tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post7560572202619403488..comments2024-03-23T12:38:46.260+00:00Comments on The History Girls: sourdough; slices from history, by Leslie WilsonMary Hoffmanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06241989732624913706noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-27856714263419635092017-04-24T23:38:51.874+01:002017-04-24T23:38:51.874+01:00Lovely post! As a good half-Polish girl, I grew up...Lovely post! As a good half-Polish girl, I grew up eating rye bread, not always sourdough, but usually, and consider anything else a travesty. Even my non-Polish parent is a convert, and eats good sourdough rye bread for preference. There's lots of good rye bread available commercially here in Toronto, but nothing like homemade, so I'll have to try your recipe. Many thanks! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-47838694900804692992017-04-24T07:57:37.139+01:002017-04-24T07:57:37.139+01:00Good baking to you too, Sue! Where does your famil...Good baking to you too, Sue! Where does your family come from?Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-62958344290179477642017-04-24T01:28:06.431+01:002017-04-24T01:28:06.431+01:00Thanks for the recipes, Leslie, and good baking! I...Thanks for the recipes, Leslie, and good baking! I was brought up by Eastern European parents and so prefer my bread solid and only buy white bread when I've run out and I can't get anything else on the way home. Bread baking is a real craft, isn't it? And your post is fascinating! One of my former students, who wanted to be a baker, told me proudly she was learning how to make artisan bread at her cooking college. <br /><br />Today, which I have had to take off from work for family reasons, I'm hoping to make some Anzac biscuits, for tomorrow's Anzac Day. Not bread, but nice!Sue Bursztynskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09362273418897882971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-27072351144040463282017-04-23T19:16:29.974+01:002017-04-23T19:16:29.974+01:00It's a very good point, about the thin-slicing...It's a very good point, about the thin-slicing. Apparently the National Loaf was quite horrible; though I wonder whether we would find it so? <br />On the topic of the baking twice a year in the Tyrol, it has occurred to me on reflection, that bread wasn't the staple for poor families, though doubtless wealthier farmers in the wide valleys, like the Oetz valley or Zillertal, had it all the time. The poorer people who lived up in the high mountain places, tended to live on 'Mus' which was a porridge made with ground maize, or thin polenta. So bread would be a luxury. Barley was the only grain that would grow high up, along with potatoes. But maybe this is another History Girls post! I do remember reading that the older generation were disgusted, when tourism brought prosperity to the high valleys, post-war, that the new generation of children weren't pleased to be offered a piece of bread as a treat. The Lesachtal in Carinthia, with the Unesco World Heritage bread, was much broader than the northern Tyrolean valleys, and also further south. Spring and summer come there earlier.<br /><br />The bread I will bake tomorrow is made with: A cupful of whole pearled spelt grains, pre-soaked (I put hot water from the kettle onto them), 100 grammes of sunflower seeds, three hundred grammes of rye flour, eight hundred grammes of wholemeal spelt flour, hand-hot water, a tablespoonful of honey, a tablespoonful of caraway seeds and a dessertspoonful of ground coriander. Plus a flat dessertspoon of salt. This is wholegrain bread, and not for those who like their bread spongey! I mix it all up and knead it (it's quite claggy because of all the rye flour), by rolling it sideways into a sausage shape, flattening that with my hand, and then folding it in on itself to trap air. I do that a lot of times till it's a bit more elastic, then rise it for about five hours. Then I put the dough into bannetons (but you can use tins) and rise overnight. Polish and German friends love this bread. It's very central European,but has gone down well with some Brits. It's nutty, spicy, and very satisfying. The quantities detailed above make one large and one small loaf. It does rise, but not as much as bread made with more lightweight flour and no heavy stuff like spelt grains and sunflower seeds.Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-89986238776640498252017-04-23T12:21:03.124+01:002017-04-23T12:21:03.124+01:00Sorry - that comment was a bit abrupt and I'm ...Sorry - that comment was a bit abrupt and I'm blaming the screen on my tablet, Leslie. Back on my bigger-screen desktop now so wanted to add on my thanks for your interesting post and that sour dough starter recipe.Penny Dolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16386668303428008498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-17870069012166557412017-04-23T09:57:07.725+01:002017-04-23T09:57:07.725+01:00Fresh bread can't be sliced thinly, and so the...Fresh bread can't be sliced thinly, and so the family would not get as many slices per loaf: a wasteful thing during times of rationing. Quantity would be more important than quality and sandwiches are easier to make when bread is a day old. Penny Dolanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16386668303428008498noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-8115932383240862672017-04-23T08:42:43.552+01:002017-04-23T08:42:43.552+01:00Incidentally, fast-acting yeasts don't digest ...Incidentally, fast-acting yeasts don't digest the gluten the way longer processes do, and have been fingered as a cause of gluten intolerance. Back to history; our stomachs are not designed to digest whole grains so we have found various ways of making them digestible. Bread is one of them. But if you use high-protein ultra-strong flour and it's not properly digested because it rises so fast, your stomach might well pay for it.. The modern Chorleywood fast-rising process flies in the face of what our ancestors found out. Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-69672597206408295602017-04-23T08:36:18.144+01:002017-04-23T08:36:18.144+01:00I don't bake with yeast at all nowadays . You ...I don't bake with yeast at all nowadays . You can get fresh yeast in bulk from Internet suppliers, but you have to freeze it and it doesn't perform so well after a few weeks. We have a local food coop that sells it. Ask around.To make a sourdough starter: 3 tablespoons of rye flour, a teaspoon of honey and 3 tbsps of water. Leave in a jar in the kitchen, covered with a damp thin tea-towel or muslin for 2 days or till bubbles form. Then add another 3tbsps each of flour and water, leave 24 hours and add another 3. It should be bubbling by then. Use hand-hot water, 38C or a little cooler. Using some potato water is often a good idea. Then you have your starter. Don't use anti-bacterial agents in the kitchen! You'll find a lot of recipes at http://www.shipton-mill.com/baking/recipes/sourdough. Also on the site is a lively correspondence about making a sourdough starter. I'll put up a recipe for my Vollkornbrot later, when I have my computer open.Leslie Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15105465949970430998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-86222920889284493312017-04-23T01:18:39.587+01:002017-04-23T01:18:39.587+01:00So, do you have a recipe to share with us? :) I ba...So, do you have a recipe to share with us? :) I bake a basic brown bread made with sachets of yeast you can buy in the supermarket. I got the recipe,many years ago, from some TV cooking show. It works fine and I can always play around with the recipe. I also use my pizza base recipe for small dinner/breakfast rolls which I don't have to wait to rise. Not as elaborate as yours, but it works for me. I'd love to try yours, though, if I thought I could bake it in my small bench top fan-forced oven. My big one died on me and a friend gave me this one. It's only limitation is the size of trays I can put in it.<br /><br />And where can I buy brewer's yeast? Health food shop?Sue Bursztynskihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09362273418897882971noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5502671101756463249.post-86923979502739357792017-04-23T01:09:11.577+01:002017-04-23T01:09:11.577+01:00Fascinating and informative. Thank youFascinating and informative. Thank youMs.https://www.blogger.com/profile/09479767121319709878noreply@blogger.com