Read Classic Sourdoughs Online

Authors: Jean Wood,Ed Wood

Classic Sourdoughs (5 page)

BOOK: Classic Sourdoughs
12.73Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads
Soy Flour

Over the years, many friends have urged us to extol the health benefits of sourdoughs as a means to get more home bakers involved. However, we have always felt that the charisma and pleasure of traditional sourdough baking was more than sufficient to promote sourdoughs. There usually is little difference between sourdough’s health benefits and the benefits of recipes with the same ingredients baked with commercial yeast.

Among the health, promoting ingredients used in breads (sourdough or otherwise) is soy flour. This flour is made from ground soybeans, and is not a grain. One of my professors when I was enrolled in graduate school at Cornell University was Dr. Clive McCay. He was a leader in animal nutrition and pioneered the studies of low-calorie intake in rats that produced longer life spans. In 1955, he and his wife published the first edition of
The Cornell Bread Book
. When asked to improve the diet at New York State mental hospitals, he developed the Cornell bread formula, which was supplemented with soy flour, nonfat dried milk, and wheat germ. Why soy? Soy flour is a rich protein concentrate with over 40 percent protein, but slightly deficient in methionine. When added to wheat flour, which has plenty of that amino acid but is deficient in the amino acid lysine, it produces a balanced protein comparable to meat protein. The breads (with butter) sustained McCay’s rats through succeeding generations without additional food. The McCays describe methods for
home bakers to produce their enriched breads by adding one tablespoon of soy flour, one tablespoon of nonfat dried milk, and one teaspoon of wheat germ for each cup (140 g) of wheat flour. When we tried this, it performed very well in every respect.

Wheat Gluten

Arrowhead Mills (among others) produces a product that is quite useful to increase the leavening potential of gluten-deficient flours, such as the rye varieties. Gluten is extracted from wheat flour through a water-washing procedure, yielding a fine white concentrated gluten. Arrowhead (whose product is called Vital Gluten) recommends 1½ teaspoons per cup (140 g) of flour for whole grain breads.

Water

Contrary to much published advice, trace metals in water usually have no deleterious effect on breads, nor do fluoride additives. High iron concentrations in water also are of no consequence except for some effect on flavor. One potential problem is chlorine. We have never had a problem using chlorinated water, but others have reported that avoiding water with chlorine has solved problems with their sourdough baking.

Many of the recipes in this book specify warm water. “Warm” here means any temperature from 75° to 85°F (24° to 29°C). Hotter water may endanger the yeast, while colder water will slow the leavening process.

Salt

Salt has a stabilizing effect on yeast fermentation and a toughening effect on gluten. It is, incidentally, a required dough constituent under FDA standards, although salt-free bread is permitted for individuals on low-sodium diets. Almost all recipes in this book specify one or two teaspoons of salt, but it is not an essential ingredient. We also do not think sea salt has any special advantages.

Milk

Most commercially baked white breads in the United States are made with some form of milk, usually nonfat dried milk. In fact, the baking industry is the largest single consumer of this product in the country. Dried buttermilk, dried whole milk, and several whey products are used in commercial breads. The home baker has any number of
options of dried and fresh milk available. The recipes in this book that call for milk all use 2 percent (reduced fat) milk, but almost any milk or milk substitute is acceptable. Remember, milk may contain antibiotics and trace amounts of disinfectants used to sterilize milking equipment. As an ingredient in bread, these contaminants may have a very slight chance of being deleterious to the organisms in your sourdough culture.

Fats

Lard, butter, oils, and margarine can generally be used interchangeably. Vegetable oils are convenient to use, while many bakers believe butter gives a better loaf texture. Fats and oils increase loaf volume, prevent crust cracking, enhance keeping qualities, and improve slicing qualities. We use them sparingly.

Sweeteners

When a recipe lists sugar, most bakers use white sugar. But many other sweeteners can be substituted, including brown sugar, corn syrups, and honey. Sugar is a yeast nutrient, although its primary function in bread making is to influence flavor. Yeasts use the carbohydrates and starch in flour as their primary energy source, and an excess of added sugar will actually inhibit, not stimulate, yeast fermentation.

Specialty Ingredients and Substitutions

Today’s baker has a delicious selection of specialty baking ingredients available from around the world. From gourmet shops and health food stores one can get exotic spices, unusual flours, foreign nuts and berries, seeds, cheeses, and flavorings that make bread flavoring possibilities almost endless.

One of the major advantages of doing your own baking is your ability to adjust the recipes to your own health standards. High-fiber grains such as oats may be added to many of the recipes. Steel-cut oats, for example, produce a unique texture and distinctive flavor. To eliminate cholesterol, oil may be substituted for butter, or fat may not even be added. Many people who once enjoyed baking bread have given it up because the temptation of hot bread was too hard on their diets. However, a slice of most home-baked sourdough breads contains no cholesterol and less than 150 calories. For a healthful and durable high-calorie, high-energy snack for kids, athletes, or backpackers, add nuts, seeds, raisins, dates, wheat germ, and anything else you want.

THREE
Putting It All Together

AS YOU EMBARK
on your work with sourdoughs, you’ll experience both success and frustration. Just remember that there is more art (thank goodness) than science in baking as our ancestors did, and the artist learns by doing. But don’t forget why you’re here. Sourdoughs are for fun and personal satisfaction. Your first efforts may produce neither, but if you demand a real sourdough, it will come.

We home bakers have an enormous advantage over commercial bakers: we can afford to let our doughs ferment while we sleep until they are really ready, not half ready. It is difficult to buy a sourdough bread that isn’t flavored with vinegar or a variety of chemicals to simulate the real thing. You and I bake it in our kitchens with just wild sourdough cultures, flour, water, and time. What we bake is far better than almost anything we buy.

When I first wrote
World Sourdoughs from Antiquity
, I emphasized activating dried cultures and culture preparation, or proofing, because they are critical in getting the organisms of the culture growing and reproducing. This is a chore almost unique to home bakers, since the challenge to artisan and commercial bakers is to keep their cultures growing at a constant rate—they bake daily or several times a day, usually seven days a week. If you and I bake once a week, it’s probably more frequently than the average home baker, and then the culture goes back to the refrigerator and become semidormant. The next time we use it, we have to get it back up to speed. The first of the three proofs we use, the culture proof, does just that.

Some Notes on Equipment

Some bakers advocate using wooden spoons for mixing dough to avoid contamination with toxic trace metals. With modern utensils, this sort of contamination is unlikely to occur. Wooden spoons are pleasant to grip but difficult to use for heavy mixing, as they are prone to snap at the handle. Large stainless steel mixing spoons are well suited to the job, but individual preference should dictate your choice. Stainless steel or aluminum mixing bowls are also acceptable. They do not contaminate sourdoughs during the mixing or proofing periods. Heavy-duty plastic bowls are also very satisfactory.

Loaf pans and baking sheets come in every size and shape. We use metal pans and baking sheets with nonstick surfaces, which do not need to be greased before each use. If glass baking pans are used, the oven temperature should be reduced by 25°F (4°C). For loaves using about 4 cups (560 g) of flour, use 8½ by 4½ by 2½-inch/1½-pound (22 by 11 by 7 cm/680 g) pans. In this book, most of the recipes for shaped loaves are designed to yield 1½-pound (680 g) loaves: if your bread pans are a little bigger or smaller, take that into account when judging whether a loaf has risen enough in the pan during the final, loaf proof. A willow basket for the last rise produces an interesting artisan loaf. Oven-safe stoneware vessels, such as La Cloche, are also popular (see
this page
for a recipe designed for using a La Cloche).

A number of the recipes here suggest using a preheated baking stone as a baking surface. These are especially useful for breads requiring high, even temperatures, such as pizzas and flatbreads, though they can be successfully used with many loaves.

The Proofing Box

A proofing box made from an inexpensive Styrofoam cooler will accurately regulate proofing temperatures, which is important for achieving the desired flavors, leavening, and sourness. Select a cooler large enough to fit upside down over your large mixing bowls—approximately 20 by 13 by 11 inches (50 by 33 by 28 cm). Turn the cooler upside down and install a standard porcelain lightbulb socket
inside
near the center of the bottom (now the top) of the cooler, with an ordinary rheostat (dimmer switch) in the power cord. Use a 25-watt lightbulb and an accurate thermometer to measure the interior temperature. We use an outdoor thermometer. We’ve found that heating pads, incubators, or aquarium heaters are not as efficient as this system.

Steps in Proofing

After activation, a sourdough goes through three proofing stages on its way to becoming a bread. First, the active culture is proofed to greatly increase the number of organisms; then the dough is given a lengthy proof after kneading, allowing both yeast and lactobacilli to multiply throughout the dough; and finally the shaped loaves are proofed to maximize both leavening and flavor.

ACTIVATING A DRY CULTURE

Activation is a sort of pre-proofing step, which converts a dried, dormant culture into a mass of active sourdough organisms ready to be further prepared for use in the “culture proof” stage described below. Activation is achieved by simply adding flour and water to the dried culture (which is a mixture of concentrated organisms and the flour in which they were grown) and proofing for three to five days. This is something you’ll do only once, when you first acquire a dried sourdough culture.

Start by thoroughly mixing all the dried culture (which contains approximately ¼ cup/35 g of flour) with ¾ cup (105 g) of unbleached all-purpose flour and ¾ cup (180 ml) of warm water in a 1-quart (1 liter) widemouthed canning jar. The culture should be the consistency of thick pancake batter. Place the jar in a warm place (about 90°F/32°C) and proof for about 24 hours. A proofing box is useful at this stage (see
this page
); if you use one, check the temperature of the proofing box with a reliable outdoor thermometer. This high starting temperature promotes the growth of the lactobacilli and thus increases acid production. High acidity helps prevent contamination of the active culture by nonsourdough organisms present in most flour, most of which do not thrive in an acid environment.

At the end of 24 hours, a few bubbles may appear in the culture as the first sign of growth and activity. Now reduce the proofing temperature to about 70°F (21°C). This lower temperature slows the bacterial growth and acid production—important at this stage as too much acidity inhibits the growth of the yeast. Continue feeding the culture every 12 to 24 hours for 3 to 5 days: feed with 1 cup (140 g) of flour and enough water (up to ¾ cup/180 ml) to maintain the thick pancake-batter consistency. It will be necessary to discard about half of the mixture before each feeding or the jar will overflow. Discarding dilutes the culture and helps reduce acid buildup. This is a good time to divide the culture into two jars—one for a backup in case of an accident with the other. After dividing into an additional jar, feed both jars.

Sometimes the culture becomes quite active in the first 24 hours. This could be a sign of contamination, but if the culture has a pleasant odor and continues to respond when fed, it is a good culture and can be retained. If the odor is unpleasant, follow the directions for washing a culture below.

When foam and bubbles increase the culture’s volume by about 3 inches (8 cm) within 2 to 3 hours of its last feeding, the culture is fully active and can be used or refrigerated until needed.

During refrigeration, as the culture becomes semidormant, a layer of clear tan or brown fluid forms on the surface. This is the “hooch”: it’s perfectly normal, and it should be stirred back in when the culture is used.

Culture Container

A 1-quart (1 liter) widemouthed glass canning jar is recommended for activation and maintenance of cultures. These jars perform an essential function. Each time additional flour is added, the subsequent activity of lactobacilli makes the culture slightly more acidic. Repeat feedings in a larger container will create excessive acidity and inhibit the wild yeast. In contrast, using quart (liter) jars means you must discard part of the activating culture at each feeding or the mixture will overflow the jar. This dilutes the acidity slightly at each feeding. In addition, with glass jars you can see activity inside the developing culture. The jar lid should not be tightened, but put on loosely.

BOOK: Classic Sourdoughs
12.73Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

The Scenic Route by Devan Sipher
A Bear of a Reputation by Ivy Sinclair
Learning by Heart by Elizabeth Cooke
Spell of Summoning by Anna Abner
The Lights of Skaro by David Dodge
Goldilocks by Ruth Sanderson
Bookworm Buddies by Judy Delton