How yeast-free sourdough bread is made. Recipe and secrets of making bread leaven without yeast

10.11.2020

For many years now, bread has been an integral part of the diet of many people. However, store-bought versions of the product do not always meet the needs of consumers. Home-made bread is a completely different matter. Such baked goods are organic and healthy, because they do not contain harmful additives and preservatives. That is why you need to know how to make bread leaven at home.

How to store starter culture

It is not necessary to prepare a new sourdough every time. Just one is enough, part of which you will leave for use next times. It is necessary to store the product in a cool place, covered with gauze or a light cloth. The remainder needs to be fed for the sourdough to grow.

Culinary experts note that the proving time when making sourdough bread should be increased to 4 hours.

There are many recipes for sourdough for homemade bread, but the most popular are kefir, potato and yeast-free.

Kefir sourdough for bread

Ingredients:

Sour milk or old kefir- 250 ml.
Rye flour - 250 g.

Preparation:

You can use ready-made yogurt or ferment kefir yourself. This will not affect the taste of the bread. Sour milk must be left for a couple of days, covered with gauze. You will notice that for 2-3 days on the surface dairy product bubbles will form and water will flake off. You can add flour to such curdled milk.

Flour must be taken from rye, previously sifted through a sieve. Flour is added to the curdled milk so that the mixture acquires the consistency of sour cream. It is very important to avoid the formation of lumps. Stir the mixture thoroughly.

The finished mixture should be covered with gauze and left in a cool place, so you start the fermentation process of the sourdough. To speed up fermentation, you can leave the starter in a warm place.

However, you should be careful, since with such storage the growth rate of the mixture is too high, sometimes the product is poured out of the dishes in large quantities.

The next day, add one more portion to the starter. rye flour to recreate the consistency of the pancake dough. Cover the starter with a cloth again and leave for a while. After a couple of hours, the fermentation process is activated. Do not be alarmed if the starter culture starts pouring out of the container - this is normal. The leaven will fizzle and boil. In this form, the leaven is ready for baking bread.

Separate a part from it for the next times. It is necessary to store the remainder in a glass jar at a temperature of 10-12 C. Baking with kefir sourdough turns out to be tender and has a pronounced sour taste.

Potato sourdough for bread

Ingredients:

Potatoes - 10 pcs.
honey - 0.5 tbsp. l.
wheat flour - a few spoons.

Preparation:

The first step is to boil 10 small peeled potatoes without adding salt and spices. Potatoes should not be boiled. The potato broth must be drained into a separate bowl to cool the liquid.

You need to puree the potatoes, diluting them with broth to achieve the effect of thick sour cream. Transfer the puree to a clean glass jar... Add half a tablespoon of honey to the sourdough.

Cover the jar with gauze so that the starter culture can breathe. In this form, the mixture should stand for 1-2 days.

Wait for bubbles to form on the surface. Only then can 2 tablespoons of wheat wallpaper be added to the potato sourdough. Next, you need to pour in 50 ml. warm water and stir the mixture. Cover with gauze and leave for another day.

On the fourth day, you will see that the water has separated from the total mass again. You can add to the starter wheat flour without bran in the amount of 1 tbsp. spoons. You also need to pour in some warm water. Make sure the temperature is pleasant to the hands and stir the starter culture. Cover again and put back in the original storage location.

On the fifth day, the leaven will begin to ferment actively. A slight acetone odor may be perceptible. But it is worth waiting another day so that the leaven is definitely ready. The next day, a pleasant sour aroma will appear. You can feed the sourdough with a spoonful of water and flour. Leave the mixture for another day. On the seventh day, you can put a dough from the potato sourdough.

Rye sourdough for bread

Ingredients:

rye whole grain flour- 300 gr.

Preparation:

The first step is mixing 100 grams of flour with water. You should get the consistency of thick sour cream. Cover the mixture with a napkin or gauze, send it stored in a warm place. Avoid drafts. On the second day, you will notice bubbles on the surface of the mixture. This means that the starter culture needs to be fed. Add 100 grams of flour and water to it. We put it back in the warmth.

The next day, the leaven will grow several times, its structure will become foamy. Add another 100 grams of flour to the water. On the fourth day, the leaven will be ready for baking bread from it.

We wish you success in making bread yourself.

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And now he offers to plunge into the mystery of baking homemade bread with this leaven.

With the dough I have strictly, I always measure all the ingredients on the scales or in spoons, glasses. I never do it "by eye", maybe pancakes.

For bread dough you will need:

active starter culture about 150g
liquid (water, milk, potato broth) 320 ml
1 level teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar, optional
barley malt 2 tablespoons, optional, optional
flour 500 g

If I add some bread dough in the morning, I refresh the sourdough the night before. Let me remind you that between feedings you need to store it in the refrigerator in a closed container.

If liquid sourdough is used, then we feed it in proportions, when water and flour are in equal amounts (measured in grams !!!). For example, 50 g sourdough, 75 g water, 75 g wheat flour. *

* I use premium flour, but it is possible, and someone says that it is even better, to use flour of the 1st grade

You can take more water and flour, the starter culture can easily cope with a large amount. For example, 50 g sourdough, 100 g water, 100 g flour. The most important thing is that there is the same amount of flour and water. Sourdough of this consistency is conventionally called 100% moisture. It is convenient because it is easily diluted in water without leaving lumps. But by the time you are about to start the dough, it may already pass its peak of activity and fall. It's okay, you can use it. Better, of course, if it is at the maximum rise, as they say, an active leaven. And keep in mind that it can increase three times, so take the container with a good margin, otherwise you will collect the leaven on the table, it easily seeps under the lid. Cover the top of the container so that the leaven does not dry out.

A little more about the advantages and disadvantages of liquid sourdough.

It rises quickly, can "run away", but it also quickly settles. It takes 6-8 hours to rise, depending on the ambient temperature.
Liquid sourdough can get hungry faster, it needs to be fed more often so that it does not ferment. It is advisable to feed the relatively young starter culture at least once a week. I know that housewives can keep a more mature / adult sourdough starter on a starvation diet for much longer. But I have no such experience, tk. I use it for its intended purpose several times a week.
Baking with liquid sourdough is more acidic than the usual commercial or conventional yeast.

I store and use my starter in a thicker form. It is called 50% humidity. I put my starter culture into this state at the age of 6 months. For feeding, I already use other proportions: 1 part of water and 2 parts of flour (in grams !!!). I always keep the starter in an amount of 50 g in a glass jar under the lid, in the refrigerator, so I take these 50 g of sourdough, add 50 g of water to it, stir with a fork, and add 100 g of flour. It turns out the consistency of the dough, which I beat with my hands. I do this whole process in a large bowl, in which I will then start the dough for bread. I cover the bowl with foil (in my case, this is a plastic shower cap) and leave it on the table until morning.

Sourdough after kneading during feeding:

Approached (active) thick starter culture after 12 hours:

The thick leaven usually doubles in size. It takes more time for this than liquid, but even in this state it is able to stay much longer.

A little more about the advantages and disadvantages of thick sourdough.

This leaven never escapes. There is no surplus left from it. Without feeding, it can be stored longer and does not oxyderate.
The baking itself with thick sourdough is much less acidic. And an adult leaven does not give sourness at all.

True, it is more difficult to dilute it with water, especially if it has been standing for a long time without feeding, it can dry out even in a closed container.

I do not try to dilute it completely, the lumps still remain, they fit well into the dough, and this does not affect the final result in any way.

So, now about bread. Here we have a suitable active starter culture, whether it is liquid, thick, it does not matter. We measure out 150 g. With thick, I make it easier. I put 50 g in a jar and put it in the refrigerator. On what is left in the bowl, I make some dough.

As a liquid component, my favorite is potato broth. I add the liquid a little warm, body temperature. I add salt and sugar. And stir it.

Sometimes I add barley malt. I love the flavor it gives to the bread. It is also believed to improve the rise of the dough, but to be honest, I did not notice the difference.

I grind the malt in a coffee grinder and sift through a sieve.

The dough must be kneaded thoroughly to make gluten work. At least 10 minutes, until the dough is elastic, until your hands are clean.

I grease the sides of the bowl with vegetable oil. I round the dough and put it in the bowl. I cover it with a film or a shower cap and place it in a warm place.

After an hour, I take out the dough, it has not yet begun to rise, but it has become more elastic and can be stretched. I take the dough, stretch it as far as its elasticity allows, so that it does not break, and fold it three times. Can be folded twice, also crosswise. Then I form a ball, collecting it from the bottom.

And again I put it in the bowl for another hour in the warmth.

An hour later, the dough already begins to increase in volume.

I repeat the folding procedure. I fold the formed ball into the form in which I will bake. I use a heat-resistant glass saucepan for these purposes. I lubricate her butter, and at the bottom I put baking paper (I manage to use paper many times).

I cover it with a lid and put it in a warm place. The final recovery process can take 4 hours.

If you add more starter culture, the process will, of course, speed up. But I have determined for myself exactly this amount only from taste preferences.

When the dough takes up the entire volume of the bowl and begins to rise above the edges. I put it in the oven preheated to the maximum. Immediately, when I turn on the oven, I put a saucepan with water on the bottom. I bake for a maximum of 15 minutes with steam. Steam is needed to make the crust of the bread thin and tender.

After 15 minutes, I remove the water, reduce the temperature to 180 degrees and bake for another 25 minutes.

I wrap the fresh bread in a clean towel and leave it on the wire rack. Of course, no one lets him cool down completely. Whoever ran into the kitchen first got the fresh crispy crust!

It is believed that dough and bread baking should be done in a good mood. Many recommend talking with leaven and dough. Naturally, a kind word is pleasant to everyone. But no amount of talk will help, and a miracle will not happen if the leaven is weak, no matter how pure thoughts you start this business.

This is what brings the dough and sourdough closer together (and therefore we confuse these concepts): in both, provided that the yeast dough contained a little yeast and matured for about 6-18 hours, acids accumulate and this has the best effect on the quality of the bread. Proceeding from this commonality, I immediately drew a parallel with sourdough, sourdough has a similar effect on bread dough, only revealing its best sides even more strongly and brighter.

Dough and sourdough

Before I tell you what I read at Hamelman’s, I’ll drown about the dough and leaven. I already wrote somewhere, but here I will repeat: what we call a dough in leavened bread is actually not a dough, but a leaven, and it is not entirely correct to call it a dough. Dough is for yeast bread, when part of the flour and water are mixed with yeast and this mixture is brought to a mature state, and then used when kneading. In fact, it is almost the same as what we do with the starter, only then we simply accumulate the starter to the right amount, make it the right moisture, using the starter culture - our starter, which we keep continuously, as a rule, leaving the moisture and proportions unchanged. ... In yeast bread, dough is used in most cases to enrich bread dough with organic acids, in sourdough bread - to accumulate not so much acid (they will accumulate in sufficient quantities during the fermentation process), but yeast to adjust the fermentation time of the dough.

Strengthening the dough structure

An increase in the acidity level of the dough has a good effect on gluten, its strength and stability increase. This is the undoubted plus of sourdough, therefore, by the way, it is often used simply as an improver. If you pay attention, then among the means that are added to the dough during kneading in order to improve or affect its properties, there are so-called acidifiers. By the way, this is one of the reasons why bread made from freshly ground flour should be baked with sourdough: its acids strengthen the unoxidized protein of fresh flour and help the dough to retain its structure.

Development of bread aroma and taste

Have you ever baked regular yeast bread in a bread maker? As for me, this bread is not very much like bread, but rather like a loaf, and its structure is wadded, inelastic, and smells more of yeast than of the bread itself. The reason, in general, lies in the fact that in the dough from which the bread was baked, not enough acids have accumulated, which form the very rich taste and aroma. good bread... Hamelman writes: "In semi-finished products (doughs), naturally, organic acids and esters (flavoring compounds produced by yeast), which are involved in the formation of the characteristic bread flavor and smell." That is, even yeast bread with the use of yeast or sourdough dough is significantly ennobled, in the case of bread simply with live sourdough, this manifests itself and reveals itself really brightly and powerfully!

Long-term preservation of the quality of the bread

"Between acidity bakery products and the preservation of quality during storage, there is a certain relationship. As the PH value of the bread decreases (that is, the acidity rises), its storage capacity increases. " Previously, Europeans, especially in rural areas, baked bread once every two, three and even four weeks. Only bread with high acidity can withstand such long-term storage, that is, cooked with sourdough or dough, ”writes Jeffrey Hamelman. My grandmother, having lived all her life in a village in the Kursk region, baked bread with sourdough, and this happened approximately as Hamelman describes: once or twice a month she baked several large loaves of bread in the oven, put them on the stove ledge, covered them with a towel, sometimes shifting the bread to a large saucepan with a lid.

Comparing yeast-leavened and leavened bread, I still feel big difference in taste and aroma, whatever one may say, but yeast bread in most cases has a less deep, rich and powerful aroma, and a flatter taste. And it does not last so long. Sourdough bread will lie for three weeks, dry out, nothing will happen to it, and yeast bread can easily become moldy during this time.

Protection against mold and bread diseases

photo from the network

Acidity of the dough and ready-made bread plays a very important role in protecting bread from mold and other bread diseases, including potato diseases. By analogy, the starter culture itself, reaching the desired acidity in the process of excretion, displaces all pathogenic flora and, provided that you carefully manage it and do not allow strong peroxidation, it remains healthy and active. In fact, the acidity of the sourdough is its immunity, it and the bread that you bake with this sourdough.

Fermentation of gluten

Among other things, during the fermentation process, some changes occur with gluten. Enzymes promote the hydrolysis of gluten - the decomposition of complex protein bonds of "problem" gluten into simpler ones, which are absorbed by our body much easier and better.

A little later we will figure out what actually happens to gluten during fermentation, what gives bread to us, as lovers of good bread.

White, delicious, real bread... Thin, crispy crust, amazing crumb!

Sourdough recipe (see recipe) I have the simplest one. Sourdough for a little more than a month, already an adult 🙂 She just recently changed her structure, stopped growing in the refrigerator, but she is stably kept in bubbles. I feed her every two or three days. If I don't bake it, I add fresh flour and, if necessary, some water, so that it is like thick pancakes in consistency. If I bake, then I take 2 tbsp. spoons on a loaf, add 1 tbsp. a spoonful of flour and again water. * Simple flour - Sokolnicheskaya, water - from a bottle (I drank 1.5 liters of sourdough in a month).

Well, we continue to bake with sourdough! Today the loaf is on long kneading with a mixer! + double folding. The crumb turned out to be just a fairy tale! Does not crumble, a thin crispy crust even when cold, the crumb structure will delight you, I promise 🙂

So, a recipe for homemade sourdough bread without yeast!

Recipe:

Sourdough - 2 tbsp. spoons
Water - 285 ml. * May be needed for 5-10 gr. less depends on the moisture content of the starter culture. I have a decently thick one now.
Flour - 400 g.* As always, I have flour with 13% protein content. Wheat premium
Sugar - 1 tsp
Salt - 1.5 tsp
Vegetable oil - 3 tbsp. spoons

* How much to hang in grams - read who does not have measuring dishes and who measures everything with cups

Preparation:

Since the evening mix the starter culture with 85 ml of water and 3 tbsp. tablespoons with a heap of flour. (100 gr.) * My dough turned out to be not very liquid, because the leaven was thicker than usual. I didn’t add water, I left everything as it happened.
We remove it under the film and leave it at room temperature until morning. * You can put the starter culture in the warmth for 1.5 hours in the morning, if you forgot or did not have time in the evening
Pour sugar, salt, butter and flour into the dough and begin to knead with a mixer, adding water. * We start mixing.
In 2 minutes.
In 10 minutes.
In 15 minutes.
Grease the bowl with vegetable oil, grease the dough with vegetable oil, cover with a film and put it in a warm place. * The dough is soft, but not runny! Gets well with oiled hands and does not float much
The dough is like soft rubber.
We form a bun
We add 2 times. First time in an hour
Second time in 40 minutes
Take a bowl, cover it with a cloth / towel, sprinkle generously with flour and shift our dough with the “seam” down. Sprinkle a little flour on top * It is more convenient to form a loaf on a table dusted with flour
We are waiting for full proofing in warmth, covering the dough on top with the edges of the fabric * It can rise in 40 minutes, it can take an hour. Depends on temperature

Loaf molding

Bakery:

Bon Appetit!

What could be more pleasant than a sip of refreshing kvass in the summer heat? And if it is also cooked with your own hands, then this is generally just a fairy tale! Do you want to know how to make a leaven for kvass at home? Then come to us! Let's cook and experiment together.

All starter cultures used for making kvass can be divided into yeast and yeast-free - with the addition of yeast and without the use of yeast, respectively. Yeast-free starter cultures take longer to ripen than yeast starters, but the kvass obtained from them does not have the specific smell of baker's yeast. The basis for the starter cultures is usually flour (rye or wheat) or bread, while rye or wheat malt and hops. Raisins, honey, apple peel or grape skins can also be added to the starter cultures - these ingredients help to activate the fermentation process and make the kvass more aromatic. Despite the fact that the most delicious kvass, as it is believed, is obtained precisely from rye bread, it is not forbidden to use wheat croutons as a basis for sourdough - they should be thoroughly dried in the oven so that the kvass has a beautiful color at the exit. But rye bread can be taken with the addition of caraway seeds - it will add spicy flavor notes to the drink.

High-quality sourdough is the key to the successful preparation of tasty and healthy kvass. The secrets here are extremely simple. First, prepare the starter with only the addition of boiled water since using raw water alters the fermentation process and can cause stomach upset. Second, stick to good hygiene practices. This means that the container in which the leaven will ferment should be thoroughly washed. hot water, or even better, sterilize to get rid of unnecessary microorganisms. It is best to make the starter in a glass or enamel container, not in plastic or aluminum. Do not use containers that previously contained dairy products to prepare the starter culture. Thirdly, there is no need to rush - let the sourdough ferment completely, as unripe raw materials may contain compounds that are hazardous to health. Also remember that only fresh yeast is suitable for making the starter culture, otherwise delicious drink do not wait.

The prepared starter culture can be stored in the refrigerator for a long time and used as needed. If you keep your sourdough in the refrigerator, remember to “feed” it once a week — for example, by adding rye flour, raisins, or hop cones. The starter culture can also be frozen, but it can take 2 to 4 days to "revive" before use.

Yeast-leavened bread leaven

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons of dried bread crumbs
100 g sugar
50 g of compressed yeast,
1 glass of boiled water.

Preparation:
Dissolve sugar in warm water heated to about 40 degrees. Pour the resulting liquid into bread crumbs and leave for an hour. Dissolve the yeast in a little warm water and add to the soaked bread crumbs. Leave the starter culture in a warm place for two days.

Yeast starter culture for kvass

Ingredients:
10 g dry baker's yeast,
2 tablespoons rye or wheat flour
1 tablespoon sugar
100 ml of boiled water.

Preparation:
Combine flour with yeast in a bowl and pour in warm water heated to 30 degrees. Stir the mixture well, cover the bowl with a towel and put away for half an hour in a warm place. The leaven is ready.

Non-yeast starter culture for kvass from rye bread

Ingredients:
2 cups boiled water
a slice of rye bread,
1 teaspoon sugar.

Preparation:
Pour water into a 0.5 liter jar. Add bread and sugar, stir. Cover the jar with gauze and place in a warm place to ferment. The leaven will be ready in 1-2 days, and you can determine its readiness by taste and appearance - the leaven should be cloudy and have a sharp taste.

Ferment for kvass from rye flour without yeast

Ingredients:
10 tablespoons rye flour
200 ml of boiled water,
1 teaspoon sugar.

Preparation:
Pour 100 ml of water into a bowl, add sugar and 4 tablespoons of flour. Stir until a smooth, sour cream-like consistency is obtained. Cover the bowl with a slightly damp towel or gauze and leave at room temperature overnight. Then add 2 tablespoons of flour and 50 ml of water to the starter culture. Mix well, cover the bowl again and leave to ferment for another day. On the third day, repeat the previous step, adding the remaining ingredients. On the fourth day, the sourdough will be ready - it will slightly bubble and acquire the characteristic smell of rye bread. This sourdough can be stored in the refrigerator, once a week "feeding" it with 2 teaspoons of rye flour.

Non-yeast sourdough from croutons with raisins

Ingredients:
250 g rye bread,
4 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons of raisins
boiled water.

Preparation:
Cut the bread into small pieces and dry in the oven until a crust appears on the cut. Put the resulting croutons in liter jar and pour boiling water so that they are completely covered with water. Add sugar, stir and let cool to 35-37 degrees. Then add the raisins, stir and place in a warm place to ferment. After 2-3 days, when the leaven begins to foam and has a sour smell, it can be considered ready.

Non-yeast rye sourdough with addition of hops

Ingredients:
500 g rye flour
4 tablespoons of hops
2 tablespoons of sugar
500 ml of water.

Preparation:
Pour flour into a saucepan and add so much water that, while stirring, a dough is obtained, as for pancakes. Add the crushed hop cones, 500 ml of water and put the pan on the fire. Bring to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes. Cool to warm temperature and stir with sugar. Cover and place in a warm place for 10-12 hours.

The next recipe allows you to "kill two birds with one stone" at once - to prepare kvass and get a sourdough from the remaining sediment, in order to use it later to prepare a new portion of kvass.

Sourdough yeast from rusks with hops

Ingredients:
300 g rye bread crumbs,
10 g of compressed yeast,
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons of hop cones
1 tablespoon rye flour
1 tablespoon raisins
3 liters of water.

Preparation:
Add flour and sugar to the yeast diluted in a small amount of warm water and mix until smooth. Put the crackers in a 3-liter jar and cover with hot water, not reaching the hangers. Add hop cones and raisins, mix and let cool to 30-35 degrees. Pour the yeast mass into a jar, stir, cover with a towel or gauze, and then remove to a warm place for 2-3 days. Using cheesecloth, drain the finished kvass, and add 3 tablespoons of sugar and some breadcrumbs to the remaining leaven. Pour in water and put back in a warm place for fermentation. After the kvass has been drained, part of the leaven can be removed to the refrigerator for storage, and the remaining leaven can be used for the next preparation of kvass by adding sugar, crackers and water. The starter culture stored in the refrigerator should be “fed” from time to time with hop cones and a small amount of raisins.

Now, having learned how to make a leaven for kvass at home, you can always prepare live natural kvass on your own and delight your loved ones and friends with it. Bon appetit and the most delicious homemade kvass!