Sourdough for rye bread. Natural sourdough for any baking (without purchased yeast)

Homemade bread is fragrant, crispy, tasty and, of course, healthy. It is prepared from simple, proven ingredients. In this case, the flour can be whole grain, wheat, rye. For a change, it will not be superfluous to add sesame seeds, seeds, nuts, honey, pumpkin.

It is baked in any available form: a round cast-iron pan, on a baking sheet with high sides, in a special form for bread.

Description

The most correct and complete bread recipe begins with sourdough (see photo below). It is necessary to prepare a starter (sourdough) on flour and water. You can also buy it in a store in a dry form and dilute it with water in the required proportions before kneading the dough (information is indicated on the package).

Very popular is the so-called "eternal" sourdough, which consists of flour and water. It is prepared initially for several days, and then the base is simply stored in the refrigerator until the next dough batch.

The recipe for "eternal" sourdough

• First day: it is necessary to place 100 grams of each component in a container. Mix the mass thoroughly until a creamy state. After that, cover the container with the future sourdough with cling film or a clean towel and put it in a warm place (avoid draft) for 24 hours - until small bubbles appear (it is advisable to mix the mass periodically).
• Second day: "top dressing" of the starter. Remove the container from a warm place and again add about 100 grams of the main components to the desired consistency. Then cover with a towel and return to a warm shelter for another 24 hours.
• Third day: take out the container - now you can see a lot of bubbles on the surface of the sourdough, which form the so-called foam cap. Add the components again and return to their place, periodically observing the starter, which has already become strong. Now it is important to catch the moment of its full maturation. Then divide into two equal parts: place the first in a jar with a nylon lid (with holes), which is set aside in a cold place, and the second is used for baking bread.

Dough

Baking sourdough bread (according to the correct and complete recipe) is not a particularly laborious task, but it requires certain knowledge, skills, patience and endurance.

According to the technology of making bread, it is necessary to prepare in parallel, as it were, two types of dough - unleavened and directly bread. This is necessary so that all the necessary processes of dissolution and fermentation can be carried out: in the sourdough, the protein component of the flour swells well, which contributes to a greater development of gluten during dough kneading. This directly affects the quality and taste of the finished bread.

It is important to note the following subtle point. When baking a product even from flour with a low protein content, following this sequence in the dough kneading technology (sourdough, general kneading) will allow you to make delicious bread.

And when both types of dough are ready, you can begin the stage of general kneading, kneading, with a subsequent approach (increase in volume).

How to knead

For sourdough bread (correct and complete recipe), kneading and kneading the dough can be done in several ways: manually, in a special dough mixer or in a bread machine.

This process should take about 15-20 minutes. It is very important that the mass gradually acquires an elastic consistency. Then you need to leave the dough for 30 minutes so that it "rests". After that, you can form a bread blank.

Just before baking for several hours, it is important to place the bun either in a mold or in a basket with a napkin pre-sprinkled with flour, and then put it in heat for 2.5 hours. So it will go through the proofing stage. At the same time, the grain preparation should grow 2-3 times. If desired, the top can be greased with milk and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

After that, the bread can be baked. For this, an oven, a bread machine, a slow cooker are suitable.

This article will look at several correct and complete recipes for sourdough bread.

In the oven

For kneading, you need simple components that are easy to get, even when you are far from civilization. The bread is delicious and flavorful. And it can keep for a whole week.

Ingredients:

• sourdough (base) - 340 grams;
• water - 200 grams;
• wheat flour - 400 grams;
• salt - 10 grams;
• vegetable oil - 20 grams.

Cooking:

Baking in a bread maker

Of course, with the advent of home electrical devices, kneading dough and baking delicious bread has become much easier. The equipment has several programs, a timer, special containers and other useful household accessories. Can be made with yeast or sourdough.

The complete and correct recipe for bread in a bread machine (for a change, rye) is as follows.

Ingredients:

• sourdough (from rye flour) - 300 grams;
• wheat flour (grade 1-2) - 200 grams;
• rye flour - 130 grams;
• vegetable oil - 1 tablespoon;
• salt 1.5-2 teaspoons;
• water - 230 grams;
• honey - 1 tablespoon (for color and softness of taste).

Cooking:

1. Prepare the sourdough from rye flour in advance (according to the recipe for the “eternal” sourdough). Take part for baking bread.
2. Mix fresh starter with ingredients (honey can be melted).
3. Knead the dough, carefully breaking up the lumps and carefully adding water.
4. The consistency for rye bread should be slightly watery and sticky.
5. Put the dough into a mold to fit.
6. After 3 hours, turn on the oven to the “Baking” mode, without kneading (1-1.5 hours).

There is such a nuance: in order to get bread with additives (nuts, seeds, raisins), it is necessary to add grains, raisins after the end of the kneading (if this is done in a bread machine!) Some kitchen appliances beep. Once it sounds, you can add all the additional ingredients.

Sourdough bread in a slow cooker

A correct and complete recipe that involves the use of the following ingredients:

• sourdough - 1 full tablespoon;
• water - 300 grams;
• salt - 10 grams;
• wheat flour - 700-800 grams;
• vegetable oil - 15 grams;
• sugar - 25 grams;
• sour cream - 3 tablespoons;
• chicken egg - 1 piece.

Cooking:

1. Place water, egg (whipped), sugar and sourdough in a deep container. Mix everything. Add salt, sour cream, vegetable oil and stir.
2. Sift flour and add to ingredients. Knead the dough.
3. When it becomes elastic, put on a floured napkin in a basket or colander, leave for 1 hour, covered with a towel.
4. After that, knead again and put in a multicooker container (previously lubricated with oil), cover with a lid and leave for proofing (2 hours).
5. Select the multicooker mode "Cassel" (duration - 1 hour).
6. After the indicated time, open the slow cooker, turn the bread over and leave to bake for another 15-30 minutes.

Pumpkin sourdough bread

The recipe (complete and correct) of such a fragrant homemade dish with the addition of pumpkin puree, sesame, seeds, walnuts will pleasantly surprise loved ones, and also give a boost of energy and vivacity for the whole day.

It is based on sourdough wheat flour, baked pumpkin puree and whole grain flour.

Ingredients:

• sourdough - 300 grams;
• whole grain rye flour - 100 grams;
• whole wheat flour - 400 grams;
• salt - 15 grams;
• vegetable oil - 50 grams;
• honey - 50 grams;
• pumpkin puree - 500 grams;
• seeds - 3 tablespoons (flax, pumpkin seeds);
• walnuts - 3 tablespoons;
• sesame - 10 grams.

Almost no water is needed as pumpkin puree contains juice. You can add quite a bit if needed.

Cooking:

1. Mix the finished part of the starter with pumpkin puree, flour, seeds. Knead a tight dough, leave for 20 minutes.
2. Continue kneading, add salt and honey (if the density becomes too high, add some water).
3. For an elastic consistency, add vegetable oil. The dough will be a little sticky - this is normal. This effect is obtained because of the pumpkin.
4. Make a bun and put it in a greased form, cover and leave for 3 hours.
5. After that, you can decorate the surface with seeds, sesame seeds, make cuts. Leave under a towel or film for proofing (2 hours).
6. Bake at 200 degrees until golden brown.

Summary

An important feature of the final stage of making bread at home is the process of cooling it. It is recommended to wrap the loaf in a clean towel or put it on a wire rack, leave it for 2-3 hours. After that, the product is considered to be completely finished.

This is a scary phrase! Now I smile and think fondly of my favorite rye flour sourdough jar for my homemade bread. But, once everything was shrinking inside me from this one concept of rye sourdough. People who bake sourdough bread seemed to me some kind of bread celestials, sensei of flour and wild yeast. And so, one day I decided to experiment and bring out the sourdough for bread from rye flour. To be honest, I do not feel phobias about yeast in all its manifestations, the so-called pressed and dry ones, and rye sourdough was interesting to me primarily in terms of taste, and not for reasons of usefulness and naturalness. But when I imagined the very taste of fragrant bread from childhood rye flour sourdough for my future homemade bread became for me just an idea fix.

Before my experiment, I quite calmly baked bread with yeast, both white and black (rye, rye with malt), but black did not quite suit me in terms of taste. It lacked the sourness characteristic of rye bread. Who, at least once baked rye bread with yeast, will understand me. And so, having gathered all my will into a fist, I decided to put rye sourdough.

It’s rare for me that it’s given the first time, so I managed to bring out the rye sourdough for bread at home only the third time, BUT it was worth it! What a fragrant and tasty bread is obtained on rye sourdough. Just for a week of increased attention to one jar, the most delicious yeast-free bread in the world will be at your home.

Less words, more to the point! In this article, I will try to describe and show the whole process of breeding rye sourdough as briefly as possible, but informatively. I won't go into the wild yeast theory about how it gets activated when your sourdough is fermented, but will just describe the hatching process if you need more scientific information, I can of course dig through the literature and prepare an article on this topic, but in my experience, few people are interested in "why?", everyone is interested in "how?"

And so, let's get started sourdough bread at home. We will display the easiest rye sourdough for beginners 100% moisture, or as it is often called.

For this we need 100g. peeled rye flour and 100g. filtered water (you can just boil it at room temperature) and a clean jar of about 0.7 liters.

We mix water and flour until combined, you don’t need to knead anything, just mix it, the flour is all moistened and that’s it! The mass in the jar will be thick and sticky. We closed it with a lid / film, removed it away from the sun (I put it on the refrigerator) and wait.

First day will not bring you any changes in the contents of the jar, very rarely, but still there is a violent reaction and active growth is observed, i.e. the contents of your jar will increase in volume, but usually the starter is still dormant on the first day. We're just waiting and watching. The smell in the jar is the smell of wet flour.

On the second day the first signs of fermentation may appear, characteristic pores will appear in the mass, but we are still waiting, we are giving our ward a little fermentation. The smell in the jar is the smell of wet flour mixed with putrefactive, but don’t “gouge your eyes out”, in general it doesn’t smell very pleasant, but tolerable, there shouldn’t be a completely terrible smell. If on the second day your starter is full of pores, has doubled in size and starts to smell of sourness, then it's time to feed!

On the third day signs of fermentation are already clearly visible in the jar, the volume of the sourdough has doubled and characteristic notes of sourness appear in the smell - it's time to feed it for the first time. We feed!

This process is always the same in essence, we just update our water-flour mixture and add some of our fermented mass there. The essence of this process is to give fresh food to those acidic microorganisms that live in your first starter. This does not allow putrefactive processes to develop in the bank, and a kind of selection of stronger and more tenacious organisms takes place. Of course, this is a very primitive explanation of the process, but we are not going for scientific knowledge, but for delicious bread!

Feeding- take 100 gr. peeled rye flour and 100g. filtered water (you can just boil it at room temperature) and a clean jar of about 0.7 liters, like the first time, but this time we add 50g to the mixture. starter cultures from our first jar. Close the lid and remove. I do this, pour water, add sourdough, mix so that the sourdough spreads a little, pour in the flour and mix until the flour is combined and evenly moistened. Discard the rest of the old yeast.

After about 10-12 hours, we look into the jar, the sourdough should be porous and at least doubled in volume. The smell in the jar is more sour than putrid, but unpleasant notes are still present, although there may be no unpleasant smell at all, but only a pleasant sour smell. There can be three scenarios for the development of events:

1. Your sourdough is already trying to jump out of the jar, or you have already missed this moment and it has settled in you (this can be seen from the characteristic traces in the jar, the place to which the sourdough once rose is clearly visible) – feed immediately (100/100/50)
2. Your starter looks great, all in bubbles, well increased in volume - feed (100/100/50)
3. Your starter is showing signs of fermentation, there are bubbles, but there are not many of them, it has increased slightly - we are waiting! We don’t feed, we wait another 5-10 hours, we observe, in theory, if you did everything right, then after this time you should have in the bank what is described in paragraphs 1 and 2, now we feed (100/100/50)

Throw away the rest, just like the first time.

After the second feeding - we observe, depending on the strength of the starter, it can take from 5 to 12 hours before the next feeding. As soon as you see that your starter looks great again, all in bubbles, well increased in volume, then we immediately feed it. Throw away the rest again.

Usually, rye sourdough very regime creature, my early starter was ready to be fed every 12 hours. As she “grows up”, the periods between feedings are reduced, everything is simple, as soon as you notice that your ward requires feeding at shorter intervals, then you can safely move her to the refrigerator or slowly reduce the proportions of entering the starter 100/100/40, 100/100/30, 100/100/20, 100/100/10 Again, we reduce the proportions without fanaticism, but only when the periods between feedings become very short.

On the fourth feeding, your rye flour bread sourdough is ready to bake bread. Thus, as soon as you feed the sourdough for the fourth time, do not throw away the rest, but put fragrant bread on it.

That's all eternal rye flour sourdough you are ready! I will make a separate post on the main regime issues and issues of storing sourdough. you can also find it on the website.

Tip - start baking with the simplest recipe, for example, make it many times, get a feel for the structure and features, and only then take on complex recipes, such as

Nedzelenko Irina

Hi my name is Irina. I am the author and ideological inspirer of this project. I have had a love for cooking delicious and beautiful food since childhood, my mother, even in difficult and scarce Soviet times, managed to cook tasty, varied and beautiful from the simplest products available at that time in stores. Now I already have my own family, and I also love to pamper them with delicious and varied dishes. In our family, we pay great attention to the quality and composition of products, we don’t have sausages, purchased semi-finished products, and other products on the table, whose composition makes you think: “Why not go to chemists?”))) We love to travel and try national dishes from different cuisines of the world. Recently, I have become very interested in confectionery art, I regularly study and improve my knowledge in this direction. One day the thought occurred to me, why not create a website that would collect dishes from different cuisines of the world, complex modern culinary achievements, healthy dietary dishes, as well as simple, favorite recipes from our childhood, in general, everything that we are all interested in, but for this we have to shovel a bunch of information on the Internet. Of course, I alone can not master such a large-scale project. Therefore, I invited to work with me in a team of excellent authors. Each of them is unique in its style, approach, taste, but I vouch for each of them! I have selected an international team living in different parts of our planet, so that it would be interesting for you to get acquainted and try new dishes and flavor combinations, so that the world of food will shine for you with new colors! In the future, I plan to expand the geography of our authors, and therefore the geography of recipes for you. I really hope that you will like our site, that you will find it interesting, tasty and cozy here!

Baking bread in any folk cuisine is always a sacred, mysterious act, almost witchcraft. The secret of making bread was carefully kept in every family and passed down from generation to generation. The sourdough bread baked in the Russian oven was tasty and fragrant, it can be said that there is no such bread and cannot be found anywhere else in the world. The ancient science of baking is not forgotten today.

Russian bread sourdoughs were made from rye flour, straw, barley, wheat, hops... In remote villages, far from "enlightened" civilization, you can still find recipes for making bread without purchased yeast. Yeast-free sourdoughs and bread prepared on them enrich the body with organic acids, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, fiber, pectins, biostimulants - in general, with all those useful substances that are present in whole grains. In favor of sourdough bread, one experiment conducted by journalists from one of our television channels speaks. They bought an ordinary loaf of bread and compared it to bread baked at home. The camera recorded the changes that occur with the bread during the week. Store-bought bread became moldy on the second day. Three days later he was covered in black and green fluff. And the homemade bread just got stale. It's just that sourdough bread, in principle, cannot get moldy - the acidic environment kills all harmful bacteria and does not touch the beneficial ones.

So, if you are ripe for baking homemade bread, the first thing to do is to prepare the sourdough. There is nothing terrible and difficult in this. You do not need to tremble over it, like over a crystal vase, just mix the right products and wait, and the result will definitely be. To begin with, we will decide what kind of starter we will prepare. Starter cultures are different: rye, wheat, malt, hop, potato, raisin, even rice - they are all good (each in its own way) for baking bread. I must say that rye flour is best suited for making sourdough, as it retains all the beneficial substances that are not found in refined wheat. That is why sourdough on wheat flour often strays towards pathogenic flora, turns sour and becomes unusable. It is better to prepare wheat sourdough for one or two times, but rye sourdough can be successfully used for more than one year, the main thing is to store and “feed” it correctly.

1 day: Mix 100 g of rye flour with clean water to the consistency of thick sour cream, cover with a damp cloth and put in a warm place without drafts.
2 day: bubbles should appear on the starter. If there are few of them, no big deal. Now the starter needs to be fed. We add 100 g of flour and add water to get the consistency of thick sour cream again. Leave it in a warm place again.
3 day: the sourdough has grown in size and has a foamy texture. Again, add 100 g of flour and water and leave in a warm place.
A day later, the sourdough is ready for use. Divide it in half, put one part in a jar and cover with a cloth or a lid with holes to breathe, and put in the refrigerator. The other part is used for baking bread.

1 day: crush a handful of raisins with a crush, mix with ½ cup of water and ½ cup of rye flour, add 1 tsp. sugar or honey, put everything in a jar, cover with a cloth or a leaky lid and put in a warm place.
2 day: strain the starter, add 4 tbsp. flour and warm water until the density of sour cream and again put in a warm place.
3 day: leaven is ready. Divide it in half, as in the previous recipe, add 4 tablespoons to one part. flour, water (until the density of sour cream) and refrigerate. Use the other part for baking bread.

1 day: Soak 1 cup of grain (wheat for wheat bread or rye for “black bread”) for sprouting, wrap the dishes with a towel, put in a warm place.
2 day: if not all of the grain has sprouted, then rinse it, wrap it up and leave it in a warm place until the evening. In the evening, grind the grain in a blender or combine (be careful not to burn the motor!), mix with 2 tbsp. rye flour, 1 tsp sugar or honey, put in a warm place under a lid or towel.
3 day: the sourdough can be divided (as in previous recipes), one part can be left in the refrigerator, and the other part can be used to make sourdough.
As an option, grain sourdough can be cooked boiled. Mix the ground grain with flour, sugar and water (if it is dry) and put in a saucepan over a small fire. Cook for 20 minutes, remove from heat, wrap and put in a warm place. Then proceed as usual - feed, divide, etc.

1 day: Pour 100 g of rice with 150 ml of warm water, add 1 tsp. sugar and leave in a cool place for three days.
3 day: add 3 tbsp. with a hill of wheat flour and 1 tsp. Sahara.
4th day: mix the starter and add 100 ml of warm water and 1 tbsp with a slide of flour.
Day 5: strain the starter, add 1 tsp. sugar and 4 tbsp. with a heap of flour.
After a few hours, you can cook the dough. Set aside part of the starter to prepare the dough, put the rest of the starter in the refrigerator. This starter is ideal for pies, buns and pancakes.

1 day: in the evening, pour 1 tbsp in a thermos. dry hop cones 1 cup boiling water, close the thermos and leave until the morning.
2 day: strain the resulting infusion into a two-liter jar, add 1 tbsp. sugar or honey, stir well, add rye flour to the consistency of thick sour cream. Put in a warm place, covering the jar with a cloth.
3 day: the starter will become liquid and frothy, the smell is still unpleasant. Add flour until thick sour cream, cover and put in a warm place.
Day 4: mix the sourdough, add warm water (1/2 or 1/3 of the sourdough volume), mix and add the flour until the sour cream thickens.
Day 5: add water and flour again.
Day 6: use part of the starter to make dough, put the remaining starter in the refrigerator, adding water and flour until sour cream is thick.

As you can see, nothing incredible, the sourdough grows with minimal intervention from us. But for the preparation of dough and for baking bread, some skill is needed. But the most important thing is that sourdough bread must be prepared in a good mood, otherwise nothing will work. Checked.

Opara

Homemade bread is cooked on a sponge - this allows the live yeast in the sourdough to gain strength. One glass of sourdough is approximately equal to 40 g of pressed yeast (or 1.5 tablespoons of dry yeast). Pour a glass of sourdough into a wide bowl, add 350-500 ml of warm water, stir and add so much sifted flour to make a batter with the consistency of thick sour cream. Cover with a towel and put in a warm place overnight.

Dough

Knead the dough in the morning. Opara should “walk” well during the night, rise 2 times and have time to go down. In ½ cup of warm water, stir 1 tbsp. honey and 1 tsp. salt (the proportions are approximate, they can be changed), add to the dough, mix well. Then add all kinds of fillers and spices to taste: bran (about half a glass or more), ½ tsp. ground cloves, ground coriander on the tip of a knife, 1 tsp each. ground ginger and nutmeg, 2-3 tablespoons of unrefined sunflower oil. You can add raisins, seeds, nuts, flax seeds, oatmeal, boiled potatoes, quinoa seeds, pumpkin seeds - in general, for every taste. Mix everything thoroughly and pour in the sifted rye flour - so much so that there is a spoon in the dough, that is, a fairly thick dough should turn out. Then we pour wheat flour on the table, dump out the dough, sprinkle flour on top and begin to knead and fold it. Do not knead, but knead, sprinkling with flour so that your hands do not stick, and fold it into an envelope. Then knead again and fold again. Sprinkle with flour so that the dough does not stick to your hands, but do not add too much flour, otherwise the bread will turn out to be dense, unbaked.

Ideally, the dough should be dry on top and sticky on the inside. Rye dough will always be sticky, so you need to focus on its outer side. As soon as the dough can be held in your hands, knead it, fold the corners, forming a ball. Then we take the dough in our hands and smooth the ball of dough, shaking off excess flour and turning the dough inside the ball. We spread the prepared dough in a frying pan or cast iron pan, greased with oil, seam down, and leave in a warm place. The surface of the loaf can be sprinkled with water and sprinkled with sesame or flax seeds. And you can make cuts or decorate with thin strips of dough. The dough rises 1-3 hours.

bread baking

We bake bread in the oven at a temperature of 220-230ºС, "with steam" - that is, you need to put a bowl of water on the bottom of the oven. Do not open the door for the first 20 minutes! Bread is baked for 40-60 minutes, depending on the size. Wrap the finished bread in a towel and leave for a day - this is a must. Properly baked bread, when tapped on the crust, makes a ringing sound, and the crumb fully expands when squeezed.

There are many options for homemade bread recipes: you can bake pure rye bread, similar to Borodinsky, you can add pea flour or boiled potatoes, grind pre-soaked grain or add sprouts, increase the amount of wheat flour or even bake white bread - it all depends on your imagination. In any case, home-made sourdough bread with love will only benefit your household. Bon appetit!

Larisa Shuftaykina

Step 1: Prepare the starter from flour and water.

On the first day, sift 100 grams of wheat flour or any other into a deep bowl, add 100 grams of clean filtered water and stir well. In the end, you should get a mass of pasty consistency that looks like thick sour cream or even cream. Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel and place in a warm, draught-free spot. In this state, the starter should roam about 1 day. At first, the flour will sag under water, so don't let that scare you. Just stir it occasionally 3-4 times a day will be quite enough. After this time, small rare bubbles should appear on the starter.

Step 2: On the second day, add more flour and water.

On the second day, our sourdough needs to be fed, as it were. To do this, again sift through a fine sieve directly into the bowl 100g flour and add the same amount of water. Stir and again reach the consistency of the mass as thick sour cream. Also cover the bowl with a damp towel and put in a warm place without drafts. After this time, we expect bubbles on the sourdough, there should already be a little more of them. It is necessary to stir the sourdough for at least 4 times in the second day.

Step 3: Bring the sourdough to readiness.

On the third day, as a rule, questions should not arise. The mass should bubble and rise well, and a foam cap should form on the surface of the starter. Again, add water and flour to the sourdough in the same proportion, mix well, cover with a towel and put in a warm place for another day. Don't forget to stir it occasionally. When the foam mass is ready, feed it again and leave it for stratification on the fourth day. During this time, the sourdough should increase in size by about times in 2, this will be the peak of her form. It is very important not to miss this moment, because it is then that she is very strong. After that, the sourdough can be divided into 2 halves, add one part to the dough for baking bread, but place the second in a clean jar, wrap it tightly with polyethylene on top, make holes in it so that our sourdough does not suffocate and place in the refrigerator. Before you are going to bake bread, take it out again, feed it according to the technology described above and it is ready.

Step 4: We serve the sourdough for Eternal bread.

To bake one loaf, you will need approximately 6 tablespoons sourdough. The effect of using such a starter will not only surprise you, but will truly delight and delight the whole family and guests, the bread turns out to be simply fabulous in taste. Enjoy your meal!

There is one old way how to speed up the reaction. If there are no bubbles for a long time, then add a pinch of sugar to the mass.

It is not for nothing that the sourdough is called “Eternal”. It can be stored in the refrigerator for a very long time. But before you start using it, you need to "feed" it. To do this, you need to get it out of the refrigerator, add a little flour and water (3 tablespoons of each ingredient) and keep it warm a little. As soon as you see the reaction, you can proceed to further cooking.

A well-composed diet is dominated by cereals and other grains, including bread, which are a source of valuable nutrients. In our area, the traditional and popular source of fiber, protein, starch, B vitamins and trace elements is bread.

What is sourdough, and where does the sour taste come from?

We can say that our health largely depends on the quality of bread. Meanwhile, more and more baked goods are coming to the market with various additives, improvers and fillers. These pastries are not only unpalatable, too airy or flavored, but sometimes contain dangerous ingredients. the person then becomes apparent.

At the same time, home production, the use of starter cultures will allow us to bake healthy pastries, in the quality and composition of which we can be 100% sure.

Sourdough for bread at home consists of beneficial and friendly bacteria, lactic acid, from which bread takes useful substances after fermentation. Natural fermentation caused by lactic acid bacteria eliminates carcinogenic compounds and stimulates the immune system. In the light of modern nutritional knowledge, homemade bread sourdough, which is based on wild yeast, can become part of our daily diet.

Sourdough for bread is a means for raising and acidifying the dough. It is a community of various tiny microorganisms that depend on each other and protect each other. Such communities are present in our midst often and in large numbers. In kefir, sauerkraut, etc., they contain various bacteria and yeast.

What is sourdough bread made of?

Its most important components are:

• bacteria responsible for the production of lactic acid;
• other beneficial bacteria that live in symbiosis with them;
• wild yeast, which works like industrial yeast, it produces carbon dioxide in the dough, which makes the dough rise.

Commercially made sourdough yeast bread has a somewhat distinct flavor. Although sometimes they try to fake this “sourness” by adding ordinary vinegar to bread made with industrial yeast.

What are the starter cultures?

Starter cultures can differ significantly from each other. Cultures of microorganisms, depending on the type of flour and grain, the region in which they are grown will be different. The secret lies in the presence of microorganisms that are located under the shell of the grain and in the air. You cannot compare a sourdough starter grown in one part of the country with the same product from the same recipe but from products grown in the opposite part of the country. The differences will be significant. One thing is for sure: each sourdough for rye bread or wheat, and maybe for corn is a unique product, has its own mysterious properties, and every culture we have bred deserves to be developed and cultivated.

So, the main types of this product:

• hop sourdough for bread,
• rye sourdough for bread without yeast,
• wheat sourdough for bread
• sourdough for bread without yeast eternal,
• sourdough for bread on kefir,
• monastery sourdough for bread,
• and many other types.

How to make sourdough for bread and why you should not be afraid of it?

Why is it worth adding sourdough to rye flour bread? If someone has already tried to bake 100% rye bread with yeast, he was convinced that this, unfortunately, is very difficult. Even if rye flour is only part of the recipe and used in a mixture with wheat flour, using it for baking is a difficult task. Beginning bakers are better off working with wheat flour products. Wheat flour has a lot of protein responsible for gluten, which holds the whole structure of the dough. Thus, it is easy to form a loaf from wheat flour that holds its shape quietly, while products made from rye flour are best always baked in a baking dish.

Rye flour contains less gluten. In addition, rye contains enzymes that interfere with the creation of a certain dough structure. Adding acidified dough will help inhibit this process. The acidification process involves the bacteria responsible for the production of lactic and acetic acid. The culture of "acidic" microorganisms in rye dough reproduces very readily. Thus, sourdough starter from rye is the most acidic of all options.

Thus, for those who want to bake bread with a predominance of rye flour, home-made sourdough for rye bread is better suited. Rye bread, which is baked only with the addition of yeast, is dense and poorer in taste. In other words, rye flour necessarily requires acidification. Wheat flour does not require this, but acidification is also possible. Sourdough wheat bread is much more flavorful and fresh much longer than bread made with yeast alone.

How to make sourdough for bread?

At present, it is not at all difficult to buy sourdough for bread; even dry sourdough for bread is sold. However, it is very simple to create this product at home with your own hands. All we need for this, we usually have at home, is flour and water. Flour should be unrefined and high-quality non-chlorinated water, you can take mineral water.

Here are a few methods for making sourdough for homemade bread:

1. The basic and oldest recipe for sourdough bread. Our great-grandmothers made sourdough by pouring warm water into clay pots with rye flour, the mixture was left for 3 days. After thorough mixing, fresh portions of flour and water were added, and a day after that, the sourdough for bread without yeast was ready.
2. Another old way to make yeast-free sourdough bread is to add flour and water in batches every 24 hours. A handful of flour, better than coarse grinding, about 100 g in weight must be thoroughly mixed with warm water to get a fairly thick paste in consistency like pancake dough or sour cream. We leave it all in a warm place, ideally next to the heater. Every 12 hours, this suspension must be thoroughly mixed, so that air bubbles appear, then cover with a lid and let stand again at rest. Every day you need to add a handful of flour and a little water to the consistency, as indicated above, and so continue for 4-5 days.

Temperature regime

To prepare homemade sourdough for bread, you must observe the appropriate temperature regime. The optimal temperature for the growth of beneficial microorganisms is between 25 and 30 °C, some sources indicate that up to 33-35 °C. At a lower temperature, fermentation takes longer, sometimes it does not work at all, at a temperature above 35-40 ° C, fermentation will stop, and at an even higher temperature, it may deteriorate.

Sourdough for yeast-free bread how to store?

Freshly grown sourdough can be used immediately for baking, leaving a small amount (50-100 g) that will be the starting mixture for the production of the next sourdough. It is stored in the refrigerator in a glass jar, lightly covered with a cloth or napkin that lets air in. Do not close the jar tightly with a bag or lid.

Homemade sourdough bread without yeast, what problems can arise?

A common problem faced by novice bakers is that the temperature in the apartment is too low. In summer this is not a problem, you can put the container on the sunny side of the window (but not in direct sunlight), and in winter you can place it near the heater, wrapped in a blanket, and installed under the lamp.

The mixture, which is left warm, begins to fill with gentle bubbles and turns more acidic. Bubbles, however, do not always need to be clearly visible, depending on the type and amount of bacteria that thrive in the mixture. With the formation of proper acidity, external signs subside and fermentation stops.

It's also a cause for concern for less experienced bakers: "my sourdough bubbled so beautifully, and now it's calmed down - what happened to it?". Absolutely nothing, that's fine.

Beginners as well as experienced bakers are concerned about the condition of the starter. Grading can be based on appearance, smell and texture.

The smell of sourdough depends on the flour used. Wholemeal rye flour smells quite intense. As the fermentation process stabilizes, the smell will improve. It may be similar to the smell of cottage cheese, citrus or apples.

It may happen that the bubbles are formed too intensively or vice versa quite slowly, or a sour smell is released (this is often the case with rye flour), or there may be a slightly fruity smell. A faint smell of acetic acid does not indicate problems, and is also a variant of the norm. A slightly faint smell of alcohol or acetone is also normal (especially when the jar has been in the refrigerator for a long time). In all these cases, there is a single principle: as long as our starter does not smell really bad, we can assume that this is normal.

Sourdough color can vary from light beige to brown, which also depends on the type of flour used and the age of the dough:

• yeast-free sourdough for homemade wheat flour bread, as well as a very young one, has a bright orange color;
• sourdough for bread made from rye flour, especially from freshly ground whole grains, is darker.

If the color does not change to red, green, blue or black, does not become covered with "hair", and does not mold, we can assume that this is a good product.

In addition, stratification of liquids is considered normal, as well as a light, yellowish or almost white coating on the surface.

These are all the symptoms that bother us, as a rule, they disappear after the addition of fresh flour and water.

Of course, there are many methods for cultivating sourdough. The method described above, that is, including only flour and water, is the most effective and safest. These methods have been used by our grandmothers for many years, namely: flour, water and air - that's all we need. Thus, never seal the jar tightly, it is better to cover it with gauze or a clean cloth.

What to do if fermentation goes badly?

Sometimes, however, fermentation proceeds sluggishly, bubbles appear, but there are very few of them. Then you should help and on the third day of fermentation, when feeding, throw away half of the old mixture, and add fresh portions of flour and water to the rest. This should revive her.

If flour and water, despite our efforts, do not ferment on their own, introduce components into the fermentation that activate fermentation. There are sources that recommend the use of a variety of natural accelerators. For those who have the above problems, you can use these to help ferment:

• sugar,
• buttermilk,
• water in which raisins have been soaked.

It happens, however, that fermentation does not proceed properly, and alien microbes enter the suspension, which is patiently grown for several days, forming a layer of mold on the surface. Then throw it away without regret. It is recommended to wash the used jar in hot water, rinse with boiling water, dry it and try again with new flour.

Is sourdough baking healthy?

The shell of the grain contains many minerals such as magnesium, zinc and others. These minerals are more easily absorbed by the human body after acidification, here's the thing. Ready-made sourdough for bread in a bread machine or slow cooker can be used without problems.

Is it possible to make sourdough for bread only from rye flour?

Absolutely not. In France, wheat sourdough is very popular, for example, it is used for the very common French bread, Pain de Campagne and baguettes. There is also a tradition in the United States of making sourdough bread, and even in Africa, sourdough dough is used to bake corn tortillas.

Making rye sourdough for bread is more popular in Central Europe and Scandinavia. When we talk about the typical taste of sourdough bread, we think that sour rye flour dough is used, because it gives the dough a specific taste. When preparing the dough, you can add any amount of wheat flour.

Rye sourdough bread recipe for 60 hours

This yeast-free bread sourdough recipe is found in Belgium, although it was made from wheat there, but the author recommends making it from rye by this method.

First stage on the first day at 20:00 pm

How to make sourdough for bread? To begin with, 50 g of rye flour should be mixed with 50 g of water, stirred and left in a warm place (26 ° C) for 24 hours.

Stage two – second day at 20:00 pm

After 24 hours, add the following ingredients to the mixture:

100 g rye flour + 100 ml water + 20 g sugar. Mix everything and leave in a warm place (26 ° C) for 24 hours. After adding sugar, after 12 hours, the starter will grow 3 times, it will smell sour, but pleasant. After 24 hours, it may fall off.

Third stage - on the third day at 20:00 pm

For this stage, you need to add the following ingredients:

100 g rye flour + 100 ml water. Stir and leave in a warm place (26°C) for 12 hours.

Sourdough in the amount of 500 g should be ready on the fourth day in the morning at 8:00.

Leave 100 g for further dilution, and bake bread with 400 g of flour, it is better to mix mixed wheat-rye or.

Sourdough Recipe for Unleavened Wheat Bread (French Sourdough)

First day. Mix 50 g of whole wheat flour with 150 ml of warm water, so as to obtain a mixture having the consistency of pancake dough. Leave in a warm place at 25-30 °C, cover with a cloth.

Second day. On the second day, you can already notice the first signs of fermentation. Natural yeast should start working. You must add another 100 g of flour and 100 ml of warm water and mix well, cover again and let stand in a warm place.

The third day. The sourdough starter is almost ready. On the surface, many bubbles break through the slightly dried dark top layer. Everything must be mixed well. When mixing, you can feel a well-tangible sour smell. Add another 100 g of flour and 100 ml of water and mix well again.

Fourth day- The French sourdough is ready. You can see numerous bubbles on the surface and feel the slightly sour smell it gives off. Thus, we got about 600 g of it, it can already be used to bake bread from it. You can later use it in recipes for sourdough bread for a bread machine, as well as for baking pan and hearth bread in the oven.