brd-mk-sour-msg - 3/20/08
Period sourdough bread recipes and re-creations. Useful breadmaking hints.
Referances. Sourdough starter sources.
NOTE: See also these files: bread-msg, BNYeast-art, yeasts-msg, breadmaking-msg, flour-msg, trenchers-msg, bread-stuffed-msg, pretzels-msg, wafers-msg, brd-mk-flat-msg.
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Stefan at florilegium.org
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Date: Tue, 4 Nov 1997 10:20:28 -0800
From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Re: White, Dafair, Flour & Semolina
At 9:46 AM -0400 11/4/97, Philip & Susan Troy wrote:
>'Fraid I've never heard of Dafair.
The recipe from the _Miscellany_ is:
- ---
The Making of Daf’ir, Braids
Andalusian, p. A-25
Take what you will of white flour or of semolina, which is better in these
things. Moisten it with hot water after sifting, and knead well, after
adding some fine flour, leavening, and salt. Moisten it again and again
until it has middling consistency. Then break into it, for each ratl of
semolina, five eggs and a dirham of saffron, and beat all this very well,
and put the dough in a dish, cover it and leave it to rise, and the way to
tell when this is done is what was mentioned before [it holds an
indentation]. When it has risen, clean a frying pan and fill it with fresh
oil, then put it on the fire. When it starts to boil, make braids of the
leavened dough like hair-braids, of a handspan or less in size. Coat them
with oil and throw them in the oil and fry them until they brown. When
their cooking is done, arrange them on an earthenware plate and pour over
them skimmed honey spiced with pepper, cinnamon, Chinese cinnamon, and
lavender. Sprinkle it with ground sugar and present it, God willing. This
same way you make isfunj, except that the dough for the isfunj will be
rather light. Leave out the saffron, make it into balls and fry them in
that shape, God willing. And if you wish stuffed daf’ir or isfunj, stuff
them with a filling of almonds and sugar, as indicated for making q’hiriy’t.
- --
Note: the recipe calls for a dirham of saffron = 3.8 grams, which is an
incredible amount of saffron. If this is a scribal error for a danaq, it
would be .6 grams.
dough sauce
1 lb semolina = 2 3/8 c 3 eggs 1 c honey
1 c water .6 gram saffron (see note) 1/2 t pepper
1 1/2 c flour ~1 T oil to brush on 1 t cinnamon
leavening: 1 c sourdough starter oil for frying 1 T lavender
1 t salt 1 1/2 t sugar to sprinkle on
Add water to semolina 1/8 c at a time, mixing, until all of semolina is
barely moistened. Add sourdough, 3/4 c flour, and salt, and knead until it
is a smooth elastic dough. Crush saffron into 2 t water; add it and eggs to
dough and knead in. The dough being too soppy for braiding, add another 3/4
c flour. Leave to rise in a warm place until doubled, about an hour and a
half. While the dough rises make the sauce: grind the lavender and add to
the honey with pepper and cinnamon; boil honey and spices about 10 minutes
on medium heat. Flour a cutting board, take small lumps of dough (about 2
tablespoons), roll into 6" strings, and braid three together into braids 6"
long. Let rise half an hour. Heat about 1/2" of oil in a frying pan at
medium high heat (to 275ƒ with a candy thermometer) and fry the braids a
few at a time, so that there is room to turn them over as they fry, until
puffed up and light brown on both sides: about 2-3 minutes total. According
to the recipe they should be brushed with oil before frying, but I could
not see any difference between the ones I brushed and those I did not.
Drain braids on paper towels, put on a plate, drizzle with the sauce and
sprinkle with a little sugar. Makes 15 braids.
David/Cariadoc
Date: Mon, 15 Dec 1997 09:28:00 -0600
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - Greetings!
>Anyway--does
>anyone know how to make sourdough or clarified butter? I have two
>bread recipes, and one calls for ghee and another one calls for
>sourdough. Merci beaucoup!
>
>Isabelle de Foix
>College of Misty Mere
>Kingdom of Meridies
Basic Sourdough Starter
2 Cups warm Water (105 - 110 degrees F)
pinch of sugar
1 pkg dry active yeast (1 rounded teaspoon, 7 g.)
2 Cups flour
Take a bowl capable of handling 3 qts or more.
Pour the water into the bowl
Dissolve the pinch of sugar in the water
Dissolve the yeast in the water. Let stand for about 15 minutes, the
yeast should activate, start bubbling to the surface and make the
solution look creamy.
Stir in the flour. Scrap the flour from the sides of the bowl and blend
it into the mixture.
Loosely cover the bowl with a piece of cheescloth. This keeps the bugs
out, but lets the wild yeast in.
Put the bowl in a warm location. 80 degrees F is preferred, but 70
degrees F will work.
Each day for the next four days, add 1/2 cup warm water (105 -110
degrees F) and 1/2 cup flour. Stir in thoroughly.
After four days, put the starter in a container that can be sealed and
refrigerate it.
Once a week, add equal amounts of water and flour to the mixture (about
1/2 cup of each should do it)
Replace the starter as used with eqaul amounts of water and flour
Notes:
It takes about 1 cup of starter to replace the yeast in a standard bread
recipe.
You don't need to use the sugar, but I find it helps the yeast.
While the starter sours, your kitchen (and possibly your house) will
smell like a barroom that doesn't swamp the floors.
If there are any bugs in the house, the fermentation will attract them.
I recommend two layers of cheesecloth with enough excess to tape it to
the sides of the bowl. I use masking tape for easy clean up.
There is no guarantee that the starter will sour properly. Even
commercial starters fail. However, North America is blessed with a lot
of wild yeast that makes good sourdough bread (much to the brewers'
dismay).
Bear
Date: Mon, 2 Feb 1998 21:29:16 -0800From: david friedman <ddfr at best.com>Subject: Re: SC - Bread Making From PlatinaMurkial af Maun /Christi Redeker posted Platina's bread recipe and asked>Could someone out there (bakers beware) help me in redacting this recipe.Here is our version out of the _Miscellany_:On BreadPlatina pp. 13-14 (Book 1)... Therefore I recommend to anyone who is a baker that he use flour fromwheat meal, well ground and then passed through a fine seive to sift it;then put it in a bread pan with warm water, to which has been added salt,after the manner of the people of Ferrari in Italy. After adding the rightamount of leaven, keep it in a damp place if you can and let it rise. ...The bread should be well baked in an oven, and not on the same day; breadfrom fresh flour is most nourishing of all, and should be baked slowly.[end of original]1 1/2 c sourdough2 1/4 c warm water1 T salt1 c whole wheat flour5 3/4 c white flour: 5 1/4 c at first, 1/2 c laterPut sourdough in a bowl. Add warm (not hot!) water and salt, mix. Add wholewheat flour, then white, 1 or 2 c at a time, first stirring in with awooden spoon and then kneading it in. Cover with a wet towel, set aside.Let rise overnight (16-20 hours). Turn out on a floured board, shape intotwo or three round loaves, working in another 1/2 c or so of flour. Letrise again in a warm place for an hour. Bake at 350° about 50 minutes.Makes 2 loaves, about 8" across, 3"-4" thick, about 1.5 lb, or threesmaller loaves.More recently, I have had it work with just a 4-hour rising in a warm place(I had meant to get the dough started the night before, but did not get toit). Elizabeth/Betty Cook
Date: Wed, 4 Feb 1998 11:24:53 -0600
From: L Herr-Gelatt and J R Gelatt <liontamr at ptd.net>
Subject: SC - Bread Making from Platina OT (Sour Starter)
>Elizabeth wrote:
>
>>By the way, if you do not know anyone with a sourdough starter, we can
>>bring you some of ours when we come out for the Known World Arts and
>>Sciences event, if that is not too late.
>
>>Elizabeth/Betty Cook
>
>I do not have any, but I am sure that people around here do. But I
>would be glad to accept anything from your kitchen.
>
>Murkial
If you have some time at home, it is quite eeasy to make your own sourdough
starter. Although I reccomend that you start from scratch, it is easier to
use (purchased) bread yeast. The trouble with purchased bread yeast is it's
propensity to take over and conquer all...in other words, you may never get
"sour" dough.
I have a colonial recipe for "Salt Rising Dough", the version *without*
potato water in it. Curiously, there's not too much salt in it. Although the
source not to hand at the moment, the gist of it goes like this (I do this
by heart several times a year---my husband likes his sourbread really sour!):
Take a 2-qt jug (non-reactive) and quarter-fill it with water that is warm
to the touch. Add 1/4 cup sugar, honey or other sweetner, 1 tsp. salt, 1
tbsp sour cream, unflavored active culture yoghurt, or buttermilk, and
enough flour to make it as thick as pancake batter (griddle cakes, thick
crepes, crempog or crumpets to you non-yanks). If you are feeling lazy, now
is the time to add your bread yeast, but you have been warned! All you may
get is a big jug of active commercial bread yeast! Loosely cover the jug
(very loosely), and place it in a large stockpot with a few inches of warm
water in it. Cover the pot and leave overnight in a warm place (I like to
leave it just over the pilot-light of my gas stove). The next morning, there
should be bubbles from fermentation and the starter should have "risen" up
the sides of the jug. Sometimes. If the weather does not cooperate or you
don't have the right kitchen gremlins, etc., it may be necessary to remove
the jug, add more sugar/flour (it may have seperated, which mean you don't
have the right gremlins in it yet---that's OK, we can fix it) and let it sit
on the counter loosely covered until fermentation takes place. If you do
this over the course of a week, feeding it every day or every other day,
adding water as needed,it will get very sour---the way we like it. The
natural yeast has a cycle of flavors--if you catch it at it's sourest, the
next time you use it it will noticeably milder.
Once soured, keep it in the refrigerator, feed it once in a while, and use
it frequently---like every week or more. After a while, if you get sick of
the starter, feed it, put it in a pretty container, and give it away to (not
very good) friends, calling it Amish Friendship Bread (groan). Tell them how
to take care of it and also tell them you never want to see it again---in
any re-incarnation.
To bake with it: Take at least half the starter, well mixed from the jug,
and make your basic dough with it, using the starter as part of the liquid
(do not add bread yeast to the dough). Allow to rise for a long
period---overnight if necessary. My Sourdough loaves tend to rise in a
less-round shape than bread-yeast doughs. This means your loaf may have very
square top corners. Feed and water the other half of your starter, and put
it on the counter until sour again, and then use or refrigerate. Because of
the long rise, I use a one-rise method, but it is possible to have a 2-rise
if you have patience. In this case you may want to rise in the oven, barely
warmed on the lowest setting, with a pan of warm water to speed the process.
Have fun--and do not under any circumstance tightly seal the starter. It
will eventually explode!
Aoife
Date: Thu, 05 Feb 1998 17:15:18 -0800
From: Brett and Karen Williams <brettwi at ix.netcom.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Bread Making from Platina OT (Sour Starter)
> Wow! How wonderful of you. Thank you thank you thank you. I've always
> wanted a recipe for sourdough starter. Thank you. AN one more thing-
> Thank you!
> Angelique
I seem to have resubscribed at the end of a conversation I would have
liked to have seen. ;) Ah, well-- this will be long.
It's not that hard to make your own sourdough starter. All it takes is a
little goo-- flour and water. If your kitchen has had a lot of bread
baking in it, yeast will find the food source and start in on the feast.
Otherwise, prime the mixture with a little bit of commercial yeast.
Basically, a sourdough starter can be quick-chugged in about a week of
daily routine: toss about half out, feed by adding water and flour back
up to the original quantity, stir and ignore for twenty-four hours. The
more often the yeast has to work the sourer the taste. I've heard that a
good sourdough culture from scratch needs about a year of steady weekly
use to really get sour, but I didn't find that was the case with mine.
My starter is about three years old and either gets used on a weekly
basis, or is ignored for about a month. I merely pour off the hootch,
(which is the alcohol yeast excretes) feed the night before, and go on
with my recipe. I have even rescued my starter from scraps in a bowl
when my overzealous husband dumped it down the drain. As long as you
have a little of your starter alive, you can easily feed it back up to
full strength and any quantity your recipe calls for.
I've been fooling around with bread baking for a couple of years now. Up
until today, all of the sourdough breads I'd tried came out, well,
pretty durn rock-like. Not my idea of bread. I followed this recipe and
procedure over the last few days, and to my delighted amazement took two
loaves of bread outta the oven this afternoon that have almost the
lightness of commercial bread. Almost. ;)
Wanna try it? Remember, this is procedure, not just a recipe-- and I
make no representations as to its period-ness as I simply do not know
enough about period breads to make that kind of judgment. However, I've
found over a couple of years of experimentation with bread that certain
ingredients cause certain characteristics, hence the particular
ingredients I've used. I'll explain the characteristics within the
procedure.
Ciorstan's Arf-n-Arf Spelt Bread (though whole wheat will do)
Read all the way through before you start.
Day 1: Kickstart your sourdough by priming it with enough flour and
water to make about four cups total. Ignore it for a day, but put it
back in the fridge to bubble ominously. The cold temperature keeps the
yeast from processing into alcohol death too soon.
Day 2: In a large bowl, mix together:
3 cups of starter (put the rest back in its jar in the fridge to ignore
until next project)
1/4 cup melted butter, left to cool to room temperature
1 cup of white flour
3 tsp. salt
1 1/2 c. milk, room temperature
Mix together. Add slowly:
3 c. spelt flour (or whole wheat)
2 to 2 1/2 c. white flour
Knead in the last cup to 1/2 cup of white flour, until the dough has
that particular silky smooth feeling of well-kneaded bread. Since I'm a
mom, I describe it as 'baby's butt'! It should be a little slack/sticky,
but not much. Put it into a large bowl, cover with a damp cloth and
ignore overnight, if your kitchen is really cold. Otherwise, about three
hours at 85 degrees. Sourdough yeast functions best at 85-- any colder
and it acts slower, any warmer and it will probably start to die. The
damp cloth serves to keep the bread dough from forming a crust on top
due to drying out. Don't use a paper towel-- they don't stay damp very
long.
Day 3: Punch down, knead. Shape into two loaves, put loaves into greased
pans (I also use corn meal for 'mold release'). Let rise in its 'proof'
stage under a damp cloth, about 2 to 3 hours in a cold kitchen, probably
about 45 minutes at 85 degrees.
Bake, one loaf at a time for perfect crust, at 375 for 45 minutes (my
two loaves weren't the same size, so I put the larger one in first and
by the time the first one came out, the second had risen to match the
first one's size). Cool on a rack until the loaf stops steaming-- if you
cut into it too soon, the steam will collapse the loaf. Usually baking
two loaves of this size at a time will cause the loaves to heat
unevenly, making the crust crack parallel along the top of the pan.
Also, I noticed that the crust crazed a little as the loaf cooled, so
probably a healthy slash or two across the top like the fancy bakeries
would be in order before baking.
This is *really* good bread-- just a little sour, with a delicate light
texture and loft due to the milk, and nice golden crust due to the
butter. The salt acts as a yeast enhancer. I particularly like spelt
flour over whole wheat, because it isn't bitter like whole wheat (health
food stores have it, so does the King Arthur Flour Catalog). Next time
I'm going to try an all spelt loaf for a more period bread. The interior
of the loaf is a light golden brown in color. Spelt is an older
step-uncle of the current forms of wheat grown commercially these days,
and has been cultivated for some 5,000 years. From a mom's point of view
it's a little more nutritious than regular wheat-- but more to the
point, I like the taste.
Incidentally, if you're impatient, you can combine day 1 and day 2 if
your starter is reasonably active. You want to be within 24 hours of its
last feeding for ideal sourness. And if you really want *sour* bread,
add a little citric acid-- it's a common ingredient in commercial
sourdough breads these days.
ciorstan
Date: Tue, 7 Jul 1998 23:58:52 -0500
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
Subject: RE: SC - More Sourdough Woes
> But...
> It wasn't Sourdough! It wasn't sour and it wasn't chewy!
>
> Renata
There is never any guarantee with sourdough.
First, did you use a commercial starter or create a starter using commercial
yeast? If so, it may take some time for the starter to sour.
Second, did you use sugar, honey, etc. in the bread? This can temper the
sour flavor.
Third, did you boost the dough with yeast to improve the rise? The faster
the bread rises, the less time it has to sour properly.
Things you may wish to try:
Leave the container of starter covered on the counter. Feed it every eight
to twelve hours. Bake a loaf a day for a while. This accelerates the yeast
growth and should increase the sourness of the starter.
Make your dough as directed, except do not add yeast if directed. Use two
rises. Let the dough rise the first time until it slumps. Turn the dough
out on a floured board and knead, adding flour slowly until the dough is no
longer sticky and is again smooth and elastic. Shape your loaves and allow
to rise until doubled. Bake as directed (I use 425 F for 40 to 45 minutes).
Bear
Date: Wed, 8 Jul 1998 07:38:34 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Par Leijonhufvud <parlei at algonet.se>
Subject: RE: SC - More Sourdough Woes
On Tue, 7 Jul 1998, Decker, Terry D. wrote:
> > It wasn't Sourdough! It wasn't sour and it wasn't chewy!
> There is never any guarantee with sourdough.
> Make your dough as directed, except do not add yeast if directed. Use two
> rises. Let the dough rise the first time until it slumps. Turn the dough
Other suggestions:
How long did you let the dough rise the first time? I generally let it
doa first rise ON (overnight, lab shorthand), and then a second one in
the morning. I've actually gotten a "sour" loaf this way with plain
yeast, allowed to do a first rise ON or even for a full 24 hours.
/UlfR
(spelled UlfR, pronounced with a fricative R)
Date: Wed, 8 Jul 1998 17:39:46 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Par Leijonhufvud <parlei at algonet.se>
Subject: Re: SC - More Sourdough Woes
On Wed, 8 Jul 1998 THLRenata at aol.com wrote:
> On the question of ON rising -- will it stop rising at a certain point if left
> unattended? I usually let my bread rise in the oven with only the pilot light
> going -- will this work for ON, or should I leave the bread rising on the
> counter?