Quick Starter:
2 1/2 cups Bread Flour, Sams Club $10.78, 25 lbs
1 Packet Yeast, last one you will ever buy to make bread.
4 TBS Sugar.
2 cups warm water, 90 degree.
1/3 cup white vinegar, a must, natural yeasts and bacteria need a 3.5 pH to develop.
Let it ferment until foamy and working.
Bread:
Add 2 cups of flour and 2 cups of warm water to your Barm, the foamy stuff, let it develop, bubbles and foam, a couple of hours.
Take 2 cups of the Barm plus: 2 tbs of oil, bacon grease, olive oil, butter, or margarine. 1 tsp of salt, 2 TBS of sugar.
Mix, I Use a Bread Machine to mix the dough, put liquids in first, add 3 cups of bread flour. As it is mixing look at it
It should not stick to the bowl, add water if needed.
After you get a ball, stick your finger into it, it should be plastic and not bounce back.
Raise the dough, remember Christ resurrected in three days, natural yeasts need three hours or more to double. Divide, degas, and rise again, bake at 350 for an hour or until the bottom sounds hollow when thumped.
Put starter in fridge, make bread or add 1/2 cup flour and water to feed the barm every seven days.
Excellent report on making bread, I learned a couple points from reading it.
Welcome to the thread.
I also add vinegar and a little olive oil. The vinegar not only helps the yeast but it helps the bread resist getting moldy. To much oil in the dough will make the crumb - from a lack of knowing the correct term - course and crumbly. I use no more than a Tbsp of oil in 6 cups of flour dough.
I use to have problems forming the final loaf (after the first rise). I always ended up with creases and cracks in the final baked bread. I was using to much oil when coating the dough for the first rise. I was handeling the dough to much at this point, folding it over and kneading slightly and the oil on the surface of the risen dough acts as a barrier and does not let the dough come together in the final rise - causing the creases. I now use a cooking spray very sparingly on the bowl and then use a paper towel to wipe it into a very thin coating on the bowl and just a spritz on the top of the dough.
After the first rise I just take the bowl turn it upside down, and thump it down on the counter top and let the dough fall to the counter - this is my punch down. I gently turn the mass of dough over so the smooth side is on top and let it sit for a min. or two. At this point I handle the dough as little as possible. If I am going to bake it in a bread pan I just put my open hands on each side of the dough and slowly bring my hands together to get the dough to the width of the pan - same for the length. Gently place the dough in the pan and let it rise.
If I am making a French bread I put my hands on the side and while bringing them together gently stretch the dough to the length I want. Cover and let rise for the second time.
Place in a 425 F oven 15-20 min.
Granny! So glad you’re back! Been trynig to catch up/keep up with the new thread. LOL
Sure you know this, but what to do if you don’t have any yeast? Try capturing some wild! No—seriously!
2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon sugar or honey (optional)
2 cups All-Purpose Flour
Mix the water, flour and optional sweetener together thoroughly in a clean, scalded glass or ceramic bowl. The scalding will ensure that you’re starting “pure.” Cover the bowl with a clean dishcloth. Put it in an area where there’s apt to be the highest concentration of airborne yeast as well as the warmth that is needed to begin fermentation. Outside is good in the summer!
If the surface begins to look dry after a while, give the mixture a stir. It should begin to “work” in the first day or two if it’s going to at all. If it does, your trap has been successful. Stir as needed. When it’s developed a yeasty, sour aroma, put it in a clean jar with a lid and refrigerate it until you’re ready to use it.