The Perfect Loaf

 After making my first natural yeast loaf of bread, the levain, P-Dee, became too powerful. While I was on vacation from work and enjoying a day of junk shopping in Hot Springs, I decided to search for a crock. In the old days, levains were kept in a crock. I have read that this is better because the insulation of the pottery keeps the yeast culture at a more consistent temperature, protecting it from frostbite in the refrigerator. The only downside is that you cannot see what is going on below the surface. I decided if I could find a reasonably priced crock, I would switch from glass.

On Amazon, crocks cost as much as $80 dollars, with some in the $30-$40 range. This is steep for a first-year teacher on a budget plan to eliminate debt. So a day of junk shopping with my mom in Hot Springs seemed the best bet. The first store supplied two options, both beautiful, but slightly too large and still $35. The next shop was better priced, but the crocks were huge ($20). Finally, we arrived at Re-Store, one of my favorite places. They collect donations from individuals and builders alike and supply anything from appliances and furniture to books and dishes. This was the jackpot, or the crock pot. We found several choices and for less than $10. So for $5, I bought a nice sized crock. 

The timing was perfect, too. When I arrived home, P-Dee had exploded! She was growing so fast, that just hours after feeding led to an overflow. I pulled Whea-D out of the fridge for a last inspection and decided to throw her out. I combined my strategies. I fed P-Dee with whole wheat flour this time, and placed her in the new crock, and in the fridge. Finally, everything was running smooth. This was the birth of D, the fourth and final approach to a successful levain (one that is sustainable in the fridge). In addition to this success, the flavor has mellowed out.

Since the creation of D, there have been two successful loaves of bread and a very successful batch of whole wheat blueberry pancakes. The last two loaves also included honey, to try to sweeten the flavor a little. While much milder, the bread still has a unique flavor. 

I have found success in these simple steps:

• if using tap water, allow to sit for at least 24 hours to let any chlorine bubble out
• use whole wheat flour, only if the container will remain in the fridge, and buy organic if available
• use a scale to measure equal parts according to weight, not volume (I use 8 oz. levain, 8 oz. water, and 8 oz. whole wheat flour - this leaves me almost 16 oz. of levain to use before each feeding too.)
• remember to put a breathable cover on the container to prevent hardening and explosions
• use a crock to maintain better temperatures
• feed at least twice per week (I do Wednesday and Sunday)

 In terms of making bread, I have developed this recipe based on the previously mentioned websites:  3 oz. levain, 11.5 oz. water, 1.5 oz. honey, and 17-18 oz. whole wheat flour. Put the first three ingredients into a mixer on low until dissolved. Add about half the flour, mixing on low. Attach dough hook if available. Continue adding flour until the dough pulls away from the sides. The tricky part is the kneading. What works for me is to use the dough hook in the mixer alternating between stir, 2, and 4 (the three lowest settings on my mixer). I tried to time it, and it took about 10-15 minutes before the dough passed the window test. This is when the dough stretches instead of breaks. If it broke too soon, I turned it back to 4 for a minute, then to 2, then to stir, and checked again. I then hand kneaded a few times. (When dealing with wheat dough, the natural yeast book had some great advice:  use water to wet your surface and hands, not flour. Flour will dry the dough out more and whole wheat flour creates tiny tears in the surface. The kneading technique they use, since it is a little tougher than normal dough is the "French Slap." Grab one edge of the dough, sling the other end away from you and up, then slap it on the counter-top and fold the piece you are holding over the top. Grab the edge perpendicular to you, rotate, and repeat. Just watch out for the angry husband who comes stumbling out of the bedroom to ask "What the heck are you doing in here?" It also might scare animals.) After forming a nice large ball, I place it in an oiled bowl, cover with a warm, damp towel and place it in the oven. (If it is cold, you can turn on your oven light to warm up a little, otherwise a room temperature oven is fine.) 6-8 hours later, it should have doubled in size. Gently remove it to a wet surface, fold in the corners to create a small rectangle, and place seam down in an oiled loaf pan. Again, wait for it to double, about 2-4 hours, then bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Let it cool for about 30 minutes if your impatient, or for 3 hours if you want to preserve the moisture inside the loaf. Eat within 5 days, or refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.

So far, this has been a fun and tasty adventure. I am so proud of discovering an almost extinct technique (at least to American households). Why choose between expensive bakery bread (most of which still uses commercial yeast) and flavorless factory bread? Get flavor, health, savings, and a hobby!

Yes, There was Success

There was success that night! I was up very late, trying to make sure this loaf had every chance available to be perfect. While it was not perfect, it was close enough for me! The flavor was incredibly sour, but as my husband put it, the texture was exact. This meant P-Dee had become a legitimate levain. Here are some photos of the whole process, from levain to loaf.

Success with P-Dee, Well Almost

P-Dee has won the race!

Previously I had split Dee Dee (the original levain) into two separate jars for some troubleshooting. Whea-Dee was kept in the fridge and fed wheat flour twice per week, while P-Dee was kept on the counter and fed all-purpose flour daily. Wednesday night (3 feedings ago) I noticed that P-Dee smelled like a very lovely beer. This is a good sign that yeast cultures are doing their thing. I continued regular, nightly feedings of 4 oz. of water and 4 oz. of all-purpose flour (added to 4 oz. of P-Dee, the remainder was discarded). The smell became more and more rich each night. Last night (Friday) I asked the husband if I should go ahead and try baking. I noted, however, that it had still not doubled in size. The expectation for a healthy levain is to double in size within 6-8 hours (12-24 in the fridge). Although the smell was brilliant and on spot, the size just wasn't there. This morning when I woke up:  PERFECT! The jar I use has cup measurements on the side and P-Dee had expanded from the 1.5 cups to the 3 cup mark. I was so thrilled! Immediately, I began prepping for some baking.

I looked through my Baking with Natural Yeast book, which has been somewhat disappointing lately, and decided I didn't really want to use the recipe in there. For one, it uses measurements by cup instead of by weight, and my experience so far has been much better using my scale. So I pulled out my trusty More with Less book, but couldn't find a simple recipe that I could convert to use the levain instead of commercial yeast. So next, I went to the internet. I tried the two sources posted previously:  King Arthur Flour and NaturalLeavening.com. King Arthur, again, mentions sourdough baking but does not necessarily provide recipes for a maintained levain. The other site has some good looking advice and recipes. I clicked on a basic dough recipe. I followed this so far, except this recipe includes no mention at all of kneading. (strange) I decided to put the dough hook on my mixer and knead the dough until it had almost passed the window test (stretch the dough between your fingers, if it breaks instead of stretching into a translucent dough, then it isn't ready yet). I also removed the dough and oiled a bowl, put a hot, damp towel over the top and then left it to rise. In 8-12 hours, I will either have another brick, or have a doubled-in-size dough ball.

From there, I will attempt to bake in a normal loaf pan. Updates to come on how the first loaf turns out!

Levain: French term for a bread leavening agent

Time for some experimentation. I’ve been trying to get my levain (natural yeast starter) going for a few months. According to my original resource book, which I am now discovering contains various annoying errors, I should be able to bake bread by now. This is not the case. My book talks about the levain doubling in size after feedings, but mine never has. It stays the same size and just slowly “fizzes.” No big happy bubbles like expected. I have successfully created a few batches of waffles and crepes, but when I finally ventured into the full loaf of bread arena, I discovered a lifeless blob of dough in the morning. Solution:  more research.

I have come across these helpful websites:

http://www.naturalleavening.com/kitchen-help-recipes/ - recommended by my book, this site also sells “old world” levains.

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2012/04/08/maintaining-your-sourdough-starter-food-water-and-time/ - this website just happens to be the brand of the flour I have been buying and contains loads of good info, although they refer to everything as a sour dough starter, which I view as something slightly different.

While tempted to chunk out the levain I have lovingly nicknamed DeeDee, I have decided to hold off and try a few experiments. The Natural Leavening website has a sale on their Hard White Wheat Levain, but I really am determined to succeed with what I have.

First, according to King Arthur, when storing a sour dough starter in the fridge, you prevent daily feeding and can use weekly feeding. This is relatively accurate to what I have been doing, except I feed twice a week. They mention that the starter should then be left at room temperature and fed daily just before using to bake. This gets the yeast working and ready to go. This makes since, but contradicts what my original book states and what the Natural Leavening site claims. These sources say it should be ready to use with just one 12-hour rise. I am open-minded, however, and will be splitting my levain tonight and using the room temperature, daily feeding method. I will also reduce this portion to 4 oz. and use feedings of 4 oz. water and 4 oz. flour to save on flour.

Second, the King Arthur website also mentioned some interesting details about types of flour. In response to one question on their blog, they noted that unless the starter was to be refrigerated, it should be fed all-purpose flour. Wheat flour has a tendency to go bad at room temperature. They also noted that the use of whole wheat flour is a good idea due to the presence of more lactobacilli and wild yeast, which can be less likely in the “more sterile” all-purpose flour. For this reason, the other half of Dee Dee will remain in the fridge, but I will begin feeding this one with whole wheat flour twice per week.

Third, I have become aware of the importance of measuring weight for feeding instead of volume. Both sites mentioned the importance of weight. I happen to have a food scale, bought years ago, that has been living on my husband’s workbench to weigh remote-control airplane parts. Now I finally have a good excuse to steal it back. One problem I may have been having is the difference between volume and weight! My original book stated 1 cup of water and 1 heaping cup of flour. Out of curiosity I just measured the weight of what I have been feeding Dee Dee. I have been feeding 8 oz. of water but only 5 oz. of flour! That is a big difference! The poor dear has been starving, no wonder she isn’t happy!

With this information, I venture forward in the world of growing healthy, happy bread in my own home. Whether it is the temperature of my refrigerator, the type of wheat, or the amount of wheat, I will discover my faults. If none of the above works, then it is time to purchase a levain and try again.

So long Dee Dee, now I have Whea-Dee and P-Dee.

Bubbles!

My starter decided to throw in an extra lesson on patience for me. I followed directions to reconstitute starter flakes by adding the flakes to water to dissolve then stirring in the equal amount of flour. Covered with a piece of organic muslin and a ring top, it sat on the counter for the four required days. But, on that fourth day, nothing had occurred except the normal expected process of separation of liquid and solid. So I did some troubleshooting. I stirred the starter, removed 1/4 cup of it, then added 1/4 cup of barely warm water. After stirring this, I added 1/4 cup of all purpose flour. I stirred a lot, a whole lot, then replaced the muslin and ring.

Possible issues:  Issue #1 could have been that I forgot to let my tap water sit out for 24 hours before putting in the starter flakes. This waiting period is essential for evaporation of any chlorine, which is harmful to the good bacteria too. I consulted my friend who is a civil engineer, however, and he informed me that my location on the pipeline should have little or no chlorine remaining since there is nothing added once it leaves treatment (which is a distance away). I agree with him because we have never had any taste issues, but it is obvious when letting a glass sit overnight that air bubbles form from something in the water, so it is still something to consider. Issue #2 could be the use of pastry flour which is very fine in texture. I am not sure of the exact logic behind this, but I had a suspicion, so I switched to all purpose flour to feed the second time. Issue #3 could be the very low temperature in our house. Although this year we have turned off the program on the thermostat and left it at a steady 70 degrees, the actual temperature of most rooms in the house averages around 66.
Basically, I tried to counter these possible issues as much as possible, and then I waited again.

After two more days, I started to see fizz. It looked like a soda had been poured in it a few minutes earlier. I decided that fizz wasn't quite good enough so I gave it another day. Then, Friday afternoon, exactly one week after the starter was started, there were bubbles. I squealed with joy and ran around the house singing bubbles, bubbles, bubbles! My husband was thoroughly disturbed, so I was even more pleased.

Last steps to establishing the starter:  stir it up, add 1/2 cup of water, stir again, then add a heaping 1/2 cup of flour. The book I am using mentions the consistency of lumpy pancake batter. I then placed it in the fridge with its hat of muslin and realized I should really clean out my fridge! (A day and a half later, I realize my "heaping" 1/2 cup wasn't quite "heaping" enough since it didn't really seem that lumpy and it now has a bit of liquid on the surface.) The bubbles have returned on a small scale and it has been in the fridge ever since. Since it appears a little liquidy, I will go ahead and remove some and do the next feeding today. This will also start me on my twice weekly schedule.

Schedule:
Sunday-Feed 1/2 cup water, very heaping 1/2 cup flour
Wednesday-Remove all but 1 cup of starter, add 1 cup water, add 1 cup flour
Sunday - Remove 1 cup, add 1 cup water, add 1 cup flour
Wednesday - Remove 1 cup, add 1 cup water, add 1 cup flour...
Get the point? So, this will go on for one month. I will be disposing of most of the starter I remove this month so that I can be sure it is well established before I ruin any recipes. Next month, at the recommendation of the author, I can start using the starter to make some quick breads like pancakes. Then, in May, I should be ready for some "real-deal" baking. It sounds like a lot of patience, but it will be worth it to get everything into a routine. Then I will be able to bake each Sunday using the removed start, and use the Wednesday starter to make quick breads (unless I'm feeling like I have extra time in the middle of the week, ha!)

I still haven't deciding on a name for my new pet starter. I will have to think on it some more.