Making Bread

In 2006 I learned a great deal about commercial bakers yeast ("he who increases his knowledge, increases his sorrow" comes to mind right now), and decided that I did not want to have it in my family's diet. You can do the research on the internet for yourself, you need not take my word for it. The one thing that really rang true for me was the fact that it works by "exploding" much the same way that cancer cells react in the human body. I have no desire to ingest something that mimicks the action of cancer cells in the body!

A friend of mine who had also gotten wind of the woes of commercial bakers yeast joined me in a quest to eliminate this substance from the diets of our families. Together we learned about harvesting our very own wild yeast and making a natural "sourdough" starter. Here is what we learned.....

Just because you are using a sourdough starter, does not limit you to making only sourdough. (Though I must admit that I love a good sourdough, crusty on the outside, with a wonderful chewy interior full of holes, and a zippy strong flavor!) Natural (sourdough) starter can be used in any yeasted bread recipe. To alter a recipe, you substitute ½ to 1 cup of starter for every 2½ t to 1 T of commercial yeast. The amount of starter will depend on the strength of your starter. The less starter you use to get the desired results, the better.

My Country Living Grain Mill

My favorite grains for making bread are Hard Red Wheat and Hard White Wheat. I believe that the full bodied flavor of the red wheat gives you a more sour flavor and is preferable for making a round of sourdough bread. When I make sandwich bread, I use the hard white wheat or a mixture of half red and half white. If you use all white there will be little sour flavor and it will be bland without salt. Of course, this will all depend on your own tastes. You may prefer a bit of the sour taste in your sandwich bread. For the absolute best in nutrition, flavor, and results I suggest using freshly ground flour. I know that sounds daunting, but it really isn't that much trouble to grind flour just before using it, and once you taste the difference you will be convinced. I did a lot of research on grain millls, both manual and electric, and I chose a Country Living Grain Mill. It is an absolute delight to use.

Making bread with a natural starter is a wonderful, enjoyable experience. Making bread with a commercial starter was always a hurried, high stress, high energy, high risk project that took up too much of my time and energy. The slower pace of a natural starter is far less disruptive and makes for a much more pleasant experience. The ingredients for the bread recipe are the same with the exception of the yeast.

Now for a step by step process of making bread! The process will be the same no matter which recipe you are using. I have made pizza dough, cinnamon rolls, sandwich bread, and sourdough bread following this procedure. In the following example I am using the whole wheat (sandwich) bread recipe.

Whole Wheat Bread

Over the years I have learned that the people who have the most trouble learning to make bread with a natural wild yeats starter are the people who already know how to make bread. People who have never made bread are willing to follow the directions and trust in them, so they generally have great success. People who know how to make bread have a hard time adjusting to the difference with a living yeast organism, but playing around with it is a sure way to learn! Best of luck to you, and if you wish to have the same results that I enjoy, please follow the directions.