Thanks for the excellent video link, Rosie. I've become obsessed with bread in recent years--what it once meant to populations worldwide, and what's happened to it since. Quite shocking.
I joined the Real Bread Campaign, and became a member of the Southwest Grain Network, where I can buy local, chemical-free wheat from independent small farmers, which is then stoneground locally. And then I put myself through the surprisingly arduous task of learning to be a microbaker of artisan sourdough using non-standardised, always changing wheat. Yikes! Some dark nights of the soul there for awhile, until finally I started to be simpatico with the sourdough culture, letting the dough whisper to me.
All this is because I'm determined to be a local resource of real bread that truly nourishes. Some people understand what I'm doing, and they're very happy to have it...others would rather go to Reeves. (And so they should!)
Ha! I am still wrangling with standard flours and natural airborne yeasts! Finding a method that fits my life by trial and error (lots!) but really7 learning to observe and work with the dough stages rather than follow the book. It is enormously satisfyling and good on you bringing the bread to your community. We became obsessed over the festive break with watching YouTube films of artisan bakers around the World - especially Sux#zanne Lupien in the wolds of Canada. Just proves what can be done as long as you walk before you can run. Keep in touch please.
I really enjoyed watching this one over the holiday break… about the last baker of chestnut loaves in Tuscany. How are you capturing the natural airborne yeasts? That’s always been one science experiment a bit too far, for me! :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvAwcgo3rqY
I just mix around 300g flour and water and leave the tub open for 2-3 hours. Then put the lid on and leave somewhere warm - it seems to soon start bubbling. Then the next day I add the same amount of flour again to feed it and a little more water if it seems on the dry side. The next day if I want to bake, I take out around a teacupful and put it in warm water, the rest I add salt dissolved in a little water and then just tip it into a warm le creuset lined with baking paper and bake. I wash out my tub, put in 300g flour and the reserved dough and warm water and go again.
Having said this, if everything seems a little slow because it is all too cold I will add some dried yeast just to support it, not every time though - it depends how lively it is.
If I am not ready to bake I just add a small amount of flour as a feed and let it bubble on until the next day, maybe keep it somewhere cooler.
Hmm. Rather than needing to resort to yeast (although I get it) you might want to try holding back a crust from yesterday’s bread, soaking it til mushy and then throwing that in to kickstart your wild culture. (Or a bit of yesterday’s risen dough would work too.) As far as I can tell, the Romans and later medieval peasants (and possibly even a few French artisan bakers today?) still do that.
Thanks for the excellent video link, Rosie. I've become obsessed with bread in recent years--what it once meant to populations worldwide, and what's happened to it since. Quite shocking.
I joined the Real Bread Campaign, and became a member of the Southwest Grain Network, where I can buy local, chemical-free wheat from independent small farmers, which is then stoneground locally. And then I put myself through the surprisingly arduous task of learning to be a microbaker of artisan sourdough using non-standardised, always changing wheat. Yikes! Some dark nights of the soul there for awhile, until finally I started to be simpatico with the sourdough culture, letting the dough whisper to me.
All this is because I'm determined to be a local resource of real bread that truly nourishes. Some people understand what I'm doing, and they're very happy to have it...others would rather go to Reeves. (And so they should!)
Ha! I am still wrangling with standard flours and natural airborne yeasts! Finding a method that fits my life by trial and error (lots!) but really7 learning to observe and work with the dough stages rather than follow the book. It is enormously satisfyling and good on you bringing the bread to your community. We became obsessed over the festive break with watching YouTube films of artisan bakers around the World - especially Sux#zanne Lupien in the wolds of Canada. Just proves what can be done as long as you walk before you can run. Keep in touch please.
I really enjoyed watching this one over the holiday break… about the last baker of chestnut loaves in Tuscany. How are you capturing the natural airborne yeasts? That’s always been one science experiment a bit too far, for me! :-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvAwcgo3rqY
I just mix around 300g flour and water and leave the tub open for 2-3 hours. Then put the lid on and leave somewhere warm - it seems to soon start bubbling. Then the next day I add the same amount of flour again to feed it and a little more water if it seems on the dry side. The next day if I want to bake, I take out around a teacupful and put it in warm water, the rest I add salt dissolved in a little water and then just tip it into a warm le creuset lined with baking paper and bake. I wash out my tub, put in 300g flour and the reserved dough and warm water and go again.
Having said this, if everything seems a little slow because it is all too cold I will add some dried yeast just to support it, not every time though - it depends how lively it is.
If I am not ready to bake I just add a small amount of flour as a feed and let it bubble on until the next day, maybe keep it somewhere cooler.
Hmm. Rather than needing to resort to yeast (although I get it) you might want to try holding back a crust from yesterday’s bread, soaking it til mushy and then throwing that in to kickstart your wild culture. (Or a bit of yesterday’s risen dough would work too.) As far as I can tell, the Romans and later medieval peasants (and possibly even a few French artisan bakers today?) still do that.
Love it - and then there's potato water . . . . .