I was reading an article somewhere or else on the interwebs, and it posited that, for some folk, it isn’t really the flour that bothers them in bread, it is the yeast.
Hmmm.
Having a fair number of friends who need to be wary of their diets, I then went on a search for yeast-less bread recipes.
Now there are a lot of yeast-free breads, but I had my heart set on one particular one…
Sourdough.
So, then…
Imagine my pleasure at coming across this pretty nifty cookery book at my fave local bookstore with a recipe for no-yeast sourdough starter!
And, I had coupons! Bonus!
Sadly, the starter, yes, is yeast free. The bread however? Not. But, consider that little chunk o’ sourdough bread heaven warm from the machine and slathered with Irish butter at the top of this post. Yeh. We are gonna just pretend like there isn’t any yeast involved, because it is just that good.
So… sourdough starter without yeast.
INGREDIENTS
•2 all-purpose flour
•2 cups chlorine free bottled water, at room temperature – I found this Artesian well water at my local market, worked a treat.
Stir the water into the flour in a glass bowl.
Note: the book specified using a wooden spoon for stirring. Could you use a plastic spoon? I don’t know. As long time readers of this blog may recall, I have a kindofa sketchy history with sourdough starters, so I was not gonna take any chances.
Once you’ve stirred the water into the flour, cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap, then stash in a warm spot for three or four days; giving it a stir two to three times a day, until it is nice and bubbly.
Note: it is gonna be kinda stinky.
So. Starter well and truly started, transfer to a jar – I used a quart canning jar – cover tightly, and stash in the fridge until needed.
Note: sourdough starter is a living thing, and you’re going to need to keep on top of it. If you make bread once a week, just replace the amount of starter used for bread with equal parts water and flour and return to the fridge until the next week.
You are going to need to do this every single week – whether you make bread or not; so really, you may as well just make the bread already, right?
Because it really is wicked nice!
Oh…
You want the bread details?
Well… assuming you have chlorine free water on hand and can, ermmm, get started on your starter right now; you still have three days or so before you can make the bread, so, waiting until tomorrow for those details shouldn’t really be an issue.
Right?
I thought you’d see it my way…