There are some things that I think everyone should know for the sake of knowing, and how to make bread without more than very basic ingredients is one of them. These days everyone relies on store-bought goods, but whatever happened to the methods used by ancestors in the past? Making your own bread may sound like a challenge, but it is not really rocket science. What would you do if you could not go to the store and buy bread? What if you can’t find dried yeast, or you do not have refrigeration to keep your yeast? I have been doing a little web surfing and wanted to share this information on how to grow your own yeast.
I learned that even though most people buy powdered yeast from the store, there is wild yeast on wheat and in the environment that can be utilized for bread making. Once the yeast has grown well enough, it will eat up any other bacteria growing in your starter. What a great science experiment, right? I think everyone should try this at least once, and it could be a great science project to do with your kids! If you enjoy it, you keep some of your starter and make more bread each week. Starter dough was precious to people in pioneer times and often families were using the same starter generation after generation.
The website I found with the simplest and most complete instructions was http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/blueroom/sour.htm. I am following this method for my starter. Today is day 1. I just mixed my day 1 starter half an hour ago. I’ll keep you all posted on how it turns out.
Basically, you take equal parts of warm water (not hot) and wheat flour, and mix in a glass jar. Then, each day, you “feed” your pet (starter) equal parts of warm water and flour until it becomes frothy and bubbly (approximately 7-10 days on average). After your starter is formed, you are ready to make bread! Left over starter can be refrigerated to slow feedings after your first loaf of bread. I have even seen recipes that state you can freeze your starter and then when you are ready to us it again, just thaw it out for 3 hours before use. Comment below if you decide to give this a try! Good luck!
