Real Slow Bread - Slow Dough: Real Bread: Bakers' secrets for making amazing long-rise loaves at home - Chris Young

Slow Dough: Real Bread: Bakers' secrets for making amazing long-rise loaves at home - Chris Young (2016)

Real Slow Bread

Some domestic baking recipe writers and teachers suggest that dough must be kept somewhere warm to rise, or that yeast left anywhere cooler than their fevered brows will DIE! What they overlook is the fact that fresh yeast is generally stored in the refrigerator (at a far-from-balmy 1-3°C/34-37°F) and that a standard piece of professional bakery kit is a retarder, which is basically a big dough fridge.

Another product of their need for speed is the relatively high level of yeast you find in some recipes: the more of these microscopic, gas-burping dough monsters (which, if you have kids, is a great way to introduce bread science to your little monsters) you throw into the mix, the less time it will take them to generate the necessary amount of carbon dioxide.

A third trick up the speed freak’s sleeve is the addition of sugar, be that refined or in another form, such as honey or agave syrup. This puts the yeast on a “high”, and into a CO2-producing overdrive. There is, however, more than enough energy contained in the flour, which the yeast is eminently capable of obtaining for itself. In fact, beyond a certain level of added sugar, the yeast struggles to cope.

And that’s all before a baker reaches for the crutch of the aforementioned artificial additive arsenal …

So, what’s wrong with speeding things up? Why would you want to delay the opportunity to tear into a freshly baked loaf of Real Bread, slather it with butter and tuck in? Why does any of this matter?

AGED TO PERFECTION

For many people, allowing their dough time to “do what a dough’s gotta do” is simply a matter of good taste. Yes, you can bang out a loaf using warm water and a sachet of instant yeast in an hour or so, but you might be short changing yourself. Real Bread is a natural product and, just as with a whole range of food and drink, from ripening fruit to maturing beef, whisky, wine or cheese, time is essential in getting the very best product.

During this time, all sorts of biochemical alchemy goes on that, ultimately, will result in a texture, depth and complexity of flavour and aroma that can’t be rushed or synthesized, whatever the pedlars of “bread flavour”(I kid you not) to big industry or “artisan sourdough” packet mixes to unsuspecting home bakers might say. You might also find that a long fermented loaf is less crumbly and stales more slowly.

Time is on your side

Happily, this extra time need not eat into your time: it can in fact buy you time while the dough gets on with it. Perhaps counterintuitively, using a recipe with less yeast and letting dough rise slowly somewhere cooler, in some cases all day or even overnight, allows you to go off and do something else.

You may think that great flavour and a relaxed baking schedule are reasons enough to slow things down, but when it comes to sourdough, there might be more …

SOUR POWER

Right, stop chewing at the back, it’s time for a science lesson …

Sourdough is leavened using a culture of yeasts and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) that occur naturally all around us, particularly on the surface of cereal grains. Occurring in lower concentrations, and not the results of a century and a half of baker’s yeast breeding programmes, these “wild” yeasts take longer to get their mojo working. During the hours that dough leavened in this way needs to rise, all sorts of weird and wonderful things go on, some of which might be beneficial health-wise, including:

✵ A change in the parts of gluten responsible for triggering the coeliac response and non-coeliac gluten sensitivity

✵ A reduction of phytic acid, an “anti-nutrient” found in bran that binds with certain nutrients, including calcium, magnesium, zinc and iron, meaning that the body can’t make use of them

✵ An increase in levels of available B vitamins

✵ LAB can bring about changes during fermentation that lower the glycaemic index (GI) of bread, which can be handy for people challenged by diabetes and obesity

One of the motivations behind the Real Bread Campaign’s creation was people saying that they found industrial loaves hard to digest but that they could enjoy genuine sourdough, and in some cases a wider range of long-fermented Real Breads. But why might that be the case? Despite a few compelling studies and a chorus of voices, there has been far too little research to say any of these things for sure. The Campaign continues to call for adequate investment into research that could lead to these and other potential benefits either being proved beyond reasonable doubt, or ruled out.

… and when you find out that LAB are essential to preserved foods such as cheese and kimchi, it should come as no surprise to learn that genuine sourdough loaves tend to last longer than commercially yeasted ones … well, if you don’t eat them first.

TYPES OF REAL BREAD

All bread in the world can be divided into just a handful of types according to how they are made. As this book is all about long, slow fermentation, we have split them into chapters according to how they are leavened:

Pre-ferment - dough made in two stages using a pre-ferment often based on baker’s yeast, some with more yeast added later as well

Long ferment - dough made in a single-stage process with baker’s yeast

Sourdough - dough leavened only using a sourdough starter

You will also find enriched and laminated doughs dotted around within these chapters, so the definitions of these have been included, too.

Pre-ferment

A pre-ferment comprises flour, water and yeast, which is left to ferment before adding the bulk of the flour and other ingredients used in a dough. The yeast used to make a pre-ferment can be commercial (baker’s) or, while we have separated sourdough loaves into their own chapter in this book, in the form of a sourdough starter.

A pre-ferment can range in hydration from a loose batter to a stiff dough. It might also contain salt and, in the case of old dough, perhaps fat and other ingredients. There are several reasons a baker might want - or need - to use a pre-ferment:

Yeast Vigour

An analogy for getting the fermentation underway might be giving the yeast a good run-up. In a straight dough it has to go from nought to full throttle straight away. Working up a full head of steam (how many metaphors can I mix in here?) is particularly useful when making an enriched dough, where the high levels of sugar will hinder the yeast.

TYPES OF PRE-FERMENT

Batter pre-ferment (e.g. poolish) A mixture that has a high water content, perhaps 100% hydration - i.e. equal weights of flour and water. Typically made with a tiny percentage of baker’s yeast.

Dough pre-ferment (e.g. biga) A stiffer dough of perhaps 50-60% hydration - i.e. water weight is 50-60% that of the flour. Typically made with a tiny percentage of baker’s yeast.

Old dough (e.g. pâte fermentée) A piece of unbaked dough kept back from a previous bake, or made especially, that is fully proved and then added to a new dough.

Sourdough culture (e.g. desem, saurteig, lievito madre, mother, chef, starter etc.) Water is added to flour to culture the yeasts it contains until they are capable of raising dough.

Gluten Strength

During the fermentation of a stiffer pre-ferment (like a traditional biga) and especially in a sourdough, acid levels will increase. This assists gluten formation, and so is useful when working with weaker flours.

Dough Extensibility

Conversely, in a more liquid starter, particularly one fermented at room temperature without salt, protease (an enzyme that breaks down protein) activity will be increased. This will make the dough more extensible or stretchy.

Bread Flavour

During fermentation, all sorts of dough alchemy goes on, which helps create flavour and aroma compounds. As time increases, so do the amounts of these, so it is a useful addition to a shorter process recipe as a way of improving texture and flavour.

If you want to get serious with pre-ferments, do some research online or in baking manuals to find out about the effects that time, temperature, yeast quantities and so on will have on them, and on your Real Bread. You’ll also get to read endless disagreements over the true definitions of biga, sponge, poolish etc.

Straight process plain dough (long ferment)

This is any recipe in which all the flour, baker’s yeast, water and salt (plus any other ingredients) are mixed and fermented together in one go. For the purposes of this book, all the straight process doughs are left to ferment for longer periods.

Sourdough

Sourdough is the oldest method of making leavened bread. Historians generally seem to agree the first leavened loaf probably came out of an oven in Egypt, sometime between 6,000 and 3,500 years ago. Genuine sourdough bread is leavened (i.e. made to rise - like lever, it comes from a Latin word meaning “to raise”) using only a culture of yeasts and (probiotic) “friendly” lactic acid bacteria, which live happy lives on the surface of cereal grains.

Culture Club

Yeasts and bacteria live in and all around us, including on the outside of wheat and other cereals. Milling mixes these microbes into the resulting flour, so if you take some (particularly wholemeal) and provide a suitable (basically warm and wet) environment, the microorganisms will thrive. Eventually there will be enough yeast cells burping carbon dioxide as a byproduct of their respiration to make bread rise. At the same time, the throng of bacteria will increase. This is sourdough culture or leaven.

The interaction of these bacteria and the products of their respiration (including lactic and acetic acids) contribute to the flavour, texture and aroma of the bread. Additional benefits in a genuine sourdough include slowing the staling of the loaf.

Not Yeast Free

It is a myth (and ignorant, or perhaps even misleading, marketing) to say that sourdough bread is made without yeast. All sourdough cultures contain one or more species of yeast. In some cases these yeasts might even include the same species (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) that is sold as baker’s and brewer’s yeast. It is unlikely, however, that even if S. cerevisiae is present in a sourdough culture that it will be genetically identical to a commercial strain.

Specific strains of S. cerevisiae have been chosen over years of selective breeding, for example for their ability to produce large volumes of carbon dioxide, and to generate different flavour profiles in the finished product. A strain of genetically modified baker’s yeast was approved for use in the UK some years ago, but it has not and is not being used in bread making. Some brands, however, might not be able to be labelled as GM free, if the growth medium (e.g. soya molasses) used was from a GM plant.

One further thought - yeasts die at around 60°C/140°F. As the internal temperature of bread should reach at least 95°C/205°F during baking, by the time a properly made loaf of any type of bread is ready to eat, it will contain no live yeast, only dead cells and by-products.

As for whether or not someone who has a yeast allergy or intolerance can eat sourdough bread, personal experience may produce the only reliable answer, but our advice would be to get tested by an expert in food allergies and intolerances.

Control

As well as one or more types of yeast, sourdough cultures contain lactobacilli (lactic acid bacteria) that produce both lactic and acetic acids. A key part of mastering sourdough is keeping the concentration and ratio of these acids in balance. Too much acetic acid and the bread will taste very sharp and perhaps vinegary (it is the same acid that is found in vinegar), whereas bread with too little acetic acid and a higher level of lactic acid might not have any discernible sourdough characteristics.

Liquid Sourdough Starter

Now, unless you bought this book for its ornamental value or to prop up a wobbly table, something you’ll be using a lot of is a sourdough starter.

The recipe (if you can call two ingredients that) on the following page is both simple and effective. Rye grains seem to host very large microbe populations and as they live on the outside of the grain, your chances improve when using wholemeal flour, and it makes sense to use organic flour as the crop won’t have been sprayed with fungicides.

A plastic container with a lid is convenient for storage because if your starter gets frisky, the lid will simply pop off, whereas a glass jar with a screwtop or metal clip seal could crack or shatter.

The amount of flour you use isn’t important so we’ve started small, as instructions that tell you to throw portions of your starter away just seem wasteful. Please keep to the 1:1 ratio, though.

To Convert Your Starter to Wheat

Although you can use the rye starter for wheat breads, you might prefer to convert it by replacing the rye flour in refreshments with wheat flour (white or wholemeal/wholewheat) until it is all wheat. Alternatively, you can use wheat flour from the word go: again, wholemeal/wholewheat will give you a better chance of success. Whether you keep separate rye, white wheat, wholemeal/wholegrain wheat, and even other starters on the go, or just one, is up to you.

SOURDOUGH STARTER

Daily: days one to five (ish)

30g/1oz/3½ tbsp rye flour

30g/1oz/2 tbsp water (at about 20°C/68ºF)

On each of the first five days, put equal amounts of flour and water into your container, mix, close and leave at room temperature (about 20°C/68°F) for 24 hours between each addition.

For the first few days, the mixture might seem lifeless and could smell vinegary or even a bit “off”. Don’t worry about this, as it should soon start bubbling and the smell will develop into something yeasty and maybe even floral.

Day six (ish)

Once your starter is bubbling up nicely, you can use some to bake a loaf of Real Bread. Typically, this might be anything from four to seven days after you started, but could take a little longer. If it’s not bubbling by day six, keep repeating the daily flour and water addition until it is. Don’t worry if you end up with a layer of brownish liquid. This is just gravity working its magic and is normal. Either stir it back into your starter or pour it off. If your starter hasn’t been used for a while, the second option is probably better as the liquid (sometimes known as “hooch”) will have started to become alcoholic, which can slow the starter down and may also lead to less desirable flavours in your bread.

Caring for Your Starter

✵ Each time you use some of the starter, simply replace with an equivalent quantity of flour and water - this is usually known as feeding or refreshing. You also need to refresh on the day before a baking session.

✵ When refreshing, feel free to experiment with different ratios and total amounts of flour to water: a looser starter will ferment more quickly than a stiff one; refreshing more often or adding a large refreshment will dilute the taste and acidity.

✵ It’s a living thing (well, technically billions of living things) so get to know it. The acidity, flavour, aromas and speed at which starters work vary, so learn what’s normal for yours.

✵ Give it a name. You can’t call yourself a proper sourdough nut if you don’t - though I know some people strongly disagree with me on this one!

✵ Forget it. Unlike other members of your household, your starter will be forgiving of neglect. Though it will be happy to help you bake bread once a week or even daily, your starter can be left untouched at the back for the refrigerator for weeks or even months. The yeast and bacteria populations will decline over time but enough will live on in a dormant state. The longer you leave it, the longer it’ll take to “wake up” though and it might need a few days’ of refreshments before it’s up to full vigour.

✵ Unless you are using your starter every single day, keep it in the fridge, which will slow it down and reduce the frequency at which you need to refresh it. You just need to remember to take it out and refresh it the day before you intend to make a loaf.

Unnecessary Extras

To make a starter you need nothing but flour and water, but here are some other things you sometimes find in sourdough instructions, along with why that might be:

✵ Rhubarb is high in several acids, which can help deter pathogenic (bad) microorganisms and create an environment favoured by lactic acid bacteria.

✵ Hops also have anti-bacterial properties.

✵ Live yogurt is also acidic and contains lactic acid bacteria, though not necessarily the types most suitable for producing bread.

✵ Mashed potato provides an extra source of food for yeast and bacteria.

✵ Grapes, raisins, sultanas/golden raisins and so on have yeasts and bacteria on their skins but again, they are not necessarily the strains most suited to making bread.

SOURFAUX

At the time of writing, there is no legal definition for the word “sourdough” and complaints made by the Campaign about products marketed as such, despite being made using baker’s yeast and artificial additives, have been dismissed by retailers and the Advertising Standards Authority.

The Real Bread Campaign believes that shoppers seeking genuine sourdough deserve the protection of a definition that only allows the word to be used for loaves made:

✵ using a live sourdough culture, not inactive dried sourdough powder added purely for taste and acidity

✵ without the addition of commercial yeast or other leavening agents (e.g. baking powder)

✵ without any artificial additives

✵ without any other souring agent (e.g. vinegar or yogurt)

✵ Honey is high in sugars, on which the yeast can feed. Unpasteurized honey can also contain yeasts and bacteria.

Enriched dough

If sugars, eggs, dairy products or fats are included, a dough is described as “enriched”. These ingredients alter the dough structure and behaviour as well as the character of the finished bread. Enriched doughs require different handling and baking, as sugars and fats interfere with the formation of gluten and have an effect on the speed and temperature at which browning occurs. Examples include brioche, Bath buns and some types of focaccia, though others only have oil added after the dough has been made. An enriched dough may be leavened with sourdough culture or commercial yeast.

NB: The added teaspoon of sugar or knob of butter found in some domestic bread recipes does not make them enriched doughs.

Laminated doughs

These differ from enriched doughs in that the fat (e.g. butter, lard or shortening) is added after the dough is made up. The process involves sandwiching the fat between layers of dough, rolling it out, folding to make more layers, then repeating the rolling and folding until the alternating layers of dough and fat are many - and very thin. During baking, the fat melts and both air trapped during folding and carbon dioxide formed by the yeast expand and force the layers apart, to create a flaky structure. Keeping the dough chilled and baking at the right temperature are both essential to ensure the finished product is light and flaky, and not greasy. Examples include croissants, Danish pastries and lardy cake.

BEFORE YOU START

Certain bits of kit and techniques appear in this book over and over again. To save you from having to read the same detail each time, I’ve collected them together in the following sections on techniques, equipment and ingredients. Please read these notes before setting out on a recipe or you’ll forever be saying things like “eh, what does that word mean?” or “hang on, what am I baking this dough on?”

Please also read a recipe from start to finish well before you’re thinking of baking it. That’s good advice for any recipe but particularly for this book, in which you’ll find that the short stages of some recipes are spread over several days.

Throughout the book you’ll find suggestions from the experts in the Baker’s Tips, as well as additional interesting bits and bobs, which I’ve called sippets:

Sippet: noun; a small piece of something, for example a piece of toast or fried bread for dipping in soup.

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