How to make sourdough
An easy recipe for those who want to experience the magic of homemade bread
Yeast, sourdough, what is it? Not everyone knows that the secret to good bread, even when home-made is yeast (or sourdough, as we will call it below). In this era of crisis many people are trying to make do in the house and prepare foods that have become a burden on the family budget as a way to save money. Bread is definitely one of these, but the dough can also be used for preparing seasonal desserts such as panettone and pandori.
Sourdough, also called yeast, comes in the form of sticky blobs, and has unpredictable behavior which has frightened many generations of housewives.
With a bit of patience and understanding of the mechanisms that regulate the fermentation, you can get, in fact, a good compound, healthy and active for decades.
The classic preparation of dough begins from a mixture obtained by allowing a spontaneous reaction triggered by a mixture of flour and water: this mixture should be allowed to acidify spontaneously, allowing the development of various species of bacteria.
So, how to make sourdough? To prepare it, you should use the following ingredients:
- 200 grams of flour manitoba type 0.
- 100 ml of warm water.
Some recipes require the addition of yogurt, fruit sugar and honey.
Preparation of sourdough:
The dough should be prepared in a kitchen where the average temperature is 22-25°C. Put the flour into a bowl, adding the water a bit at a time until the dough is very soft, but not too sticky. The mixture should be placed in a glass container with a previously floured surface; cut a cross in top of the dough and cover the container with a damp cloth and cling film.
The mixture should be left to stand for 48 hours in a warm place always at about 20°C . It may be useful to leave mature fruit in the room as this helps to encourage fermentation.
After 48 hours, weigh the dough and add the same amount of flour and 50% water (50 ml ). Let it rest for another 2 days and repeat this process again (the so-called refreshment), with the same amount of flour and water.
On the sixth day, the dough will be ready. At this point, it should give off a pleasant scent of vinegar.
You should keep the yeast the fridge with no problems for up to a week, after this amount of time you must refresh it again, with the same procedure as described above, leaving it for 6 hours at room temperature , always covered with damp cloth and cling film and then put it back in the fridge.
In order to keep the yeast over the years, you have to refresh it every 5/6 days.
Ready to experience the thrill and the smell of homemade bread?
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