Sourdough Ferment
Sourdough is the oldest form of leavened bread and was used at least as early as ancient Egypt. It was probably discovered by accident when bread dough was left out and good microorganisms -- wild yeast -- drifted into the mix. The resulting bread had a lighter texture and better taste.
I think that” mass produced breads” have nothing to do with actual breads. Sometimes I wonder what made our society so lazy that we stopped paying attention to what we eat and how it is made. Most commercial breads are made quickly and that can only be done by using additives, emulsifiers, preservatives and fats. These processes are harmful to our health and can cause serious digestive problems. So if you are on my side, make charge of what goes into your bread, use natural ingredients which can actually help your digestion.
A sourdough bread acts as a prebiotic, which means that the fiber in the bread helps feed the “good” bacteria in your intestines. These bacteria are important for maintaining a stable, healthy digestive system. Sourdough is also lower in gluten than other forms of bread.
There are 4 stages in preparing the sourdough ferment:
Stage #1 takes 48 hours (fermentation takes place in (30°C or 86°F)
Stage #2 takes 24 hours (fermentation temperature no lower than (24°C or 75°F)
Stage # 3 requires of 200g of ferment to continue further fermentation and remaining amount can be dried in the oven into granules, and stored in the jar to use another time. This comes handy if you happen to neglect your ferment from refreshing and eventually it have died.
Stage #4 This Final Stage will prepare ferment to develop for 12 hours in temperature no lower than (24°C or 75°F) and after transferred to fridge for another 3 days. Now the ferment is ready for bread baking. It seems a bit complicated but it is worth trying.
Ingredients for Day #1
50g spelt flour
150g white bread flour
20g unpasteurized local honey
150g warm filtered water ranules in te
Instructions:
Mix all ingredients in the bowl with a danish whisk or spatula
Place it in a mason jar and cover with lid. Use large jar or use a bowl and cover it with plastic bag.
Leave jar in a warm place (30°C or 86°F) for 48hr. Keep it undisturbed.
Ingredients for Day #3
All mixture from 48 hrs fermentation
30g spelt flour
280g bread flour
150g warm filtered water
Instructions:
Mix all ingredients and put them back in the jar well covered.
Leave it for 24 hours in the warm area with temperature no lower than (24°C or 75°F).
After 24 hrs your ferment is ready. It will smell sweet and gently fermented.
Take only 200g of mixture for the next step and the remining mixture you will now need to dry out into granules in the oven( see instructions below) if you don’t want to throw it away.
Ingredients for Day #4.
200g mixture from 24 hrs fermentation
400g white bread flour
150g warm filtered water
Instructions:
Mix all ingredients in the bowl until you have a thick dough. Cover it with the plastic bag.
Leave it for 12 hours in the warm area with temperature no lower than (24°C or 75°F) where it will start to rise.
After 12 hours, transfer dough to bottom of your fridge for another 2-3days.
After 3 days, you will have 800g ferment. Take out half to bake sourdough bread (follow my recipes). Place other half in the large glass covered with lid and store it in the fridge. Make sure to refresh it every 4 days in order to keep it alive.
To feed the dough add 100g white bread flour along 50g water or 200g flour and 100g water and so forth.
Holiday ALERT! Don’t need to take it with you, just feed it with more flour and water to build up a quantity of 1.5kg and it will stay alive for 2 weeks.
Making a dry sourdough ferment- instructions-
Take all remaining mixture (app. 600g) and mix with 500g of white flour. It will make it stiff but that is ok.
Prepare a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
Turn the oven on to the lowest temperature you possibly can like 20° or 30° C
Shred the mixture into a small pieces, as tiny as possible, and spread over the tray.
Put the tray in the oven for 2-3 hours until the pieces are dried out.
Let it cool and after place in a food processer to turn them into fine granules.
Place them in the airtight jar.
To re-activate the granulated ferment add equal amount of warm water to equal amount of granules. Place the jar in warm place 25°C or 77°F- near the furnace perhaps for 2 days until you see bubbles forming in the jar. At this point add, the same weight of white flour with half weight of water. Leave it near furnace again for 24 hours until you see honey comb texture. Your mixture should be ready to use a sourdough ferment now.