablespoon at a time. Put dough in a greased bowl and turn to coat. Cover with a clean damp towel and let rise until double…about an hour. Punch down; shape into loaf and put in greased loaf pan. Let rise...about an hour. Preheat oven 375. Bake at 375 for 50 minutes or until bottom sounds hollow when thumped. Can also be shaped into 12 dinner rolls or 8 hamburger buns. Bake for less time if using these shapes. ********** Here's a short vid on how to shape the dough for a loaf pan.
Thank you John. I keep trying to copy to clip tray and cant without getting all the posts on here. May hv to hand right down.
Yeh, it's tough to get the cursor in just the right spot so it doesn't select everything. One way to do it (rather than scrolling and highlighting) is to: -Go to the start of what you want to copy -Click the cursor to put it at the beginning (you won't see the cursor, but it's set there) -DO NOT HOLD DOWN THE MOUSE BUTTON and scroll to the end of what you want to copy (but don't click yet because you want the cursor to remain set at the beginning point) -Hold down the Shift key -Click the mouse at the end of what you want to copy This might make it easier for you to pluck out exactly what you want without "overshooting it" and getting the entire page. In the meantime, I attached a pdf file of the recipe for you to save & print.
I usually just take a screenshot of what I want to save and then crop off what is unnecessary, so that is another option. When I am using the recipe, I just take the ipad into the kitchen and pull up the recipe .