, this is our organic flour. Shugurovskaya. Sometimes I use manitoba when you can buy it at a discount, but this is very rare.
And further. I used to nadybala step-by-step instructions on Bread Mills, it is with pictures, but through what resource to stick them here, I don't know. Photos and text there are not mine. I also used it and very successfully. If you tell me through what you can post pictures, I'll post it too. It is impossible to find on their website now.
Different methods of starting the leaven - Altri sistemi per iniziare la preparazione del lievito madre
The classic method of making sourdough in Italy consists of making a thick mixture of 2 parts flour and 1 part water, which is left to mature. The ripening period of the sourdough can be accelerated by adding honey, yogurt, raisins or ripe mashed fruits, which activate the fermentation process.
Francesco Favorito sourdough recipe:
Proportions for the beginning of the starter culture 50% moisture:
200g flour
50g ripe fruit puree
50g water
You can use carbonated mineral water, it contains CO2 - carbonic acid anhydride, which facilitates the activation of acidity. You can grow the starter in a closed container lined with a cloth or in water.
Growth process in water:
Prepare a mixture of flour, fruit puree and water, mix thoroughly and make a tight ball, place it in a container filled with water, containing at least four times the volume of liquid relative to the weight of the dough, with a water temperature of about 20 ° C. For example, for a sourdough weight of 300grh4 = take 1200g of water.
The volume of the container must be large enough to allow the dough to sink completely to the bottom and float up during fermentation. Leave the closed container at a temperature of 26-28 C degrees for approximately 48 hours.
During this period, the dough should rise to the surface, and if this does not happen within 48 hours, then you will have to repeat the operation, because this means that the bacteriological environment in the dough has not developed and the fermentation process has not begun.
The dough that has floated to the surface can be considered the initial leaven, which must be refreshed daily, kneading with flour and water.
Flour for refreshing the sourdough is taken strong, bread, in an amount equal to the weight of the leaven and water 48-50% of the weight of the leaven. You need to continue these refreshments-feeding daily, until the starter culture reaches maturity (this requires 20/25 days). How to check that the leaven is already ripe?
Ripe strong starter culture doubles in volume in 3-3.5 hours at a temperature of 22-24 С
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Recipe for the Leaven of the Sisters of Simili from the book "Pane and Roba Dolce"
200g flour
90 g of water
1 Art. l. honey
1 tsp olive oil for greasing dishes
Mix all the ingredients thoroughly, roll up a ball, cut with a cross and put in oiled glass or ceramic dishes.
Cover with a linen towel and a saucer on top, and leave in the kitchen for 48 hours.
If the process has begun and the leaven has come to life, then it will increase in volume, then we begin to feed it:
Take 100 g of sourdough and add
+100 gr flour
+ 45 g of water
We repeat the feeding process every day for 4-5 days.
Each time there will be 150 g of sourdough left, which can be used in baked goods with the addition of yeast. When the sourdough gains strength and stabilizes, it will be possible to bake bread from the leftovers after feeding without using yeast.
The Simili sisters have recipes adapted specifically for the use of leftover leaven, such as Pane Toscano.
And after 5 days, in order to make sure that the leaven is working, refresh it and leave it at a temperature of 24-26C, if its volume doubled in three hours, then the leaven is ready for baking and you can bake any bread.
Then you can feed the sourdough every other day and move it to a cooler place (12-16C).
The sourdough should have a pleasant fruity aroma, a delicate color of a normal dough, not whitish or grayish. This sourdough can be used for baking, with two pre-refreshments every 3 hours.
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Yogurt starter starter scheme:
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First step
500 g Manitoba flour * strong flour W320-350 P 12-14
140/150 gr water
100 g of natural yoghurt
Store the mixture at 20 ° C for 24 hours
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second phase
starter cultures gr 500
Manitoba 400 gr
150 grams of water
Store the mixture at 20 ° C for 16 hours
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third stage
starter cultures 500 gr
Manitoba 500 gr
220 grams of water
Store the mixture at 20 ° C for 12 hours
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fourth stage
starter cultures gr 500
Manitoba 500 gr
220 grams of water
Store the mixture at 20 ° C for 8 hours
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fifth stage
starter cultures gr 500
Manitoba 500 gr
220 grams of water
Store the mixture at 20 ° C for 6 hours
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sixth stage
starter cultures gr 500
Manitoba 500 gr
220 grams of water
Store the mixture at 20 ° C for 4 hours
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At the end of these six stages, the leaven is matured to the desired acidity and strength. The sourdough is now ready for use in baked goods and the next refreshments.
Levito Madre 50% moisture, it is a thick leaven, a hard dough ball. Levito Madre wrapped tightly in fabric and tightly knitted. You were probably surprised and asked the question: why swaddle the leaven? This is one of the traditional Italian methods of influencing the quality of the starter by creating anaerobic fermentation conditions. Another unusual way to influence the quality of the starter culture is water procedures. Before using it, it is customary to bathe Italian sourdough in warm sweetened water to remove excess accumulated acidity. And only after the baths the leaven is refreshed, the usual scheme is three refreshments, one after the other. Such are the local peculiarities of handling leaven.For the rest, beautiful ..
Levito Madre is the same sourdough as all other sourdoughs in the world - it is a symbiosis of yeast and lactic acid bacteria, natural yeast for baking. Local atmosphere, flour and water - only this makes each sourdough special, different from others. The combination of races and species of yeast and bacteria depends on these factors, which ultimately determines the character of the leaven.
Levito Madre is made from a mixture of water with wheat flour and additives in the form of ripe fruits, honey, yogurt, grapes, vinegar, wine, and so on and so forth. The list of additives is endless, but they are all introduced with one goal - to start and activate the spontaneous fermentation process.
But no matter how the sourdough is grown, it is always a composition of wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria. Wild yeast enter into an alliance with bacteria, get to know each other, look closely at each other. If things go well for them and they successfully take root, then fermentation begins, mutual love and reproduction - a symbiosis is created!
What wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria are found in starter cultures?
Yeast in starter cultures can belong to different genera, species and strains - Saccharomyces, Hansenula, Andida, Saccharomyces Exiguus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
Lactic acid bacteria and cocci found in starter cultures - Lactobacillus Plantarum, Lactobacillus
Brevis, Lactobacillus SanFrancisco and Leuconostoc, Pediococcus and Streptococc
The beginning of the leaven is a rather complicated process that requires patience, precision and accuracy, but this, as it turns out, is far from the most difficult, the main problems are still ahead.
According to the Italian method, regardless of the scheme by which the starter was grown, it is considered ready for use only after an incubation period of 10-25 days. A certain, sufficiently long period of time is needed for the natural selection of microorganisms and the stabilization of microflora in the leaven. The stability of the microflora of the starter culture is very important, because it gives confidence in working with it, the expected and predictable results.
Why is the Italian sourdough thick?
Because it is the thick consistency that contributes to the stability of the microflora.
Low hydration slows down the activity of microorganisms and allows you to maintain and maintain their stable balance, that is, the stability of the symbiosis of the microflora of the starter culture.
The main task in the administration of the starter culture is to maintain the balance between yeast and bacteria in it.
That is, the preservation of its enzymatic power and good organoleptic characteristics at the same time.
The quality of the starter culture depends on the ratio of the amount of lactic acid bacteria and yeast in it. This ratio in wheat leaven ranges from 10: 1 to 100: 1. The amount and activity of lactic acid bacteria determines the acidity of the starter culture, and yeast provides its lifting force.
Theoretical course by Iginio Massari and Giovanni Pina - Theoria a cura di Iginio Massari e Giovanni Pina
Sourdough or natural yeast is a mixture of water and flour, left to ripen spontaneously in a favorable environment for a period of time necessary for the microorganisms contained in flour, water and air to begin the process of reproduction and fermentation. In yeast taxonomy, the term "natural yeast" is used to refer to natural yeast populations that are related to cultivated races. Natural yeast is also called sourdough, mother or sour dough. The microflora present in the starter is mainly composed of the yeast Saccharomyces - various strains of Saccharomyces and Candida and lactic acid bacteria Lactobacillus of the Acidophilus, Brevis, Casei, Plantarum families, etc. These two types of microorganisms present in the starter act in constant symbiosis, maintaining a constant microbiosis. But, if necessary, this microflora can be changed, and this can be achieved by changing the initial raw material, its quantity and conditions of the fermentation process.
Raw material
Flour - to grow the sourdough it is recommended to use high-quality flour with a high gluten content.
Drinking water is not too rich in mineral salts, since they will delay the dough fermentation process. You can also use mineral water: carbon dioxide is, in fact, an important element in the transformation of sour dough.
Other Ingredients: Ripe fruit or yogurt can be added to speed up the microorganisms when starting the starter culture.
Temperature - In most yeast species, the minimum growth temperature is between 0-5 ° C, and the maximum is 30-40 ° C. Almost all yeast can grow at room temperature 20-25 ° C, which is optimal for the beginning of the fermentation.
How to check the quality of the starter culture?
For good results when baking bread and traditional Italian sourdough pastries, only perfectly healthy and mature sourdough should be used.
In the old days, experienced professionals, in order to understand when the sourdough has reached maturity, tasted it, tasted it, analyzed the smell, texture and color. Today, there is a scientific method to check the quality and readiness of the starter culture, using a pH meter. But nevertheless, it is still important to know the external characteristics of the starter, helping to determine its quality and readiness for work.
External characteristics of the starter culture at different stages of maturity:
Ripe leaven - ph 4-4.10,
light sour taste,
white and soft dough with elongated alveoli,
slight pleasant aroma of fermentation / alcoholic.
Overripe starter culture - pH 3-3.8,
sharp acid taste,
grayish tint of the dough,
round alveoli,
acrid alcoholic smell;
Too weak starter culture - pH 5-5.5,
the taste is sweet
White color,
on the cut, a dense dough without alveoli,
the aroma of flour;
Sour starter culture - pH below 3,
sharp vinegar taste,
the smell of cheese (typical for butyric acid),
dull gray dough,
wet and sticky dough.
It's time to start preparing for Easter baking.
Where to begin?
1-buy good quality strong flour -w350or w300.
In sufficient quantity, and this is 5 kg minimum!
If you plan to bake a sourdough recipe, then you need to start with her darling.
2- transfer the leaven to incubator conditions. This means feeding her the same flour and water. Store in the same place at a constant temperature of 10-12 C degrees.
How to feed the starter culture and prepare it for work?
Feed on schedule:
a) once a day,
b) at the same time,
c) in the same proportions.
Leave 100 g of sourdough after each feeding
And if the leaven is liquid? Not scary. You can gradually bring it to the desired state of hydration.
Whichever scheme you grow your sourdough, in 20 days you can make 65% -67% of it the traditional Italian Levito Madre-LM.
Let's say you have a sourdough of 100% hydration, that is, a mixture of 100 g flour + 100 g water, and you refresh it in the same proportion. What to do to make it 65%?
Take 20 g of your starter culture + 50 g of water, beat until foam. Mix with 100g of flour and remember this consistency of the dough. These 170 grams of starter culture is 65% hydration.
The next feeding should be done in the following proportion: 100 g of sourdough + 50 g of water + 100 g of flour. Or by reducing the dose: 50 grams of starter culture + 25 grams of water + 50 grams of flour. But keep in mind that the weight must be accurate, not eyeball. Mix carefully and patiently. Therefore, it is preferable to work with a weight of 100g, it is easier to weigh and knead.
It would be nice to prepare 2 containers for sourdough with tight lids. A tightly closed container will protect the starter culture from unwanted bacteria from the outside. These containers should be thoroughly washed only with running water and not used for other products. After aging, put the starter culture in a clean container.
What to do with the remaining 70 g of sourdough?
There are several options.
1-add to any yeast baked goods, taking into account the difference, that is, subtracting from the ingredients specified in the recipe: 45g flour + 25g water = 70g
2- Leave in a sealed container and use in recipes where old dough or pasta di riporto / pate 'fermente' is required. Since you will be refreshing your sourdough every day, there will be many more such pieces in a few days.
A week of daily refreshment-feeding of sourdough has passed and now is the time to take step 2 in the process of preparing for baking.
So, let's stabilize the acidity of our starter culture. We will arrange a pleasant bath for her, warm 25-32C, slightly sweetened with sugar.
A good sourdough, light and airy, cut or torn by hand into pieces and set free to float. After an hour, you can see how all the pieces have opened the pores and floated to the surface. Catch them, shake off excess water, squeeze, weigh and feed according to the scheme: leaven + flour in equal amounts + water 45-50% by weight of flour.
I took this on Veronika's page (in Russian) and elsewhere, I don't remember, translated from an Italian site.
