U
prošlom postu sam ukratko objasnila po čemu se kruh od kiselog tijesta razlikuje od "normalnog" kruha i zašto ga čak i ljudi kojima kruh inače ne odgovara u prehrani često mogu jesti bez ikakvih problema. Sada ću napisati vrlo intuitivan recept za izradu takvog kruha. Ako ste već istraživali o kiselom tijestu po internetu, sigurno ste primijetili da nema baš odokativnih recepata i da se često sve mjeri u gram, a postupak ponekad izgleda kao protokol za laboratorijsku vježbu. Ti detaljni opisi su korisni za bolje razumijevanje cijelog procesa, ali budući da ih je pun internet, ovdje ću napisati postupak koji će biti od koristi i ljudima koji se ne mogu strogo držati recepta, već sve rade po osjećaju (jer znam da nas ima...). Uostalom, "naši stari" nisu imali precizne kuhinjske vage, niti su znali što znači
autoliza, a radili su kruh na ovaj način.
Ono što je vrlo važno ako želite napraviti dobar kruh od kiselog tijesta je
dobar starter. Nema kraćeg puta niti alternativnog rješenja, bez dobrog startera to nije to. Zato je u početku važno imati dovoljno strpljenja da se starter razvije, a jednom kada se razvije, imate ga zauvijek.
Što je uopće starter? To je fermentirana mješavina brašna i vode koja je puna nama korisnih mikroorganizama iz zraka i sa žitarica (kvasaca i bakterija) koji se hrane šećerima iz žitarica, a u procesu razgradnje šećera nastaju mliječna kiselina i ugljični dioksid. Svježi starter zato ima kiselkasti miris i pun je mjehurića, dok starter koji je malo dulje odstajao ima miris kvasca i alkohola (razgradnja se odvija dalje do alkohola, a kvasci se još više namnože). Oba spomenuta su dobra za izradu kiselog tijesta, ali vrlo je važno da tekstura bude jako prozračna i mjehuričasta. Ako u starteru nema puno mjehurića, znači da nije dovoljno fermentirao, pa se niti kruh izrađen s takvim starterom neće dići, nego će biti težak i sabijen.
kako napraviti dobar starter/
Pomiješajte približno jednake količine brašna* i vode (volumno malo više brašna), za početak oko 2-3 jušne žlice, i dobro izmiješajte. Smjesa bi trebala biti gusta ali tekuća, kao na slici. Ostavite na sobnoj temperaturi u staklenci s nataknutim poklopcem da fermentira, pa nakon 24 sata dodajte još oko 3 (ravne) jušne žlice brašna i 2 jušne žlice vode i dobro promiješajte. Postupak ponovite nakon još 24 sata. Osjetite kako se miris mijenja iz blago orašastog u blago kiselkasti i kako se lagano počinju razvijati mjehurići. To znači da se polako razvijaju mikroorganizmi koji se hrane šećerima iz brašna i koji su potrebni za kasniju fermentaciju kruha. Dakle, starter je prepun živih mikrobića koja je potrebno hraniti svaki dan kako bi se odvijali procesi koji su nama ovdje potrebni. Nakon još 24 sata, ukoliko već miriše dosta kiselo, pola startera odlijte u drugu staklenku (to vam neće trebati za kruh, ali možete od toga napraviti jako fine palačinke ili nešto drugo), a ostatak nahranite, odnosno dodajte još brašna i vode. Sada se fermentacija već odvija relativno brzo, pa možete hraniti starter dva puta dnevno, recimo ujutro i navečer, a u jednom od tih navrata prvo odliti dio u onu staklenku za palačinke. Može se raditi i bez odlijevanja, ali po mom iskustvu je bolje odliti dio jednom dnevno jer inače prebrzo fermentira u alkohol. Nakon 5-7 dana, ovisno o temperaturi u prostoriji, starter bi vam trebao izgledati savršeno pjenasto, mjehurićasto i prozračno (možete provjeriti da li pluta na vodi). Takav starter možete koristiti za izradu kiselog tijesta.
Nemojte nikada iskoristiti sav starter; uvijek ostavite barem nekoliko žlica i nadohranite ga, kako bi se fermentacija mogla nastaviti odvijati i kako biste uvijek imali spreman starter. On bi sada svaki dan trebao razviti prozračnu teksturu punu mjehurića i biti spreman za izradu kruha. Ukoliko ga držite na sobnoj temperaturi, potrebno ga je nadohranjivati dva puta dnevno kao što je već opisano, a ako ne pečete kruh toliko često, možete ga držati u frižideru pa po potrebi izvaditi, nahraniti i pričekati oko 12 sati da se aktivira (da se razviju mjehurići). Višak startera možete i pokloniti nekome.
*ja koristim samo domaće pirovo brašno iz cijelog zrna koje nije baš niti prosijano i uvijek odlično ispadne. Ako se u tijesto za kruh doda malo bijelog pirovog brašna, razvije se više mjehurića i kruh se bolje digne (isprobano), ali meni je okus bolji kada koristim samo brašno od cijelog zrna. Pa kako vam drago.
kako napraviti kruh od kiselog tijesta/
Ulijte šalicu mlake vode u zdjelu. Dodajte oko (1/2-)2/3 šalice startera, žlicu po žlicu, tako da možete usput provjeriti kvalitetu startera. Ako pluta na vodi, znači da je dobar, a ako ne, znači da još nije dovoljno fermentirao (to se vidi i prije stavljanja u vodu - mora imati baš puno mjehurića i biti lagan i prozračan). Promiješajte prstima da se starter razmuti u vodi. Nastavite miješati, a drugom rukom sipajte brašno dok ne dobijete tijesto koje je moguće mijesiti rukama bez da se previše lijepi, ali je još uvijek dosta mekano. Dobro ga izmijesite i ostavite da odstoji u zdjeli pokriveno mokrom krpom nekoliko sati. Možete ga ostaviti i dulje, ja ga često izmijesim ujutro prije nego izađem iz kuće, pa nastavim raditi s njim tek nakon 8-9 sati. Nakon što je odstajalo, primjetit ćete da se već diglo i da su se razvili mjehurići - sada ga izvadite iz zdjele i dobro posolite, ali ga više ne mijesite na klasičan način. Sada u nekoliko navrata s razmacima od pola sata (a možete i samo jednom ako nemate vremena ili vam se ne da razmišljati o tome) više puta razvucite tijesto i preklopite ga, nježno i bez stiskanja. Što više puta to napravite, to će biti ljepši mjehurići kada se ispeče. Nakon zadnjeg presavijanja, stavite tijesto u kalup u kojem će se peći i ostavite ga da odstoji još nekoliko sati (da sve skupa, od početka procesa, bude barem 12 h). Možete ga i staviti u hladnjak preko noći ako ne želite odmah peći, na hladnom će se fermentacija dalje odvijati ali vrlo sporo. Kada je kruh spreman, odnosno kada se digao na sobnoj temperaturi i osjetite da je barem donekle ispunjen mjehurićima ugljičnog dioksida od fermentacije, stavite ga u pećnicu zagrijanu na 200 °C i pecite oko pola sata. Ako na pećnici imate program pečenja s više vlage, koristite njega, a ako nemate, bilo bi idealno poklopiti kruh nekim velikim loncem ili protvanom jer će na taj način ostati sočniji iznutra. Kruh je pečen kada izvana porumeni, a kora postane tvrda. Ako lagano lupite prstima po kori i čuje se kao da je unutra šuplje, to je gotovo sigurno znak da vam je kruh odlično ispao.
[ENGLISH]
sourdough bread /recipe
In my previous post I wrote a little bit about sourdough bread, its advantages in comparison to "normal" bread and why many people who would normally have to avoid bread in their diets, can eat sourdough bread without any problem. Now I will write a pretty intuitive recipe for making such bread. If you already did some research on sourdough online, you must have noticed that there are almost no approximate "recipes" and that quantities of all ingredients are usually precisely measured. The whole procedure sometimes reminds me on laboratory practice protocols. Those detailed descriptions can be useful if you want to understand the whole process more deeply, but since the internet is full of such writings, I will now present a lazy baker's way to make sourdough without measuring anything - for all those people who can never follow a recipe and like to do everything by feel (don't worry, that includes me too). I'm sure that our ancestors didn't have kitchen scales or thermometers, or awareness of the definition of the word autolyse, and they could still make good sourdough bread.
There is one thing that is crucial for a good sourdough bread, and that is a good starter. There is no shortcut or alternative solution; without a proper starter it won't be the same thing. That is why you need some patience in the very beginning of the process. Once the starter has developed, you can have it forever.
What is a sourdough starter anyway?
It is a fermented mixture of flour and water which is full of microorganisms (wild yeasts and bacteria that naturally live/exist on the grains or in the air) that are useful for us: they feed on the sugars from the grains, and some of the important products of that feeding process are lactic acid and carbon dioxide. That is why freshly fermented starter smells sour and has lots of bubbles in it, and an older starter smells like yeast and alcohol (further fermentation leads to occurrence of alcohol, and yeasts naturally reproduce more and more). Both of these starters are good for sourdough making, but it is very important that their texture is very bubbly, light and airy. If there are not many bubbles in a starter, it means that it had not fermented enough and hence the bread will turn out very heavy.
how to make a good sourdough starter/
Mix approximately same quantities (a few tbsp) of water and flour* (there should be a bit more flour than water, volume-wise). The mixture should be thick, but still pretty liquid, like the one on the picture. Leave it in a lightly covered jar at a room temperature for 24 hours, and then add 3 tbsp flour and 2 tbsp water. Repeat the procedure after another 24 hours. Now you should already be able to sense that the smell of the mixture is changing from mild and nutty to more sour, vinegar-like smell. You should also be able to see some bubbles forming inside the mixture. Those are signs that our dear microorganisms are feeding on the sugars form the grains and reproducing. That means that our starter is filled with living microbeings that need to be fed regularly in order to keep the processes that we are interested in going. After another 24 hours you can feed it the same way again, or, if it already smells very sour, you can first pour half of it into another jar and then feed it. You won't need the half that you poured out, but you can always make pancakes from it, or use it in some other recipe (so don't just throw it away). Now the fermentation is probably already going on pretty fast and your starter needs to be fed twice a day, for example in the morning and in the evening. Just add some flour and water as usual. Once a day, before feeding, discard half of it into that pancake-jar. You can skip that and just keep the whole thing, but in my experience it ferments too fast and gets loaded with alcohol if you don't pour some of it out once a day. After 5-7 days, the starter should look/feel perfectly bubbly and light and if you drop some in the water, it should float. Now you can use it to make sourdough.
Don't use all of it; always leave at least a few tbsp of starter and continue feeding it, so that the fermentation goes on and you always have some starter ready for making new dough. Now it should get nice and bubbly every day, so you can make the bread daily if you want. If you keep it at a room temperature, it needs to be fed every day (preferably even twice a day, as described), but if you don't bake as often, you can keep it in the fridge and take it out and feed it (and wait for a day until it develops enough bubbles) when you need to make bread. You can also give some starter to your friends...if your friends are as crazy and dedicated as you and have interest in making sourdough bread..
*i use only homemade whole-grain spelt flour that is naturally a bit coarse (milled with stone mill, completely unprocessed) and the bread turns out great every time. If you want more bubbly final texture of the bread, you can use some white spelt flour as well. I tried it and it works, but I prefer the taste of completely whole-grain bread.
how to make sourdough bread/
Pour 1 cup lukewarm water into a bowl. Add approximately (1/2-)2/3 cup starter, spoon by spoon so that you can check the quality of the starter. If it floats, it's good, and if not, it means that it hasn't fermented enough. Mix it with your fingers and continue mixing while adding flour with your other hand. Add enough flour to form a soft but easily kneadable dough that preferably doesn't stick too much. Knead it well and leave it in the bowl, covered with a wet kitchen cloth, for at least a couple of hours. I usually leave mine for 8-9 hours because I make it in the morning and then go out. Then take it out of the bowl (it should have already risen at least a bit by now), add enough salt and don't knead it the classical way anymore. Just stretch it and fold it for 5 or more times and let it sit for half an hour, then repeat the stretch and fold and place it into a baking mould. Let it sit some more covered with a wet cloth. It should sit for at least 12 hours altogether (from the moment of mixing flour and water). You can also leave it in the fridge overnight if you want to bake it tomorrow, the fermentation will continue going on very slowly at a lower temperature. When the dough is ready - when it has risen at a room temperature and you can feel that it is bubbly inside from all that fermentation, you can put it into an oven preheated to 200 °C and bake it for around 30 minutes. If you have a program on your oven that adds moisture, it is good to use it, and if not, you can cover the bread with a big pot or a baking tray while baking, as that will help to keep it more soft and moist from the inside. The bread is baked when it gets golden-brown from the outside and the crust turns hard. If you knock:) on the crust and you hear a sound as if it is empty inside, you can be almost sure that your bread turned out great.
