Yeast / sourdough / Lievito madre / Sourdough starter
There are several ways to prepare it, mostly differing in the ratio of flour and water, and in some, in addition to these two basic ingredients, some other ingredients are added, such as fruit or yogurt to make it easier to start fermentation. When you get ripe yeast, you will no longer need fresh or dry (beer) yeast to prepare leavened dough for bread, pizza, focaccia, cakes, etc., or even if it is added to help raise the dough, a much smaller amount is needed.
Preparation steps
- Day 1: Put the flour in a bowl. Add lukewarm water and honey and knead the dough - you will get a soft, smooth ball of dough, which does not stick. Put it in a bowl. Cover with a damp cloth over which you put the lid (only leaning, not closed). Leave at room temperature, between 18-25 ° C to ferment for 48 hours. Check the cloth covering the bowl often and if it dries, moisten it again so that the surface of the dough does not dry out.
- Day 3: Put 100 g of water in a bowl. Add 200 g of the first dough (not all) and then 200 g of flour. Knead the dough again. Place it in a bowl covered with a damp cloth, and over it a piece of plastic wrap. Leave to ferment again for 48 hours. After 48 hours the dough looks like the picture above - a lot of bubbles, and soft, spilled. * Excess of the initial dough or throw or add to the dough you prepare with yeast because it is still not able to act only as yeast. Do not leave the entire amount of the initial dough as you will very quickly find yourself with a huge amount of dough.
- Day 5: Repeat the process of "refreshing" or feeding the dough and repeat the procedure every 48 hours for the first two weeks (1 week was enough for me). When the pasta is able to double its volume within 4 hours it is ready for use, i.e. making bread. However, use before maturing for at least two or three weeks is not recommended. Because in the beginning the yeast will be quite sour, and the smell of alcohol will be felt more strongly, until a balance is established between the yeast and the microorganisms present in it. Therefore, if you start using yeast too early, the dough could have a distinctly sour taste.
- Store this "ripe" yeast in a jar with a lid and store in the refrigerator. Refresh it at least once a week, even better every 2 to 3 days. Each time separate one part of the dough (200 g), add as much flour and 100 g of water, knead the dough, leave at room temperature for 6-8 hours, separate 200 g from this amount, store in the refrigerator until the next use. Use the rest of the yeast to make bread, pizza, breadcrumbs, sweet doughs (eg panettone, colomba), etc. Always take the yeast out of the fridge and store / refresh the evening before you intend to use it.
- A couple of tips: It is NOT recommended to use water from the city water supply because chlorine can negatively affect fermentation. It is better to use spring or (NON-CARBONATED) mineral water. When you knead the dough for the first time or at a later feeding, do not keep it in perfectly sterile conditions - leave it on the kitchen / work table, preferably near a fruit bowl - microorganisms present in the air, fruit, etc. will help ferment.
- The procedure described above refers to yeast with 50% moisture. If you wish or need, you can turn it into yeast with 100% moisture, which is rarer, and it is not necessary to knead it when refreshing, but just stir with a fork or hand whisk.
- Yeast with 100% hydration (or liquid yeast) 1. Mix 10 g of yeast with 10 g of flour and 6 g of water and leave to ferment for 6-8 hours, covered at room temperature. 2. Mix 25 g of pre-fermented yeast with 25 g of flour and 18 g of water, then leave to ferment again for 6-8 hours. 3. Take 50 g of pre-fermented yeast (not all) and add another 50 g of flour and 45 g of water, mix well and leave to ferment for 6-8 hours. 4. Finally again take 50 g of the previous yeast and add 50 g of flour and 50 g of water, mix well and leave to ferment for 6-8 hours. Now the yeast has reached 100% moisture and you can use it that way. If you need a larger amount of yeast, simply increase the amount of the previous dough in one of the preparation stages, always respecting the relationship with flour and water (ie if you take 75 g of yeast add 75 g of water and 75 g of flour, or 100 g of dough, 100 g water and 100 g of flour). Store and refresh it like yeast with 50% moisture
- RECIPES: Simple bread Bread with flax seeds Integral bread with seeds and herbs Bread made of durum flour (semola rimacinata) Bread with beer Pastries Focaccia with chickpea flour Pizza or focaccia dough Bread with bows Kranettom glanettone Pasta with Gristone Pare and sourdough
Serving
Sour dough / yeast / starter / lievito madre is a simple mixture of flour and water in which the fermentation processes are started thanks to the action of microorganisms present in the flour itself, but also in the environment. These microorganisms are various yeasts and bacteria that live inside the dough and feed on the sugars present in it by converting them into gas, carbon monoxide.
