Sourdough leaven

1 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
½ cup Whole wheat flour
⅛ cup Water, spring or boiled
¼ cup Water, spring or boiled
1 cup Whole wheat flour
½ cup Water, spring or boiled
1⅝ cup White bread flour

Directions

STARTER

FIRST REFRESHMENT

SECOND REFRESHMENT

Starter: Mix flur and water to a paste and knead it with your fingers and thumbs until it is a smooth, firm dough. Put this nut of dough in a glass or small bowl, cover it with a cheese cloth (not clingfilm) and leave it in a warm place, at approximately 24-26øC/75-80øF for about 2 days. Although the outside will crust over, the inside will be moist and slightly areated.

The smell will be sweet. Discard the crust and procced with the first refreshment.

=46irst Refreshment: dissolve the starter in the water, add the flour and mix to a dough. Knead with the wingers on a work table. Put the dough in a small bowl and cover with clingfilm. Put it back in the warm spot and leave it for a day or two. It will crust again, but it will also have enlarged, and the areation will be greater. The smell will be very slightly sharp.

Discard the crust and procced with the second refreshment.

Second Refreshment: repeat as with the first refreshment, but this time leave for 8-12 hours and it should show every sign of life: growing and rising like a normal piece of dough with a slightly sharp edge to the smell, but not rotten or "off". The leaven is now ready to be added to a dough which will proceed as any other, though often more slowly.

Notes: Natural leavens take a few days to get going. They need to be kept in a warm room and out of the draughts. If it is too cold, they will take very much longer to ripen, and then taste too sour. Luckily for us, they keep well in a refrigerator. If you want to start a leaven and use it once a week, you can pinch off a piece of dough weighing approximately 225 grams/8 ounces from the finished dough when you have made it, pop it in a glass bowl, cover with clingfilm and store in the refrigerator. A day or two before you want to bake, take up the recipe below from the point of the second refreshment.

Per serving: 1422 Calories; 7g Fat (4% calories from fat); 52g Protein; 294g Carbohydrate; 0mg Cholesterol; 20mg Sodium Recipe by: Making Bread at Home by tom Jaine Posted to FOODWINE Digest 05 Feb 97 by Yaara & Yishay <trophy@...> on Feb 5, 1997.

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