SOUR DOUGH

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Today I want to share about sour dough, that I already learn about.. So if you want to know more about sourdough please keep read my blog and here we are..

What Is Wild Yeast?

Before you get started, let's talk about wild yeast, which is the key to a sourdough starter.

Before we had active-dry yeast or instant yeast, we had wild yeast. Actually, we still have wild yeast. It lives everywhere — in the air, in a bag of flour, on the surface of grapes. Domesticated commercial yeast replaced wild yeast for most baking because it's easier for companies to mass produce, it's easier for bakers to store and use, and it proofs our breads and pastries in a fraction of the time.

By contrast, wild yeast can be fussy and finicky. It needs a medium, a sourdough starter, in order to be useful to bakers. This medium has to be constantly maintained and monitored. Wild yeast also likes cooler temperatures, acidic environments, and works much more slowly to proof breads.

So why bother? Because wild yeast is amazing stuff! The flavor and texture we can get from breads and other baked goods made with wild yeast are no contest to breads made with commercial yeast — the flavors are more complex and interesting, the texture is sturdier and more enjoyable to chew.

What Is a Sourdough Starter?

A sourdough starter is how we cultivate the wild yeast in a form that we can use for baking. Since wild yeast are present in all flour, the easiest way to make a starter is simply by combining flour and water and letting it sit for several days. You don't need any fancy ingredients to "capture" the wild yeast or get it going — it's already there in the flour. (Also, the yeast adapts to whatever environment it is in. So even if your cousin in San Francisco gives you some sourdough starter, it will eventually no longer be true San Francisco sourdough, but rather New York sourdough or Austin sourdough or London sourdough.)

After a day or two, bubbles will start to form in the starter, indicating that the wild yeast is starting to become active and multiply. To keep the yeast happy, we feed the starter with fresh flour and water over the next several days, until the starter is bubbly and billowy. Once it reaches that frothy, billowy stage, the starter is ready to be used.

The History of Sourdough

Sourdough is the oldest and most original form of leavened bread. The oldest recorded use of sourdough is from the Ancient Egyptian civilizations.

It was probably discovered as most things are by accident. If you simply mix any ground up grain with a liquid such as water or milk and let it sit in the open air at room temperature, wild yeasts in the air will settle in the mix, eat the natural sugars and convert them into lactic (and other) acids which give it a sour flavor. They also give off alcohol and carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide is what will cause the bread to rise. When worked into a bread dough, the bubbles get trapped into the structure of the bread, and that is the little holes that you see.

a microscopic picture of bakers yeast

The first recorded civilization we know about that used sourdough was the Egyptians around 1500 BC. There are many stories as to how they first discovered it, but you can probably imagine that some bread was left out and some of the wild yeast spores that are in the air at all times got mixed in the dough and they noticed that it rose and was lighter than the usual flat breads.

The Egyptians also made a lot of beer and the brewery and the bakery were often in the same place. a batch of flour may have been mixed with beer and produced a light loaf of bread, or the wild yeast spores were thick from the brewing and they got into the bread doughs and caused them to rise considerably more than the usual wild sourdoughs.

Through trial and error they found out that some of these sourdough cultures worked and tasted better than others. They could keep this culture alive by saving from their baking a little raw dough and adding more flour to it, and it would produce the same flavor. This is known as a sourdough starter. a good sourdough culture became very important to day to day living, and even taken by explorers when they went on expeditions around the world.

During the gold rush days in California, some of the Boudin family who were well known master Bakers from France came to the San Francisco area. They found out that the sourdough culture there was very unique and they became very famous for their bread with this special flavor. The miners flocked to this bakery every morning for this special tasting bread. Since 1849 they have been using the same sourdough culture, which they call a "Mother dough" and the same recipe, flour, water, a pinch of salt and some of the this "Mother Dough".So important is their "Mother Dough" it was heroically saved by Louise Boudin during the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.

Sourdough also came in handy 'when old timers had to tan hides. They rubbed it into the skin, fur side down till soft and dry. Some claim there starters to the fame of originating in the old country or from the Klondike era. Recently a sum of $600.00 American was paid by a restaurant desiring the authenticity of Alaskan sourdough from the gold rush days.

Sourdough turns Carbohydrates into Proteins?

by Chef Cookie Soles

I would like to share a bit of research I came across recently concerning "Sourdough". What originally caught my eye was an analysis of laboratory tests. They say that Sourdough contains the greatest amount of protein for it's weight and size of any comparable food. "Hmm" I thought "just how does that come about when it's ingredients are all carbohydrates?" Apparently a wild yeast forms in the fermentation process of the starter. At that stage, a starch food is turned into a protein dynamo food.

Sourdough Benefit

Ever wonder if sourdough bread is really that different from "regular" bread? Other than the fact that sourdough bread and sourdough bagels use a sourdough starter to leaven the dough (make the dough rise), while most "regular" breads use yeast, are they really that different? And if they are different, does it really matter?

Yes, they are different and yes, this difference does make sourdough a healthier bread option.

Yeast is a fungus - a single celled organism - which digests the sugars that are found in flour. As it digests these sugars, the yeast gives off carbon dioxide, which is a gas that causes the bread to rise. The scientific name of standard yeast is Saccharomyces cerrivasae.

Sourdough starter is a mixture of flour and water that is colonized by "wild" yeasts that live in the air, in the soil, and on the surfaces of grains, fruits and vegetables. The scientific name of the sourdough starter yeast is Sacchraromyces exiges.

In fact, these organisms are related, but the cerrivasae yeast can't survive in an acidic environment, whereas the exiges sourdough starter yeast can. That is why sourdough has a typical "sour" flavor.

So if both of these yeasts digest sugar and give off gases that cause bread to rise, why is sourdough healthier for you?

Sourdough has a lower glycemic index than other breads. It is less likely to spike your blood sugar as dramatically as other types of bread.
Sourdough contains more Lactobacillus and less yeast. This leads to less phytic acid, more mineral availability, and easier digestion.
Sourdough predigests the starches in the grains. This also makes the bread more easily digestible and allows you to absorb more nutrients.
Sourdough helps to break down the gluten. This further helps with digestability and may help those who are sensitive to gluten.
Sourdough produces Acetic acid which helps preserve the bread. Naturally occuring preservatives are always healthier for you than chemical preservatives.

A recent study performed by Guelph University further proved the benefits of sourdough. The study compared four types of breads to determine which had the most positive health effects when it comes to carbohydrate metabolism, blood sugar, and insulin levels. The subjects used were overweight people between the ages 50 and 60 who consumed the bread in the morning, and then ate a normal lunch.

The 4 bread types compared were:

White
Whole wheat
Whole wheat with barley
Sourdough made with white flour

The study showed that when the sourdough was consumed the subjects maintained their carb metabolism, blood sugar, and insulin levels. It was much better for people in regards to these indices than any of the other types of bread studied, even whole wheat.

So, sourdough is the healthiest of all bread types because it is nutrient dense, easy to digest, and has the least impact on blood sugar. These are just some of the reasons we make sourdough bread and sourdough bagels for ourselves and others.

Not only is it healthier, but it tastes great!

How to make sourdough starter?

To make sourdough, you need water and flour (1:1). If you never made sourdough before, I highly recommended to using Whole grain flour or rye flour, to made success sourdough (80% sure about this). But if you don't have whole grain flour or rye flour, you can use bread flour (hard flour). And to make sourdough you must keep it in room temperature, keep feeding the sourdough on the same time that you made in the Day 1. So here is more explanation about sourdough.

Day 1

Mixed 25 gr rye flour + 25 gr hard flour / all purpose flour and 50 gr of water. Cover with the napkin and keep it in room temperature in the dark place.

Day 2

Take a look of your sourdough and stir it well. On the same time as yesterday. Cover and keep it

Day 3

Feed the sourdough with 25 gr rye flour + 25 gr hard flour and 50 gr of water, stir well and keep it again (please mention the time because you must control your sourdough starter every 24 hours).

Day 4

Same as Day 3

Day 5

Divide the sourdough (150 gr) and feed it 75 gr (Flour) : 75 gr (Water). The rest of the sourdough starter you can feed it in the other jar, or just throw it. It's up to you

Day 6

Feed it 75:75 again same as Day 5, stir well, cover and keep it

Day 7

On this day, divide 200 gr of sourdough starter and feed it 100:100, remember from this day, you must feed it every 8 hour or 12 hours. From this day, sourdough starter is ready to use.

If you want to use this starter, you must feed it 4 hours before used. But if not, you can keep it in the refrigerator and feed it once or twice a week.

This is the first time I made this sourdough. I made this sour dough on 30 Oct 2017 at 5.00 pm. And here is the report about my sourdough, the temperature, texture, color and the smells. But I am sorry before because I don't have a picture for Day 7. For the last day I forgot to take a picture because I was to excited to use this sourdough. But unfortunately I forgot to bring it to campus. So I was using my other friend's sourdough starter.