"The longer the bread takes to make, the better the bread." -A French Baker
I have begun fun experiment this year, I am learning to bake bread using only wild yeasts. I am learning how to do this by reading through The Village Baker by Joe Ortiz. I purchased the book about 20 years ago while I was in art school at Oregon State University. To put myself through school I often had part time jobs in quaint and delicious coffee shops and bakeries. This is where my love for original baking began. Now 20 years later and a bit more seasoned in life I am beginning this love affair with village baking again.
I wanted to use wild yeast because of what I have been hearing and reading seems to prove that souring and soaking grains makes them more digestible and nutritious as these traditional processes break up the phytic acid which holds in the nutrients. Unfortunately our bodies are unable to break it down ourselves. By using these old methods we get more from our bread and in addition a lovely sour taste which I personally adore.
Above is my very first loaf made with the wild yeast method. This particular village bread recipe is called Pain de Campagne or Country Style French Bread. ( page 82-85) It took roughly 6 days from start to finish beginning with 1/2 c. whole wheat flour, scant 1/4 cup warm water, 1/8 teaspoon of ground cumin, and 1/2 t homemade yoghurt to make what is called a chef. The chef takes about three days to ferment, then there is the first refreshment on day four, the second refreshment, mixing of dough and shaping of the loaves on the fifth day and baking on the sixth day. It isn't a very beautiful loaf I made but it worked and today we are enjoying it with sautéed vegetables and liver and some lovely minestrone soup made homemade this morning. The crust is very thick and hard, but the inside was moist and soft. It was a warm night when I finally shaped the loaf and left it to rise over night and the bread fell some what leaving it ever so deflated looking. I only let it rise 10 or the 16 hours tat were recommend but it was still too much in the summer night heat.
Here is the process in detail in case you want to try it too.
2pm make your chef
1/2 c. whole wheat flour (sprouted and organic is best)
scant 1/4 cup warm water
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin (this is where some of the wild yeast comes from)
1/2 teaspoon milk (raw milk or yoghurt, kefir will also give you cultures to begin with)
Make a fountain with your flour and add the other ingredients in the middle carefully mixing the wet into the dry. Once the wet and dry are combined the dough should be firm but sticky. Knead this little ball of dough for about 5-8 minutes. I set a timer for 6. Then place the chef into a glass container with a lose cover or cheeses cloth to keep out the bugs and dust. Let it sit for three days.
2pm the following day: 1st Refreshment
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (sprouted is best)
2 T of the chef from the previous step
1/3 cup warm water
Your chef will develop a hard outer shell over the three days that it is fermenting but that is all right. Remove all the hard bits and you should have about 2 T of soft moist chef inside. That is the part you use in this step. Make a fountain with the flour the same way that you did in the first step and add the 2 T of chef in little bits inside the center of the fountain and add the water slowly mixing in the chef the flour and the water. Your dough should be firm but sticky. Knead this some what larger ball of dough for 5- 8 minutes. Then place it into a larger glass jar or small bowl out of the breezes but not sealed for 18 hours. It too will form a hard crust you will remove in the next step.
8 am the following day: 2nd Refreshment
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (sprouted is best)
1/2 cup organic white flour (sprouted is best)
1/2 cup levain from the previous step
1/2 cup water
Make a fountain on your work table with the two flours reserving 1/4 cup for the final kneading step. Then remove any hard bits on the outside of your dough and break it into little bits into the center of the fountain. Add the water slowly as you work the levain, the water and the flour into a dough. Your dough should be firm but sticky. Knead for 5-8 minutes until the dough is smooth and it pushes back when you press into it. Place this ball of dough into a bowl and cover with a wet cloth. Let rise for 9 hours.
5 pm of the same day mix the dough
3 cups organic white flour (sprouted is best)
1 1/2 cups levain from the previous step
1 1/4 cups water
2 1/2 generous teaspoons sea salt
Make a fountain with the flours, add all of the levain in little pieces and then the water a little at a time. As the water is added dissolve the levain into it and add little bits of flour as you go. As the flour is added it will become elastic and it should be pulled and stretched vigorously. When all but about 1 cup of flour has been aded press the dough out into a flat round and sprinkle on the salt. Knead the salt into the dough and then add in the remaining flour. The salt will slow down the fermenting process at this point. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes until it is firm and springs back when touched. Place the dough into the bowl and cover it with a wet cloth. Let rise for 8-10 hours. It should have doubled in size.
11 pm the same day shape the loaves
The dough is now ready to be shaped. At this time you can cut off a piece of the dough about the size of a walnut. This will be your chef for the next days bread. (more about how to use this later in the post) shape the loaf into a round by flattening it with your hand and folding in the edges 4 to 5 times each time sealing it with the heel of your hand. Place the loaf into a banneton (a basket lined with a dish towel and lightly dusted with flour) and set it in a warm place to rise. cover with a wet towel. Let rise for 10 hours.
Bake the loaf
Place a baking stone in your oven and preheat the oven to 450 degrees. When the oven is ready, gently empty the loaf onto a baking sheet without edges that has been sprinkled with cornmeal or flour. With a sharp razor blade slice the top of the loaf in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Slide the loaf to your heated baking stone. Bake for 1 hour or until the loaf is golden brown and sounds hollow when thumped on the top. Cool on a wire rack.
Finished (smile) now to enjoy.
"The activity of the dough is described as la fermentation and is brought on by the action of lactic acid bacteria (lactobacilli) and wild yeast in sourdough, or by a sugar-eating microorganism (fungus) in commercial yeast. These organisms, in consuming flour, create an alcoholic fermentation and carbon dioxide as a by product. This gas, when entrapped within a well-developed bread dough causes the dough to rise." The Village Baker pg. 17
I think it is so cool that the lacto-fermentation I have been using to make beet kvass and sauerkraut is the same process used to make wild yeast sourdough breads. I can not wait to try this recipe again. To begin again I saved out a bit of dough from the first loaf just before I shaped it (last night) and placed it into a glass jar until this morning. It had doubled in size yippee! This morning I gave it it's first refreshment and set it aside for about 12-18 hours (tomorrow morning) when I will refresh again, make the dough and shape it. Then tomorrow I will be baking again. My process this time around will be three days less time because I am not having to get the chef started which took three days to ferment. The old dough method will allow me to make bread ever other day. I may try baguette shapes tomorrow for sandwiches.
The history of village bread making is interesting:
"The spirit of village bread baking began over five thousand years ago when families and small tribes huddled close together around the camp fire to eat mush. Made from water and crushed grains, the first porridge or gruel had to be eaten immediately. One day, the pride was accidentally left over the fire and it cooked into a rock hard cake or galette. Dense and unappealing as it may have been, that primitive bread would last a few more days, heralding the first historic preservation of grains. It also made it easier to carry along on the hunt and into battle.
Still later, that same mush, left out in a warm, moist atmosphere, fermented. The result was a bubbly mixture-the original sourdough culture and first yeast. When this fermented mush mixed with fresh grain and then baked on a stone over the campfire, it became lighter and more edible: the first leavened bread as we know it." The Village Baker pg. 2
These porridge breads are still being made today and I want to try those too. Some recipes that whet the appetite in The Village Baker are Pain boucle, Pane toscano antiquato, Pane francese antiquato, Pane di Mais. What a fun idea to bypass the use of flour and just make bread straight from the grain.
Another way to ferment your dough is by making a starter out of apples, the bread is called Pain Aux Pommes (sourdough apple bread) The levin begins with one apple cut into pieces, 3 T of sugar, and 2 t of water. form there honey and more water are added tot eh starter and some white flour. Then more honey, flour, and water and finally you get to make the dough. Sounds delicious!
But before I move onto other kinds of bread I plan to continue to make the Pain de Campagne using the old dough method. I saved out a walnut sized piece form the first loaf and began to make bread every other day for a while until I find a rhythm that will work for my life and families needs. This time around it will not take six days to make a loaf of bread, but two days and some planning. Here is what my schedule will look like:
7 am remove the chef from the loaf and fridge it to slow down the fermentation until I go to bed that night. I will be baking the first loaf and enjoying eating it so I don't need to begin the next loaf just yet. I pull out the chef before I go to bed at around 9-10 pm. By morning it will be ready for the 1st refreshment.
8am the next day 1st refreshment.
4pm that night the 2nd refreshment
(notice this time is much shorter because the levain is fresh it works faster.)
8 pm mix the dough
(this time has also decreased due to the fresh levain) I can also allow this rising time to extend longer as it is night time and the temperatures in the kitchen have dropped to below 70 degrees.
7am the next morning shape the loaves.
5 pm bake
If there ever is a day that I do not want to bake I simply leave the chef in the fridge until I am ready to begin again. It will be happy in there for a week or so.
until next time...enjoy your bread!
