What is sourdough bread without yeast. How to bake homemade bread (rye, wheat, sourdough)

Who among us does not remember that extraordinary aroma of just baked homemade bread without yeast?

But, unfortunately, not every housewife bakes bread, because there is no desire to mess with sourdough. In fact, baking sourdough bread is quite simple.

Eternal sourdough for delicious yeast-free bread

This option is the easiest. But the result is no worse. To prepare the sourdough, only two ingredients are needed - water and flour in equal quantities (approximately 300 g each).

Cooking takes place in several stages:

• 1st: mix 100 g of flour and water. Mix thoroughly and cover the resulting mass with textiles (towel). It is best to leave the container with future sourdough in a warm place where it will not bleed through. Bubbles should form periodically (the mass will ferment), so a couple of times a day it is necessary to approach and mix the mass;
• 2nd: on the second day, add another 100 g of flour and water, mix, cover with a towel and leave for another day;
• 3rd: the mass should grow in size and consist of bubbles. We feed the last time and return to a warm place.

When we last fed the starter, it is important to catch the moment when it doubles in volume. This will mean that it is at its strongest during this period and can be divided into two parts.

One can be used to make yeast-free bread, the second can be put in the refrigerator (preferably stored in a jar with a plastic lid with holes).

They call it eternal sourdough because after taking it out of the refrigerator, you can feed it and bake it again incredibly tasty. homebaked bread ears.

Yeast-free sourdough on kefir for homemade bread

Kefir is one of the popular products that are used to create sourdough.

The first step in preparing such a recipe is the preparation of kefir. We take 150 g and leave it for three days. During this time, a natural process of separation of the water part from the milk base occurs.

Second step: add flour. Rye is usually used (about 50 g). Mix well: the consistency should resemble not very thick sour cream. We cover the resulting mixture with a towel, gauze or other textile product and leave for a day.

Third step: add more flour. We do this by eye until the consistency resembles pancake dough. After we cover and, after a few hours, it will begin to actively grow in volume and it can be used for baking.

Hop cones as the main element of the sourdough

No less tasty and fragrant yeast-free bread is obtained with hop sourdough. To prepare it, you will need the following components:

• Half a liter of water;
• 3 spoons of hops;
• Flour (it is preferable to use rye);
• About 1 teaspoon honey or sugar.

First you need to prepare the hops. To do this, take a container (a small saucepan) and pour water into it. We bring it to a boil, reduce the heat and add hops there.

It is necessary that it simmer on a small fire for a quarter of an hour. After this time, remove it from the heat, let it cool, then add sugar or honey.

Add flour after honey/sugar. We make sure that the consistency is no thicker than sour cream and set aside in a warm place where there are no drafts for about a day.

The next day, the mass should be two to three times larger in size.

The positive side of this method is that the starter can be stored for a very long time. To do this, it is enough to put it in the refrigerator, and when you need to bake something, just feed it.

Other Popular Sourdough Recipes for Unleavened Bread

There are other recipes for making sourdough. However, it is worth noting that hop cones have been used as the main ingredient since ancient times and there are a huge number of recipes based on them.

raisin starter recipe

To create we need:

• Raisins (about 10 pieces);
• Glass of water;
• 125-150 g flour (preferably rye).

Place dried raisins in a bowl and cover with water. We cover the container with a napkin or towel and leave them for three days in a warm place. We make sure that there are no drafts.

After the allotted time, with the help of gauze, we filter the water into a bottle with a capacity of a liter and a half, after which we add flour to it and mix well. Cover it with a towel (napkin / gauze) and leave for a couple of days.

After this time, the mass should be all in bubbles (it will begin to ferment) and be several times larger in volume.

You can store the mass for a long time. It is enough to feed her about once every 48 hours. If you store a ready-made sourdough, then at first (3-4 days) it is optimal to add 100 g of water and flour.

rice sourdough

It is necessary to prepare:

• Rice - 100 g;
• 1.5 cups of warm boiled water;
• Sugar - 30 g;
• Flour (can be wheat) - 7 tablespoons.

The first stage: we take our rice and fill it with a glass of warm boiled water. We mix a little and add 10 g of sugar, after which we put it in a cool place and do not touch it for three days.

The second stage: after 60 hours, filter and add three tablespoons of flour, 10 g of sugar and mix everything thoroughly. Gradually, the mass should begin to ferment and form bubbles. As soon as this process starts, you need to add another spoonful of flour and the remaining water.

The third stage: we wait another day, after which we add the remaining flour and sugar.

Such a sourdough recipe can be used not only for baking bread, but also for buns, pancakes and pies. The part of the starter that remains unused can be stored in the refrigerator.

1. Eternal sourdough can be prepared on any flour: it doesn’t matter whether it is wheat, whole or rye. And the most interesting thing is that it doesn’t matter what kind of bread you bake (i.e. you can bake wheat bread from rye sourdough and vice versa);
2. In order for the result to be always successful, it is necessary to keep the kitchen clean and in the place where you leave the products for fermentation. Mold can easily appear in the mass, so keep an eye on the cleanliness of the room;
3. It is best to arrange a little ventilation for the starter: to do this, it is enough to cover it with a not very dense cloth (gauze is quite suitable), or, if you keep it in a glass jar, make several holes in the lid. But make sure that the influx of fresh air is not too large - otherwise the mass will begin to wind;
4. Direct rays of the sun are harmful. They will prevent the formation of the necessary lactic acid bacteria;
5. If you store your sourdough starter in the refrigerator, you need to let it cool before using it. room temperature at least half a day. After that, you can feed it and use it only after another half a day;
6. Classic top dressing consists of the same amount of flour and water. It is also necessary to observe the proportion of the mass of the yeast-free sourdough, which is available, and the mass of top dressing: they must be the same.

Cooking yeast-free sourdough bread in a bread machine

The abundance of various appliances in the kitchen of every housewife makes life easier in many ways. Modern bread machines allow you to bake unusually delicious bread.

Simple bread without yeast in a bread machine on sourdough "eternal"

The main ingredients are:

• Sourdough - about 6-7 tablespoons;
• Flour - about three glasses;
• Glass of water;
• Vegetable oil - two tablespoons;
• Salt - a couple of teaspoons;
• Sugar - a couple of tablespoons.

In the sifted flour, add sugar, salt, 2 tbsp. tablespoons of vegetable oil and mix very thoroughly. After that, we proceed to add finished sourdough.

Mix and add a glass of water little by little. It is necessary to knead the dough so that it sticks out of the hands. After that, we leave it to rest and rise.

This process may take a different time, as it depends on many factors. Some recommend kneading the dough in the evening and leaving it overnight. In the morning, proceed directly to baking.

If you need to quickly bake yeast-free bread, you can use water bath. Then the result is guaranteed in a couple of hours.

In a bread machine, all these processes are simplified. Some models independently knead the dough and wait until it rises.

Therefore, if you use a bread machine, put all the ingredients and set the baking program and the weight of about 900 g.

Rye yeast-free bread with eternal sourdough in a bread machine

You need to stock up on the following components:

• Water - about 300 g;
• Sugar - a couple of tablespoons;
• Salt - a teaspoon;
• Powdered milk - 1.5 tablespoons;
• Vegetable oil - 1.5 tablespoons;
• Flour - a couple of glasses;
• Allspice - 1 teaspoon;
• Cumin - 1 tbsp. a spoon;
• Leaven.

We prepare the bread machine and put all the ingredients in the bowl. In addition to the recipe, we take into account the recommendations for laying according to the instructions for your device.

If it is possible to choose a crust frying, choose medium.

Unleavened bread without sourdough

Homemade bread is many times tastier than store-bought, even if you make it without sourdough.

To bake bread without first creating a sourdough, we need:

• Powdered milk - about a third of a glass;
• Wheat flour - 1 kg;
• Soda - 1.5 teaspoons without a slide;
• Vegetable oil - 100 g;
• Kefir or ryazhenka - two glasses;
• Ground coriander, star anise, citric acid, cinnamon - half a teaspoon each;
• A couple of teaspoons of salt;
• Two tablespoons of sugar.

First of all, we take a container (bowl) and mix flour with soda, dry milk in it. It is also necessary to prepare a second bowl, where kefir will be mixed with sugar, salt, citric acid, cinnamon, star anise and coriander.

After the second mixture is evenly mixed, add it to the flour (first bowl) and start kneading.

We put the resulting dough on the top baking sheet in the oven and bake at low power for about a couple of hours.

Having prepared bread according to any of these recipes, you are unlikely to want to buy a regular store. In addition, yeast-free bread is better absorbed by the body, it is not able to harm the intestinal flora and lead to various disorders.

This sourdough starter is natural, and if done in the right way, it will make wonderful yeast bread. If you like healthy, self-cooked and inexpensive homemade cakes try this sourdough.

Ingredients

Simple sourdough

• ¼ cup (50 ml) water
• ½ cup (50 g) flour from whole grain
• More water and flour (whole grain and all-purpose) during cooking

Sourdough with grapes

• 1 ½ cups plain white wheat flour (150g) (do not substitute)
• 2 cups (500 ml) mineral or spring water, room temperature
• 1 handful unwashed grapes, not separated from the stalk
• More water and flour as described in this recipe

Steps

Simple sourdough

Take the container. For starter you will need a container. Use a small bowl that will hold 2-4 cups (500-1000 ml). You can use just about any type of container - glass, porcelain, plastic, or stainless steel - all work great for starter cultures. If you can cover the container with food (plastic) wrap, it is suitable for sourdough.

Mix the ingredients. Mix ¼ cup (50 ml) water and ½ cup (50 g) whole grain flour. If weighing ingredients, use 50g of each type of flour and water. Mix the ingredients thoroughly until combined and cover with plastic wrap.

• After mixing the starter, scrape it off the sides of the container. Be sure not to leave "food" on the sides of the container to feed the developing bacteria.

1. Find a place to ferment. It is required to find a place where no one will harm the starter (dogs, children, curious husbands) and where the temperature can be maintained at 18-30 ºС.

   • If you need a warmer place, turning on the oven (but don't put any starter in it) will help you get the temperature you want. Also, on top of many refrigerators there are permanently warm places.

2. Wait. Sourdough requires patience. What exactly should you be waiting for? You need to wait until the starter becomes active and starts to bubble. Over time, it will grow and grow, as if alive.

   • How long should I wait? As a rule, 12 hours are enough for the starter to become active. Bubble formation may start after a few hours or within 24 hours - it all depends on the ingredients used and environment. If the starter does not activate within 12 hours, give it another 12 hours. If the starter still does not activate, allow another 12 hours.
     • If the starter does not become active after 36 hours, check if you followed the instructions correctly. If you did everything right, discard the starter and try again - it probably won't happen again. If you've already tried twice with no results, try a different brand of flour or a different type of water.

3. Feed the starter. When the starter is active, feed it. Add another ¼ cup (50 ml) of water to it and stir. Then add ½ cup (50g) whole grain flour and mix again.

   • Wait some more. Wait again until the starter rises. Typically, the starter will double in size in 12 hours or less. Sometimes it takes 24 hours, so after 12 hours have passed, don't touch the starter unless it looks big enough. If the starter is bubbling but not doubling in size, you're fine.

4. Feed the starter again. But now, the first thing to do is toss out half of the starter. Add ¼ cup (50 ml) of water to the starter and stir. What's next? You guessed it: Add ½ cup (50g) whole grain flour and mix again. Have you mastered the repeating sequence? And yes, it is very important at this stage to discard half of the starter at each feeding. You don't want a flour monster to take over the kitchen table, do you?

   • Feeding the starter should double its size. If you do not throw away half of the starter, it will turn out to be much more than you really need. You can save the starter later, but at this stage it is not stable enough to warrant storage.

5. Wait a little more. Again, you should see the starter bubble up and (like clockwork) double in size between feedings. When a starter is created, it is very important to feed it regularly, but don't be too impatient: feeding the starter ahead of time can keep the bacteria from reaching the critical threshold at which they will remain alive. Each feeding weakens the bacteria; if you feed them too much, they will die.

   • If the starter hasn't doubled in size while feeding, give it a little more time. At the initial stage, the starter is unstable.
   • Repeat the two steps above until the starter has reliably doubled in size between feedings.

6. Switch to unbleached all-purpose flour. The meaning of this step is to get rid of unwanted microorganisms; whole grain flour provides the development of most of them. Once the sourdough is stable, you can switch back to whole grain flour if you like.

   • If you notice that the sourdough is slowing down when you replace the flour, don't worry, this is normal. Wait for the starter to become active (this can take up to 36 hours) and move away from the transition to flour premium.
     • You won't be able to ease this transition right away. Make the transition to premium flour in 3 rounds, decreasing the amount of whole grain flour each time. Start by using 1 part all-purpose flour and 3 parts whole grain flour. For the next feeding, use half extra flour and half whole grain flour. After that, use 3 parts all-purpose flour and 1 part whole grain flour. And at the next feeding and subsequent ones, you can use only premium flour.

7. Feed the starter again. The rules are exactly the same as last time - discard half of the starter, add ¼ cup (50 ml) of water and stir. Then add ½ cup (50 g) flour and mix again. Now that the sourdough is stable, you can start saving the sourdough by transferring some to another container for other uses. If you decide to keep the starter, put it in the refrigerator.

   Wait a little more. As mentioned above, the starter may slow down in feeding when increased. Do not rush to draw conclusions, it just takes time. When the starter seems to be active and stable, feed it every 12 hours or so. Sourdough (at room temperature) should be fed at least twice a day.

   • Repeat the two steps above. At this time, the sourdough reaches its maximum capacity, becomes stable and ready. While it may be tempting, don't try the starter until about a week has passed and it has doubled in size with each feeding. Most sourdough experts think that the sourdough can continue to grow for 30-90 days, although this is not definitively clear.
   • After about a week, the sourdough is ready to use!

   Sourdough with grapes

   1. Mix flour and water. In a large plastic or clay bowl, combine 1 ½ cups flour (150 g) and 2 cups (500 ml) mineral or spring water.

      • If tap water tastes good and is odorless, then it is fine to use. Many people think that chlorinated water is a death sentence for sourdough, but experiment and use your own experience to find out what gives you the best results.

   2. Add the bunch of grapes, mixing it into the dough. Do not crush the grapes, the fruits just need to be present in the dough.

      • You can use plums or any other fruit that has a natural yeast bloom.

   3. Lightly cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel or cheesecloth. The sourdough should get air, but not dust or insects. Place the starter on the countertop, preferably in a warm place.

      • If you cover too tightly, you risk creating pressure, resulting in an "explosion".
      • Place the starter in a warm place, but not overly warm. good place is a place on the refrigerator.

   4. Every day, stir in a tablespoon of water and a tablespoon of flour. This is called "feeding" the starter. After a couple of days there should be no signs of the initial stage; the sourdough should bubble a bit as the yeast feeds on starch and sugar.

      • If this does not happen within 48 hours, discard the starter and start again.

   5. Keep feeding every day. Don't worry if the dough separates: the water rises to the surface and the flour settles to the bottom. This is fine. After the fifth or sixth day, the starter will look better and smell slightly sour. It's not a bad smell, it's yeasty.

      • Some people find that feeding yeast twice a day is ideal. Experiment to find out which method guarantees the best results.

   6. Feed the starter for a couple more days. Do this at least once a day! You will get a consistency similar to a dense pancake dough. After this time, remove and discard the grapes accordingly.

      Cover the starter and refrigerate it. To keep your starter healthy, feed and stir it every day. If you start to get too much dough (say 4 liters), discard the excess.

      Take the starter out of the refrigerator the day before using it. To make 2 loaves of bread, you need 4 cups of sourdough. Each time you use your starter, top it up like this:

      • For each cup of sourdough you remove, stir in ½ cup flour and ½ cup cool water into remaining sourdough.
      • If you're not using your starter every few days, store it in the refrigerator and feed it at least once a week or the bacteria will die. If the starter turns very yellow and doesn't "rise" before baking, discard it and start over. Starter cultures have been maintained for decades. It is possible (although not always recommended) to freeze the starter and restore it later.

   Support and use of sourdough

   1. Store your starter at slightly above room temperature. It's necessary, while she rises. You can put it in the fridge over time, but if it still rises, store it on top of the fridge or in the oven.

   2. Feed regularly. If the starter is too thin, increase the amount of flour by a couple of tablespoons at each feeding. But be aware that dense starters are more difficult to work with and only experienced bakers usually get good results.

      • Liquid starter acts too quickly, so a few missed feedings can be disastrous. Many bakers use a very dense starter, and for good reason: These starters have more flavor and are more active than liquid starters, and are more tolerant of missed feedings. However, it can be difficult for novice bakers to work with and maintain dense starters.

   3. Look for small cracks on the surface of the dough. Once the sourdough runs out of food, gas will decrease and the sourdough will start to fall again, resulting in dryness and cracking. As the starter falls, you can see cracks form on the surface - believe it or not, but it's actually good thing.

      • The leaven is also active at its peak, when it barely starts to fall. If you are wondering when you can already use sourdough, now most time.

   4. Convert other recipes. Don't be incredulous - sourdough can be used for just about anything. To convert a recipe to sourdough, start by replacing each packet of yeast (about a teaspoon or 6g) with 1 cup (240g) of active sourdough. Adjust the recipe to match the water and flour already in the sourdough.

      • If the sourdough flavor is too strong for the bread, use more leaven. And if the bread is not flavorful enough, use in the future less leaven.
        • Usage lesser the amount of leaven is one of the options to get from it more aroma. Definitely illogical. But the reason for this is that as a result of adding a small amount of sourdough, the bread will take longer to rise. If you use more sourdough, the bread will rise quickly and have less time to absorb the flavor, including the sourdough flavor.

      • If the starter has been stored for more than a week, reclaim it. Feed the starter for at least three days (twice a day) before using it or putting it in the refrigerator. Use the same precautions you took when she was on the rise (temperature, etc.).

        • Start the discard process as usual. Discard half of the starter, then add ¼ cup (50g) of water and ½ cup (50g) of flour to the remaining starter every 12 hours or so, as you did before. When the starter has increased between feeding periods, feed it again. Empty the storage container, put back the recovered starter, and then refrigerate to rebuild later.
          • Again, to get a good starter, feed it until it doubles between feedings.
   • The grape sourdough recipe has been used in British Columbia and has been consistently supported by the people.
   • Don't start with store-bought yeast as your main ingredient; it turns out unsightly after a month or so.
   • On the Internet you can find good recipes sourdough for bread, buns, cookies, pancakes, etc.; use this sourdough starter rather than the store-bought starter offered in any recipe.

Rye sourdough and pastries based on it ... How long have I been going to this. I have prepared so many yeast breads with great love and joy, but still I really wanted to try to grow sourdough and bake not only delicious, but also really healthy bread.

Most likely, I just wanted it very much, so I succeeded. After all, what is the main thing in making any homemade bread (be it yeast or any other)? Of course, desire, patience, love, respect and care. Even the same yeast is also living organisms, which, in my opinion, feel what the baker gives them.

My story today will be long and detailed, so for those who are really interested, it will be useful to learn a lot of new things for themselves. Probably, experienced bakers who know the sourdough and the peculiarities of working with it mentally shower me with slippers, but I won’t be offended, because this is my first experience.

All the recipes for sourdough bread and pastries that I will share with you, my dear ones, will be the result of my own trial and error. Together we will learn how to cook healthy bread for our relatives and friends, and this is the most important thing. I suggest you start!

What is rye sourdough? This is the basis for future baking, which consists of only two ingredients: rye flour and water. I use wholemeal rye flour, but sifted or wholemeal flour is also suitable. The water is the most common - I have boiled, but I think you can even from the tap.

We will cook rye sourdough for 5 days, and then we can bake bread (the first I made the simplest wheat-rye sourdough bread). Do not be afraid that for the whole 5 days you will have to constantly monitor the starter - just one feeding per day (it will take 5 minutes at most every 24 hours) and the rest of the time is yours. Read all the other moments and my personal impressions in the steps.

Just below you can find all those recipes in which I used rye sourdough. As new dishes appear, the list will be updated.

• Wheat-rye sourdough bread with nuts and dried fruits

Ingredients:

Cooking step by step with photos:

So, let's make sure that we have rye flour and water available. I’ll make a reservation right away that everyone’s flour is different in terms of moisture, so she may ask for a little more or a little less water. But as a result, we will get rye sourdough 100% moisture, that is, the ratio of flour and water in it is 1: 1.

We select the dishes in which our rye sourdough will grow. Plastic or glass is best (but not metal), while I advise you to take a transparent one so that you can see how the starter feels in the process of growth and development. And be sure to take dishes with a volume of at least 1.5 liters, as the sourdough will actively grow and may run away. I have a plastic container, the volume of which is 1.6 liters. Tune in good mood and pour 100 grams of rye flour into a container.

Pour in 100 milliliters of water. The water should be pleasantly warm, but not hotter than 40 degrees, otherwise it will just kill the starter. Water may need a little more or vice versa less - measure and pour.

Mix everything with a spoon or fork until smooth. In terms of density, the mass will be like sour cream with 20% fat or like dough for pancakes. This concludes our work for today. It remains only to tighten the bowl cling film, make about 30-40 punctures in it with a toothpick (so that the sourdough can breathe, but does not dry out) and send it to some quiet place. It can be a kitchen cabinet or a bedside table - the main thing is to store the starter at room temperature in a dark place. For the first 3 days, my sourdough lived in a bedside table near the bed (I took it out and admired it from time to time), but because of its not very pleasant smell, I had to remove it to the kitchen. There she settled in my oven. Naturally completely off.

Rye sourdough on the second day. How she looks like? Well, first of all, she started to smell a little, or rather to smell (sourdough, sorry). The smell is so sour-rotten-nasty. But it normal. The sourdough spread and became much thinner.

She also started bubbling. See how many small bubbles? By the way, that's why it's so cool when the dishes are transparent. It's time to feed the starter.

To do this, pour 100 grams of rye flour directly into the sourdough and pour 100 milliliters of warm water. Mix everything well, making sure there are no lumps. The density with each feeding will be approximately the same as when kneading sourdough - like pancakes or 20% fat sour cream. Again we tighten the bowl with a film and put the starter in a secluded place. Keep it away from children - even the unpleasant smell of growing sourdough will not scare away these curious people.

Day three. The sourdough bubbles very well, it thinned out and began to smell even more unpleasant. I sat down, opened it and sit sniffing. I must describe to you. what can be expected. Smell: imagine that you cooked corn and forgot about it for a week. She stood in the summer in the water on the stove in the heat and rotten. Pretty much the same scent. Well, or, if you want, you can compare this "aroma" with vomit. Don't blame me, that's how the cooks who "ate the dog" on sourdough bread express themselves. In fact, there is something in common, namely a sharp repulsive smell. This is fine!

Again, a homogeneous smooth mass is obtained. We repeat the same procedures as in the previous days: we tighten it with a film and put it in a locker. Day four: sad and exciting. I wake up in the morning and immediately watch the starter (well, what did you think, this is another child in the family). And outwardly she has not changed at all (well, or almost) since the moment we fed her yesterday. How upset I was ... Everything, I think, now do it all over again. And hands are almost dropped. I went to the Internet, spent 2 hours searching and reading. I cheered up a little, went to talk to the sourdough and feed it (as usual, 100 grams of rye flour and 100 milliliters of warm water). At the same time I rearranged it in the oven - it seems to me this is the most suitable place for it. Then every half an hour I went and checked how the process was. For the first few hours, nothing changed, but then the leaven seemed to wake up - bubbles appeared, it began to grow and become thinner. It smells a little weaker, but also unpleasant. Gives off sourness. By the way, I even tasted it - terrible sourness. I sighed (but with great relief) and went to look for bread recipes.

And here is a side view so that you also notice how airy and bubbly it is. I told you that transparent dishes are best.

That's all. We managed - in the photo is a young, only bred sourdough. Over time, these small bubbles will become much larger and more prominent. Now you can bake our first homemade bread on rye sourdough. But wait a little longer - I'll tell you how to store the starter. We got about 800 grams of finished sourdough. We take as much as we need to make bread, and transfer the rest to glass jar with a lid and put in the refrigerator (but not in the freezer). It is advised to take about 100 grams of sourdough for storage, but this seems to me a lot. 1-2 tablespoons would be ideal - this is both convenient and economical. This is a starter (ripe starter) that can be sealed in the refrigerator for up to 2 (this is the limit) weeks without feeding, but it is best to feed the starter once every 5-7 days. Remember that you need to put the starter in the refrigerator for storage after feeding. That is, they fed her and IMMEDIATELY put in the cold. The fact is that there she should also eat, although not as actively as in the heat. Just for 5-7 days this food is enough for her. And if you feed it, let it wake up (bubble) and only then put it in the cold, it will begin to starve there and may turn sour. As a rule, 10-20% of the starter is used to make bread from the total weight of flour in the sourdough. To wake up the starter, take it out of the refrigerator and leave it at room temperature for an hour. Then they are fed three times. The interval between the first and second feeding is ideally 6-8 hours, and between the second and third - 6-12 hours. When you feed the starter for the third time, the bread can be baked in 3-4 hours. Like everything I wanted to say. There are many thoughts, but they jump so much that I don’t have time to catch them. There will be questions, write in the comments - I will be happy to answer, I will help in any way I can. I'm new to working with sourdough, so let's learn together. Good luck to you, my dear bakers, strong and healthy sourdough. And then delicious bread!

And now he offers to plunge into the mystery of baking homemade bread on this sourdough.

I am strict with the dough, I always measure all the ingredients on the scales or in spoons, glasses. I never make “by eye”, except for pancakes.

For the bread dough you will need:

• active sourdough about 150g
• liquid (water, milk, potato broth) 320 ml
• salt 1 heaping teaspoon
• sugar 1 teaspoon, optional
• barley malt 2 tablespoons, optional, you can not add
• flour 500 g

If I make 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 sourdough can easily cope with a large amount. For example, 50 g sourdough, 100 g water, 100 g flour. The most important thing is that flour and water should be the same amount. A sourdough of this consistency is conditionally 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 have passed its peak of activity and fall. No problem, you can use it. It is better, of course, if it is at its maximum rise, as they say, active sourdough. 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. From above, the container must be covered so that the sourdough does not dry out.

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

1. She quickly rises, can "run away", but also quickly settles. It takes 6-8 hours to rise, depending on the ambient temperature.
2. Liquid sourdough can get hungry faster, it needs to be fed more often so that it does not ferment. Relatively young sourdough should be fed at least once a week. I know that hostesses can keep a more mature/adult sourdough on a starvation diet for much longer. But I don’t have such experience, because. I use it as directed several times a week.
3. Baking with liquid sourdough is more acidic than the usual industrial or conventional yeast.

I store my sourdough and use it in more thick form. It's called 50% humidity. I transferred my sourdough to 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 the 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 wash 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 a film (in my case it is a plastic shower cap) and leave it on the table until the morning.

Sourdough after kneading during feeding:

Approached (active) thick sourdough after 12 hours:

Thick sourdough usually doubles in size. She needs more time for this than liquid, but even in this state she is able to stay much longer.

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

1. Such a leaven never escapes. There is no excess left. Without feeding, it can be stored longer and does not peroxide.
2. Baking on thick sourdough itself is much less sour. And adult sourdough does not give sourness at all.

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

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

So, now for the bread. Here we have an active starter that has come up, whether it is liquid, thick, it doesn’t matter. We measure 150 g. With a thick one, I make it easier. I put 50 g in a jar and put it in the refrigerator. On what remains in the bowl, I start the dough.

As a liquid component, I like potato broth the most. I add liquid slightly warm, body temperature. I add salt and sugar. And I stir.

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

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

The dough must be kneaded thoroughly so that the gluten works. At least 10 minutes until the dough is elastic and hands are clean.

Lubricate the sides of the bowl vegetable oil. I round the dough and put it in a bowl. From above I cover with a film or a shower cap and 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 tear, and fold it three times. Can be folded twice, also in the transverse direction. Then I form a ball, collecting it from below.

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

After an hour, the dough begins to increase in volume.

I repeat the procedure with folding. I fold the formed ball into the form in which I will bake. I use a heat-resistant glass saucepan for this purpose. Lubricate it butter, and at the bottom I put baking paper (I manage to use the paper repeatedly).

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

If you put more sourdough, the process, of course, will speed up. But I for myself determined just such an 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 of water on the bottom. I bake for a maximum of 15 minutes with steam. Steam is needed to make the crust of 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 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 a fresh crispy crust!

It is believed that you need to deal with dough and baking bread in good mood. Many recommend talking to sourdough 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 set about this business.

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.

Russians bread sourdough they were made from rye flour, straw, barley, wheat, hops ... In remote villages, far from the "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 don't need to tremble over it like you would over a crystal vase, just mix desired products and wait, and the result is sure to 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, since it contains all useful material, which 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: 1 cup grain (wheat for wheat bread or rye - for "black") soak 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 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 as much sifted flour to get batter thick creamy consistency. 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 tbsp unrefined sunflower oil. You can add raisins, seeds, nuts, flax seeds, cereals, 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 clean 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, homemade sourdough bread with love will only benefit your household. Enjoy your meal!

Larisa Shuftaykina