Wild Yeast Culture to share (sourdough bread)

[NinjaMom]

Janie-

I believe the book you have is his first one which is mainly white flour breads. The second book Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day brings in whole wheat and other flour options (rye, spelt, emmer barley etc..).

I started making the master recipe with white flour to get the technique down then moved onto wheat flour.

Here is the Whole Wheat Flaxseed recipe:

7 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
1/2 cup ground flaxseed
1 1/2 T granulated yeast
1 T kosher salt
3 3/4 cups lukewarm water

Whisk together the dry ingredients first then add the water, mixing until all ingredients are incorporated. Cover lightly (not air tight) and let dough rise at room temperature aprox. 2 hours. Place dough in refrigerator for at least 24 hours for better flavor. When you are ready to bake a loaf, cut off a grapefruit size piece, shape it just like you were told in the first book, and let it rest for 90 minutes (wheat dough requires longer rest time). Heat oven to 450 degrees with baking stone on middle rack and broiler pan underneath. Place dough (scored on top and sprinkled with extra flour or seeds opt.) on stone, pour 1 cup hot water into broiler pan and close door immediately. Bake 30 minutes or until richly brown.

You can also bake in a loaf pan if you don't have a stone but I prefer the free form loaves.

I'm quite a novice and am embarrassed to say I am not sure what you mean by making wild yeast I just bought some Red Star yeast in bulk from Costco which Jeff recommended and that is what I use.

Let me know what you think of the WW Flax bread

BTW, they offered a class a few months later that had both Jeff and Zoe teaching. I wish I could have made that one but I know there will be more. They are working on a 3rd book covering pizzas, flatbreads, pitas etc..

Happy baking!

 

[janiejoey]

Judi,

Thank you so much for the recipe, I think I'll be baking this one very soon.

I just bought the book, Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day from Amazon, was a good price so couldn't pass it up. Can't wait to get it!

You should see my collection of bread stuff. I have a basket that makes rings around the loaves, regular bread pans, linen...You name it, I most likely have it.

Places on the web for instructions on how to catch wild yeast from your own back yard. (sort a speak). It's only a few, but there are many places on the web that shows you how to do it in case you want better instructions.

Wild Yeast Sourdough Starter | The Fresh Loaf

Flour + Water = Starter | Wild Yeast

Beyond The Kitchen Wall: Wild Yeast Starter

This last one is my favorite, because I have the book, but the others all work to.

There are many recipes you can make that add both, wild yeast, and yeast that you get from the stores. There are other recipes you only use wild yeast and the same for store bought yeast. You can find help in capturing the yeast as noted above. I like the last one better it is by Peter Reinhart "The Bread Baker's Apprentice". You don't have to buy this book just to capture the yeast. Someone typed it up nicely for everyone to know and to start their own wild yeast culture. Good luck.

I hope you give it a try and send the starter along our way for an exchange of our starters in return, so that we can make the sourdough bread from your neck of the woods. It won't last but maybe a year, then the bacteria around our own place will take over, but, in the meantime, we can savor other flavors for awhile.

If I ever get a chance to take a class from Jeff and Zoe, I would take it in a heart beat. But, it can't be too far away from where I live. Maybe, someday they will go to Seattle.

Oh, by the way, my second day of the culture and mine doubled it's size already! I'm so excited.

Janie