Natural Yeast and Commercial Yeast Experiments

Eric made this beautiful bread with 2 cups of natural yeast and only half as much commercial yeast as a normal recipe called for.   [The recipe made 3 loaves - it's the baguette recipe from the book below. Bread snobs know from the pic it's nowhere near the traditional stuff, but it's delicious.]

So far we're loving bread this way.   I like the taste of natural yeast and we're getting a good rise with much less of the commercial stuff.

Eric's favorite bread book is The Bread Book, by Linda Collister and Anthony Blake is out of print and dirt cheap on Amazon.   He likes it for the instructions and for the range of recipes.   

Natural Yeast Used with Regular Commercial Yeast

I love our natural yeast.   We've been playing with it for a couple of years now and our local yeasts have populated it nicely.   I like the flavors our natural yeast has.

The problem is that it doesn't raise the bread much.  I like the taste, but I don't much like eating bricks. My natural yeast has always had a great bubble, but not a great rise.  I worried about the start, but according Melissa Richardson, it's fine and should make a great loaf. 

I've given starts of our natural yeast to people who are able to get bread that rises brilliantly, so clearly it's something about our kitchen here than is causing the trouble.   Unfortunately, no one has volunteered to bake bread for us in a good rising kitchen and we only have the one poor rising kitchen, so we need to find a fix.   And I know we are not the only folks who are having the same trouble with good yeast and a poor rise.

I did some reading and learned a bit more about yeasts and gluten and bread science.  It's all a bit confusing.   I thought I'd lay it all out here and let you guys chime in with what you know, too.

According to Caleb Warnock, who, along with Melissa Richardson, wrote The Art of Baking with Natural Yeast: Breads, Pancakes, Waffles, Cinnamon Rolls and Muffins,  natural yeasts consume the gluten.   This was true for us.   I'd mix up the dough really well until it was nice and stretchy and then let it sit for a few hours to rise and come back to a wet puddle-y mess - exactly as if the gluten had been destroyed.  I'd add more flour and give it another go and get....heavy bread. 

According to The Accidental Scientist's Science of Cooking,  you need the gluten to get a good rise.  The gluten forms as a reaction between water and two proteins found in flour:  glutenin and gliaden.  The gluten forms long chewy strands. The yeast consumes the sugars in the flour and releases carbon dioxide - those bubbles are yeast farts.  Bread rises when the gluten captures the yeast farts within the long stringy structures and holds them.

This is what I think is happening to our bread - the natural yeasts are breaking the gluten down and doing it well!  But there's not enough gluten left to hold the bubbles for a good rise.  It's healthy bread, but a poor rise.

So, Eric and I started thinking.  Natural yeast is a collection of local yeasts.   Commercial yeast is only one variety of yeast - a fast rising one and usually Saccharomyces cerevisiae.  The makers of Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast describe the process of growing this yeast on their site.  What if we used the two types of yeast together?   Why couldn't we get the health benefits of natural yeast and the good rise of commercial yeast?

Eric started by soaking the flours [we use mostly whole wheat] overnight in water with the natural yeast.   We got a good soft flour with a very sour taste.   We didn't like that.  So, next Eric decided to soak only the flours in water overnight with no yeast.   Then the next day he added both the natural yeast start and only 80% of the commercial yeast to the bread.  If the recipe calls for 2 1/2 tsp of yeast, we only add 2 tsp.  The mixture bubbles madly.  That's what you see in the photo above.  We consistently get a great tasting bread [with a lot of natural yeasts and all the benefits that come with them] that rises very nicely.  

We are still experimenting with this approach.   We're going to try lowering the quantity of commercial yeast and see how low we can go and still get a good rising bread.  We'll keep you posted.

Waffles with Natural Yeast

It's been a really big week.  You totally deserve waffles this weekend.  

Make them.   Make them soon.

Soon!   They're easier than you think.

I get up a couple of hours earlier than everyone else in the house.    I make the batter for these as soon as I get up, then I let it sit for a couple of hours and do its thing until everyone else starts to stir.  Perfect waffles every time!

Waffles with Natural Yeast
www.rurification.com

• 1 1/2 cups natural yeast [or whatever is left when you feed your start]
• 1 1/2 cups hot milk
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tb sugar
• 2 Tb oil
• spices if you want them:   1/2 tsp cinnamon or nutmeg or cardamom

My natural yeast start loves hot liquids, so I heat the milk in the microwave until it is steaming all the way through.    Mix all ingredients together well.   Let it sit and rise for a couple of hours before you make your waffles.    Makes 7 waffles. 

Tip:   You can thin this batter and make pancakes.

Tip:  My yeast likes a HOT pan to get the best rise.   Make sure your griddle or waffle iron is good and hot before you start. 

Tip:   Put jam on your waffles!   The photo shows plum jam and white nectarine jam on the waffles together.   Mmmmm.  

Rolls made with Natural Yeast

I discovered accidentally that our natural yeast much prefers hot water/liquid to get a very high rise.   I was happy to see this because our bread has been delicious but a bit dense.    I wanted to be able to control the rise a bit better.  

So when I made these rolls for Thanksgiving, I scalded the milk and melted the butter in the microwave until they were hot.   HOT!    And I poured it right in on top of the yeast with the flour and sugar and salt and then I mixed it all.

And the yeast did not die.  

And it rose and rose and rose.

And my rolls were light.  

And fluffy.   And delicious!   Yes!!

So.   Remember that:    Your natural yeast start might really like hot liquid.   Try it and find out.  Feed it with hot water and see if it rises better.

Rolls with Natural Yeast
www.rurification.com

• 1 1/2 cups natural yeast start [whatever's left when you feed your start]
• 1 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 5 cups white flour

Scald the milk and melt the butter.   It's OK if they're HOT! [Hot as in too hot to put your finger in, but not boiling].    Put the yeast, sugar, salt, butter, milk and flour in your mixer with a dough hook and mix away.    You might need to scrape down the sides.    This was enough flour for the dough to hold together and pull away clean from the sides of the mixer bowl.    The dough holds together well, but is still soft.

Mix until the dough begins to 'windowpane'.  [Stretch a bit of dough between your fingers to make a square.   It should get thin before it breaks.  That means the gluten is developed.]

Put in a greased bowl, cover and let rise in a warm place until double.  [I let mine rise in the oven with the light on.]  It took mine almost three hours to double.  [That's the proofing stage.]  After the proofing, pinch off pieces of dough the size you need for rolls, roll them into balls and put them in baking pans so that they just barely touch.  Cover and let them rise again until double.   It took almost three hours.   When they've risen, uncover them and bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until browned. 

Makes 2 baking pans [8x12] full of rolls.   Would probably make three loaves of bread.

Cardamom Buns with Natural Yeast

I love my natural yeast.    I've been baking bread with it, trying to get light and fluffy bread instead of heavy and brick-like bread.   

Brick-like bread is good for a lot of things, but not eating.   For example, you can use brick-like bread for a door stop.   Or a weapon.   Or a big paperweight.   Or a mold culture.  Or a window prop.   Or to break into your car if you forget your keys.   Or instead of a clay pigeon. 

I'd just rather have light and fluffy bread.

You know?

I've been playing a lot with the natural yeast and noticed that a lot of recipes call for only 1/2 cup of starter.  That's not enough here.  I kept getting brick bread.  When I feed my start, I take out about 1 1/2 cups of the old starter to make room for the new feed.  One day,  I decided to use all 1 1/2 cups of leftover start in the dough.  What a difference!  I made a batch of light and fluffy cardamom buns that was so good that K2 begged me to make more.   Every. Day. 

So I did. 

Cardamom Buns with Natural Yeast
from www.rurification.com

• 1 1/2 cups natural yeast start  [or whatever you take out when you feed your start]
• 2 cups white flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tsp cardamom
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 Tablespoons oil
• 1 more cup white flour

Mix the natural yeast start, 2 cups of white flour, milk, sugar, cardamom, eggs,  and oil well.  It will be a wet dough.   Put it in a large greased bowl and let it rise to double.   Don't rush it. 

After it has risen the first time, mix in the last cup of flour.   Flour your hands and pull off pieces about 1/2 cup in size and roll them into balls.  Set them in a greased ovenproof pan and let them rise to double.

Bake at 400 for 25 minutes.

These are amazing with honey.   Amazing.   Worth the trip to the store to get some if you don't have it in the pantry. 

Feeding Your Natural Yeast Start

Natural yeast seems like a mysterious sort of pet that you have to baby a lot.  A lot of people get stressed out about the whole 'feeding' thing.

Well, I'm here to tell you that it's just a matter of remembering a couple of techniques and you're on your way to maintaining a fabulous, healthy yeast start.


Once you have a healthy yeast start, then it's easier to find ways to use it.

Feeding your natural yeast start is seriously easier than you think.    Here's how it works.

Do you want a sour start or a sweet start?
1.  Feed twice a week or more if you want a sweet start.
2.  Feed once a week if you want a sour start.  

I have two jars:  one is a sweet start [wide mouth jar],  one is a sour start [narrow mouth jar].   I also wrote SWEET and SOUR on the lids so I don't forget which one to keep sweet. 

Care and feeding of your start:
1.  Keep your start in a quart jar.
2.  On feeding day, pour the yeast into a bowl.  You'll have about 2 1/2 cups of start.   Don't wash the jar!  It's full of good yeasty bacteria.
3.  Into the now empty yeast jar, put:

• 1 cup of  the old yeast start
• 1 cup of whole wheat flour
• 1 cup of warm water

Notes:  My start likes whole wheat flour much more than white flour.   Much more!   If you feed with white flour, it will take about 1 1/2 cups [or more] of flour to get it to the right consistency.

If you haven't been able to get a really great rise, then try using HOT water to feed your start.    I put the new flour in first, then the hottest tap water I can get on top of the flour and stir, stir, stir.   I can get it to rise to the top of the jar that way.    You don't need to have a great rise to keep a great start, but knowing that the start prefers heat means that when you are using your start [instead of just feeding it to keep it going] you can get a higher rise in your dough if you heat your liquids before you add them. 

 

What is the right consistency?
You want to add enough flour to make it the consistency of oatmeal - not too thick to stir easily, and not too soupy.

How long does it take to rise?  
Once the old start, the flour and water are stirred well in the jar, I put a rubber band around the level it starts at so I can see how much it's rising.

Then I put it in a warm spot and wait.

And wait.

After a while it looks like this.    All those bubbles are evidence that the bacteria is working on the flour and expelling carbon dioxide.

Carbon dioxide is what makes your bread rise.

And after another hour or so, it looks like this. 

And after another hour or so, mine looks like this,  if I use hot water.  Now you can pop it in your fridge and ignore it for a couple of days.

Where do you keep the yeast when you're not feeding it?
I let it rise for a few hours on the counter, then I put it in the fridge.   You can also just pop it in the fridge as soon as you feed it.  It won't rise as spectacularly, but it'll do it's thing just fine.  

But what do you do with the leftover yeast?
Make something with it, like pancakes  or cardamom buns or bread or whatever you want.

If you don't have time to bake, then toss the start or give it away.  

Do not feel guilty for throwing it out or washing it down the sink.  Flour is super cheap [much cheaper than cat or dog food] and if you feel guilty, then you won't enjoy your start and if you don't enjoy it, then you won't use it.  Most of us don't have the time or desire to bake bread twice a week.   Or even once a week.   It's OK to toss the extra start until you have that one weekend a month to bake bread.

Really.   It's OK. 

Your primary goal is to feed your start, not to make stuff with it.   This is opposite what you might think.  Once you get in the habit of feeding it, then you'll start thinking of ways to use it.  If you're always focused on making stuff, but forget or get stressed about feeding it, then you won't have yeast to make stuff with.   Stay focused on feeding.

Other Tips:

1.  Keep your start on the top shelf of your fridge where it's easy to see.   If it starts going grey or dark, you need to feed it.   Sometimes liquid pools on top - if so, pour it off.   Scrape off any dark yeast and pitch it, then feed the start and use the extra if you need to.   Pitch the extra if you don't need to use it.

2.  Which brings up vacations.   If you're gone for a couple of weeks, it'll be fine.   You don't need to hire a yeast sitter.   Scrape off the dark and feed it when you get home.    If it's gone sour, then feed it every two days until it's sweet again.   It usually sweetens up after two or three quick feedings.  

3.  If a recipe calls for only 1/2 cup of start it is OK to use more!   We use the whole 1 1/2 cups of extra yeast start when we make dough.   It might take a bit more flour to get the dough to the right firmness,  or you can subtract a bit of your other liquid to get the right firmness [leave out 1/2 cup of water, for example].
 

Simple Pancakes Made with Natural Yeast

Since we really got our natural yeast start going, I've been the one to remember to feed it.

A miracle, I know. 


I have a very different relationship with natural yeast than I do with the synthetic yeast granules from the store.   I don't know why but there you have it.    I like natural yeast better.

Once or twice a week, when I feed the yeast, I make pancakes with the start.

Simple Pancakes with Natural Yeast
from www.rurification.com

1 1/2 cups natural yeast start
2 eggs
2 T sugar
2 T oil
1 cup white flour
1 1/2 cups milk
sprinkle of nutmeg or cinnamon

Combine all ingredients and set aside for an hour or so to let it rise a bit.   Cook like regular pancakes. 

Baking with Natural Yeast

Here's a loaf of plain whole wheat with my pear plum vanilla jam.     De-lish.
 
Warning.  This is a brag post.  I made all of this bread.

I. Made. It. 

Which is kind of a Christmas Miracle.  In August and September, but whatever.   Just ask Eric.   He keeps grinning and patting me on the head like a toddler who just tied her shoes for the first time.   

It took us a couple of months to balance out the yeast start we got from Melissa Richardson and Caleb Warnock from their new book The Art of Baking with Natural Yeast.   As soon as I got it in July, I followed the directions to activate it.   We totally took advantage of the natural moldiness yeastiness of Indiana plus the freak summer weather - hot as an oven.   I spent days proofing jars and ice cream buckets full of yeasty stuff outside.   I learned a lot and eventually we got two great starts going and we're figuring out how to make good bread with it.

This is not your store-bought yeast.

I am not a bread maker normally.   I make bread once a year, at Christmas.  The rest of the time, I leave the bread baking to Eric.  And Eric is really good with bread.  

But there's something about this natural yeast that makes me want to play.    I feel like an alchemist mixing up some magic.  Here's a loaf of cinnamon raisin bread I made.  K2 likes it toasted and then dipped in melted honey butter.    Oh. My. Gosh.

The thing that I like about this yeast is that the dough tastes good.   None of that weird aftertaste.   And none of the gas you get if you eat a wad of dough made with store yeast.   This is good stuff.

One of our starts got really sour and I made this loaf of white sourdough bread. It was wonderful with lasagna.

I've learned a few things as we've worked with this dough.    For us, it takes a loooong proof [first rise] and a long rise again after you shape the loaves.    It takes all day or overnight to proof it and give it a first rise.    Then you shape the loaves and let it rise again.   It takes us another 3-4 hours to get it to double in size.

It's totally worth the wait.

This means that I have to plan ahead a bit, and that I absolutely positively cannot rush.   Which is really good for me because normally I rush, rush, rush all the time.  It's nice to have something that needs me to wait, wait, wait.    Every time we've waited, we've gotten really great bread.  

Here's pic of some cinnamon rolls just starting the second rise.   They were delicious.   

Want your own start?    Get a copy of the book The Art of Baking with Natural Yeast and contact the authors.  They'll send you a start for free and you can start making your own magic.   

Here's a link to the hardbound copy: 

and here's a link to the Kindle version: 

If you like to make bread, or if you want to learn how, or if you're trying to put a little less synthetic and a little more natural in your life, you'll love it. 

Guest Post by Caleb Warnock: Health Benefits of Natural Yeast

Hi, Everyone!   Caleb's book came out this week and we've been experimenting with his yeast.   Natural yeast is very different  from the beasties in the yeast you buy at the store.    We're excited to learn how to use it and as Caleb tells you below, the benefits of natural yeast are numerous and spectacular.   I'll be posting more of our natural yeast experiments in the coming weeks.  

Caleb Warnock is co-author of The Art of Baking with Natural Yeast: Breads, Pancakes, Waffles, Cinnamon Rolls and Muffins (with Melissa Richardson) and author of the national bestseller The Forgotten Skills of Self-Sufficiency Used by the Mormon Pioneers.

© 2012 Caleb Warnock. The contents of this blog post are not in the public domain and may not be used without the express written permission of the author.

Few people realize that the yeast in grocery stores is not a naturally-occurring substance. Laboratory created in 1984, the yeast sold today is so foreign to our digestive systems that some people develop allergies to the yeast itself. This quick-rising yeast appears increasingly connected to the nutritional and digestive disorders that plague so many. Natural yeast flattens the glycemic index, takes away heartburn and acid reflux forever, helps prevent or reverse gluten intolerance and, in some cases, full-blown Celiac’s disease, turns natural phytic acid into an anti-oxidant, controls allergies, and turns flour into a yeast that is both pre-biotic and pro-biotic.

Beyond health benefits, natural yeast is simple to use, costs nothing, tastes wonderful, completely cuts out the need to buy commercial yeast, and drastically reduces the need for baking powder and baking soda. You can easily use it not only to make bread, but also waffles, pancakes, breadsticks, pizza dough, scones, rolls, and even old-fashioned root beer.

Yeast is a single-celled fungus, and the first domesticated living creature in history. Modern science has identified more than 1,000 different varieties of wild yeast. These organisms are so small that hundreds of millions, if not billions, fit into a single teaspoon.

Wild yeast is everywhere -- in the air you breathe, on the bark of trees, on leaves. Ever seen the white film on backyard grapes? That’s wild yeast. The same film can be found of juniper berries. For centuries, both berries have been used as natural “start” for bread yeast.

But not all yeast varieties are the same. For example, the kind of yeast used to make beer is not the same kind of yeast used to make bread. Different natural yeasts have different flavors -- some are strongly sour, some are mildly sour, and some are not sour at all. Natural yeast is sometimes mistakenly referred to as sourdough, but with the right strain of yeast, it doesn’t have to be sour unless that is the flavor you prefer. Some natural yeasts are better are raising bread than others. This is why the best strains of natural yeast has been passed down through generations and communities. Hundreds of people around the nation have gotten free, non-sour natural yeast starts from me.

Until the 19th century, homemade yeast was the only kind there was. In 1857 Louis Pasteur discovered that living organisms -- yeasts -- were responsible for fermentation. Yeast was already an important business, even though no one had understood how it worked. The production of commercial yeast began in France in the 1850s. In the U.S., compressed yeast cakes were introduced to the nation at Philadelphia’s Centennial Exposition in 1876 , which drew 10 million visitors. When America entered World War II, yeast companies developed dry yeast for the military which did not require refrigeration. And then in 1984, rapid-rising yeast was invented in U.S. laboratories.

Today that yeast has all but replaced natural yeast. But not everyone is convinced that the convenience of super-fast yeast outweighs the health benefits of the slow rising process of natural yeast.

A word of caution. If you type “sourdough starter” into Google, you will get hundreds of recipes for starting “sourdough” from commercial yeast. But very little grocery store yeast is now true natural yeast. The best way to get real natural yeast is from someone using a documented strain. The author, Caleb Warnock, mails flakes of natural “sweet” yeast to anyone who requests them at no charge, along with instructions for growing out the yeast. And once you have a start of natural yeast, you can have it for the rest of your life. You can dry it, freeze it, keep it in the fridge, or grow it on your kitchen counter. To get a start of the author’s documented 200-year-old strain of natural yeast, send an email to calebwarnock.yahoo.com.

Here is the link to my blog, and you can click on the cover of the new cookbook to look inside the book. Not to press my luck, but if you order two copies, the shipping is FREE!  CalebWarnock.blogspot.com