Nutritious, tasty and aromatic bread is made from sourdough.
Sourdough is sour, that is, fermented dough.
Legend has it that the invention of sourdough happened in time immemorial, quite by accident, when, due to an oversight, the dough became sour. Since then, such a product has been used deliberately. By adding a little leaven to the dough, we introduce bacteria into it, which cause the dough to rise. You can buy ready-made starter culture in the form of an extract, liquid or powder. However, with regular baking of bread, it is more profitable to make the sourdough yourself. This is not difficult at all, especially since you need to cook it only for the first baking, and for all subsequent ones, just leave a little dough for the last time and use it as a leaven. It turns out like “perpetuum mobile”.
PREPARATION OF WHEEL STEADER
1st stage: Stir 100 g of rye flour and 100 ml of lukewarm water in a bowl, cover and keep in a warm place at a temperature of about 30 ° C for 24 hours. The lactic acid bacteria contained in the dough multiply.
2nd stage: add another 100 g of rye flour and 100 ml of warm water, stir everything. Allow to distance for 24 hours at room temperature 25 ° C. In this case, acetic acid is formed, aroma appears.
3rd stage: now add 200 g of rye flour and 200 ml of warm water and the mixture is allowed to stand for another 24 hours. Dough fermentation takes place, acid and aromatic substances develop in an optimal amount.
If you want to have a guarantee that the supplied starter culture will be successful, add 50-100 g of ready-made starter culture to the mass at the 1st stage, which you can buy or take from the baker.
After 3 days, the fermentation process will end, and the sourdough can be used to prepare the dough: the amount indicated in the recipe is weighed and added to the flour and other ingredients.
Separate about 2 handfuls of the remaining amount and place in a glass screw-top jar. Store in a cool cellar or refrigerator for about a week. In addition, the leaven can be frozen, then all activity in it will cease.
Only in warmth, with the addition of liquid, with the use of air and rye flour, does it again acquire activity and the ability to ferment. If the sourdough is intertwined in this way all the time, then it will live for 100 years and will be passed from generation to generation thanks to the regularly repeating baking days.
BELOW IS THE MATERIAL ON SQUARE FROM THE BOOK OF AUERMAN L. I "TECHNOLOGY OF BAKERY PRODUCTION"
If you knead rye flour with water and leave the dough at a temperature usual for dough (25-30 ° C), then after a while signs of fermentation appear in it, expressed in the release of small gas bubbles and in the appearance of a characteristic taste and smell of sour dough. Microscopic examination of the dough that has undergone spontaneous fermentation shows that the dough served as a breeding ground for a number of microorganisms that got into it from the surrounding space and from flour; the vital activity of these microorganisms also causes the phenomena described above (gas and acid formation).
As a result of studying the microorganisms of the dough, in which spontaneous fermentation began, it was found that the main pathogens of this fermentation are Bact. coli aerogenes and you. levans. These bacteria form in the dough acetic and lactic acid, alcohol, carbon dioxide (carbon dioxide), hydrogen and, to a lesser extent, nitrogen.
Along with the bulk of this type of bacteria, in the dough in which spontaneous fermentation began, there are very small numbers of individual yeast cells (trapped in the dough from the air). However, their role in the first stage of spontaneous fermentation is extremely small and practically invisible.
If a piece of dough, in which spontaneous fermentation began, is left in a room with dry air, then the dough will dry out over time and the vital activity of microorganisms in it will cease. If a piece of dough lies in a humid room, then it will become covered with mold over time, therefore, from the point of view of baking, this piece of dough will deteriorate and become unusable.
A completely different picture will be if the dough, which has undergone spontaneous fermentation, after a while (after 7-8 hours) is refreshed or "thawed" by adding a new portion of flour and water to it, letting it ferment again for some time, then grind again, etc. etc. within several (for example, four) days. During this period, six to eight crumblings of the dough can be made. In a dough that has undergone repeated spontaneous fermentation, alternating with softening, the microflora will be completely different.
If in the first stage of spontaneous fermentation of the dough, the microorganisms of the latter were mainly bacteria like you. levans and only in a very small proportion - yeast fungi, then in the dough, which has undergone repeated softening, bacteria such as you. levans almost or completely disappear, and instead of them, acid-forming bacteria typical for rye dough appear. At the same time, the presence of a significant number of yeast cells is noted. The ratio of yeast and acid-forming bacteria in such a dough is close to the usual for rye starter cultures and dough.
The difference in the composition of microorganisms between the initially kneaded dough and the dough after five refreshments is reflected in the quality of the bread. Bread made from dough at the initial stage of spontaneous fermentation is poorly loosened and has cracks both in the crust and in the crumb. Bread from spontaneously fermented dough after 5-6 successive softening is well loosened, has a normal crumb structure and good appearance. The taste and aroma of this type of bread are typical for rye bread.
However, the preparation of rye dough in this way would be extremely time-consuming and would largely depend on the microflora of the flour, which can fluctuate sharply both in the number and in the ratio of microorganisms present in it. Therefore, when preparing rye dough, at the beginning of the process, specific acid-forming bacteria and yeast should be introduced in one form or another.
The simplest would be a one-phase preparation of rye: dough with the addition of yeast and the corresponding acid-forming bacteria in the required ratio during kneading as fermentation agents. For this, along with the pressed yeast, it is necessary to have pressed (or dry) acid-forming bacteria of the corresponding species and races.
In rye dough, the specified ratio of yeast and acid-forming bacteria is achieved in most bakeries by preparing sourdough dough.
In the technology of industrial preparation of rye dough, sourdough can be called the continuously consumed but in parts and newly renewable phase used for the preparation of the dough. The starter cultures are used thick, less thick or thin. Part of this starter culture is used when kneading dough as a product containing active specific fermentative microflora of rye dough and a significant amount of acids. On the rest (smaller) part of the sourdough with the addition of a certain amount of flour and water, a new portion of the sourdough is prepared. After a certain time of fermentation, the sourdough restores its acidity and the composition of the fermenting microflora and again can be partially used to prepare one or several portions of dough. On a smaller part, a new portion of the sourdough is renewed again, etc.
Work on such a relatively simple two-phase cycle (sourdough - dough) with continuous renewal of sourdough is called work on a shortened production cycle for preparing rye dough.
The shortened production cycle for the preparation of rye sourdough dough can be three-phase. In separate portions of the continuously renewable sourdough, the dough can be prepared first. After the dough has fermented, the dough is prepared on it.
However, in order to start working on a two- or three-phase production cycle, you need to have a ready-made starter in the required amount. The preparation (or, as they say in production, breeding) of a newly-produced starter culture usually involves three phases.
In the first phase of the exploration cycle, a small amount of flour and water is mixed with a small amount of a production starter from a previous preparation or taken from another bakery. Sometimes a small amount of compressed yeast is added. After several hours of fermentation of this first starter culture, it is refreshed and increased by adding an additional, already larger amount of flour. After several hours of fermentation, the second sourdough obtained in this way is refreshed and replenished by the addition of even more flour and water. This third starter culture, after several hours of fermentation, is a production starter ready for use in the production cycle. Thus, in our example, in the exploration cycle, the preparation of rye dough includes 4 phases: the first sourdough - the second sourdough - the third sourdough (hereinafter - the production sourdough) - the dough.
When removing a production starter culture, not only its amount increases, but yeast cells and acid-forming bacteria, as well as a significant amount of acids, accumulate in it in the necessary proportions. The acidity of the production starter culture is usually even slightly higher than the required final acidity of the dough. After receiving the required amount of production starter, work is carried out for a certain time according to a reduced production cycle, usually two-phase: starter - dough.
If the quality of the production sourdough deteriorates (the rate of acid accumulation or lifting force decreases) or the taste and other properties of the bread deteriorate, the dough preparation according to the production cycle is stopped and the production sourdoughs are prepared anew but with a full exploration cycle.
Experience shows that rye dough with a reduced production cycle can be prepared for months, resorting to a complete renewal of the starter cultures by using an exploration cycle only when their quality deteriorates.
In the dispensing cycle during the preparation of the first phase - the first starter culture, instead of a portion of the production starter culture of the previous preparation and pressed yeast, an appropriate amount of pure cultures of the corresponding yeast and acid-forming bacteria propagated in the laboratory can be introduced. This method is used in a number of bakeries.
When diluting the production starter culture anew and when it is resumed in the production cycle, they strive to create conditions (consistency, temperature, fermentation duration) that are most favorable for the optimal composition and state of its fermenting microflora.
