I have been experimenting to make our own bread at home for seven years.
My passion to make my own bread has begun when I purchased a starter from a sourdough bakery in Burhaniye town of Turkey named Evin Ana, which is near to our summer house.
It is like having a pet. You feed it and care for it, carry with you where you go. It becomes a member of the family.
Recently, I felt up to try my chance of making my own sourdough yeast starter. So the adventure started!
It is a flour and water combination. The yeast ferments this mixture by eating the sugar in the flour and converts it into alcohol and carbon dioxide gas.
The carbon dioxide is what will cause the bread to rise. The bubbles in your starter get trapped into the structure of the bread as little holes.
The sourdough starter or mother dough also known as levain, in Greek prozimi (means pre-knead)- ??????? while in Turkish the word ekşi maya (means sour yeast) is used.
If you stir the starter often, at room temperature the yeast and the lactic acid bacteria will be happy and work together. The lactic acid bacteria creates an antibiotic that kills the unwanted organisms that might grow in the starter.
The flavour of sourdough bread varies from region to region according to the method used.
I found the below mentioned recipe from a small Greek village and adapted with the recipe I have learned from the Burhaniye baker.
I recommend you to make your starter in a glass container or a clay pot.
Store in a glass container in the refrigerator after fermentation has occurred.
Day 1:
- 1/4 cup flour (2 T whole wheat, 2 T all purpose flour)
- 1/4 cup lukewarm bottled water
Whole wheat flour works best. Try to find freshly milled flour. I bought all purpose flour from Mitillini shop.
The lukewarm water must be clean, non chlorinated as you can get.
Mix flour and water in a glass bowl or a clay pot. Cover with a kitchen cloth and place in a warm place in your kitchen.
Day 2:
- 5 T all purpose flour
- 5 T lukewarm bottled water
Mix flour and water in a bowl. Cover with a kitchen cloth and place in a warm place in your kitchen.
Day 3:
- 5 T flour (3 T rye flour, 2 T all purpose flour)
- 5 T lukewarm bottled water
Mix flour and water in a bowl. Cover with a kitchen cloth and place in a warm place in your kitchen.
Day 4:
Keep the sourdough starter at room temperature without feeding it.
Day 5:
- 6 T flour (3 T rye flour, 3 T all purpose flour)
- 8 T lukewarm bottled water
Mix flour and water in a bowl. Cover with a kitchen cloth and place in a warm place in your kitchen.
Day 6:
Keep the sourdough starter at room temperature without feeding it.
Day 7:
- 5 T all purpose flour
- 5 T lukewarm bottled water
If it has, remove crust.
Mix flour and water in a bowl. Cover with a kitchen cloth and place in a warm place in your kitchen.
Day 8:
- 5 T all purpose flour
- 5 T lukewarm bottled water
Mix flour and water in a bowl. Stir vigorously to combine everything and incorporate more oxygen into the mixture.
Cover with a kitchen cloth and place in a warm place in your kitchen.
Day 9:
- 500 gr all purpose flour
- 3 cup lukewarm bottled water
- salt
After a long fermentation, something magical happened! The 9th day it ripened visibly. It happily bubbled.
The starter will be ready to use. The surface will look frothy and fermented. It also sour smells.
Add 500 gr flour, salt and lukewarm water to the sourdough starter. Knead and fold well.
Leave about 400 gr of the dough as a starter in a glass container and store in the refrigerator. The starter will keep indefinitely as long as you feed it every week.
If you see a clear liquid on the top, just stir well. But if the liquid has a pinkish hue, it indicates that the starter has spoiled.
Before making a sourdough bread, allow the starter to rest at room temperature for 5- 8 hours. It gives the yeast a chance to warm up and get feeding.
After making your bread, refrigerate the starter.
To make a bread, put the rest of the dough into a greased round pan. Flour top generously. With a sharp knife or a razor score on top of the loaf.
Let rise until double.
Bake at pre-heated 200° C oven for 40 minutes and 190° C for 10 minutes in order to have a little bit thick crust.
