Bread, bread, BREAD, BrEaD, bread!

Sourdough bread…to be precise.

Currently I’m in the process of learning how to bake really good bread. It’s an amazing thing that one can put equal amounts of flour and water in a container and leave it on its own (mostly) in order to make what I know isn’t but appears to be magic. Within a few days this mixture creates a wild yeast and beneficial bacteria compound that just happens to be pretty useful for baking bread and other tasty goods.

The secret for me is using stone-ground rye flour in the starter. It makes a robust and often booming starter and is the single ingredient that makes a great starter. Originally, this paragraph said “in the micro-environment where I live.” So here’s where I get to insert a corrected misconception: Yeast doesn’t come from the air around us, it’s in the medium! Flour, unless it’s been sterilized, contains yeasts. Rye flour has lots of nutrients and wild yeast, and organic stoneground rye flour (in this case Arrowhead brand) for me it is the flour that gets rolling quickest. (thanks to Maurizio Leo again for pointing me in the right direction). Any organic (or other non-sterilized) grain-based flour will contain some yeast and should eventually produce good starter – some quicker than others.

If you love bread here are some photos from my year and a half experiment so far.