kiselo tijesto

Gledate sve nekakve veganske hambiće u zadnje vrijeme na ovom blogu pa se možda netko i zapitao jesam li pored tih sirovih radosti zaista počela opet jesti kruh. Paaa i ne baš, ne redovito, ali više se ne ustručavam pojesti šnitu-dvije kada ispečem štrucu za dragog. Zašto? Zbog kiselog tijesta. Što je kiselo tijesto? Krenimo od početka...

Ako pratite ovaj blog, vjerojatno već znate moju filozofiju oko žitarica i mahunarki (ali i ostalih sjemenki). Smatram da one mogu biti prikladna hrana za čovjeka jedino ako se jedu proklijale ili fermentirane - između ostalog zato što sadrže gomilu škroba koji je čovjeku sam po sebi težak za probavu, kao i antinutrijenata, kemijskih spojeva koje je priroda osmislila s itekako korisnom ulogom za jednu sjemenku, no u čovjekovom probavnom sustavu oni vežu na sebe tijelu dragocjene minerale i tako onemogućuju njihovu apsorpciju.

Onda valjda razumijete što je pogrešno kod većine današnjeg kruha. I tu ne mislim na kruh iz pekara i supermarketa koji je pun raznih gluposti, njega niti ne računam kao nešto što bi bilo tko trebao unositi u sebe. Mislim na domaći kruh od dizanog tijesta, kako se danas najčešće radi. To je kruh kojemu je pomoću kultiviranog kvasca ubrzan proces "dizanja"; kvasci su mikrogljive koje se hrane šećerima (iz žitarica, no vjerojatno znate da će se tijesto bolje dići ako dodate i žlicu npr. smeđeg šećera uz kvasac), te kao jedan od produkata fermentacije stvaraju ugljikov dioksid, zbog čega se u tijestu stvaraju mjehurići pa se ono "diže". Još jedna ključna komponenta potrebna za dizano tijesto je gluten, koji će se rastezati kao opna oko mjehurića zraka. Zašto ovo sve skupa nije baš idealno? Zato što u tom kratkom procesu dizanja tijesta pomoću kupovnog kvasca koji danas traje svega sat vremena, ako i toliko, većina brašna ne stigne fermentirati, fitinska kiselina se ne stigne razgraditi, tijesto ostaje puno škroba, a gluten...gluten, pisala sam već o njemu.

Nekada se kruh nije radio na ovakav instant-način, nekad su ljudi možda bolje razumjeli što je hrana i posvećivali joj više vremena. U redu, cijeli stil života je bio drugačiji, nije sve bilo ovako užurbano i ljudi su imali vremena fermentirati kruh po 12 sati, ali zato nisu obolijevali zbog žitarica u prehrani kao što je slučaj danas. Danas stalno slušamo o štetnosti žitarica i intoleranciji na gluten, a prije 100 godina toga nije bilo. Nekada su ljudi bolje znali kako pripremiti te namirnice kako bi postale prihvatljive čovjekovom tijelu kao hrana. Naravno da ova priča ima puno više komponenata (i [ova] je jedna od njih), ali danas pišem o kruhu.

Po čemu se kiselo tijesto razlikuje od modernog dizanog tijesta? Po tome što je kod kiselog tijesta za taj proces dizanja tijesta, odnosno stvaranja mjehurića unutar tijesta, zaslužna dugotrajna fermentacija brašna pomoću mikroorganizama (divljih kvasaca i bakterija) iz zraka i sa žitarica, odnosno brašna. U tom procesu, koji u ovom slučaju zaista zahvaća brašno, odnosno mljevene žitarice (kao što bi i trebao, a naši preci su to znali), dolazi do razgradnje mnogih tvari koje su čovjeku inače teško probavljive. Molekule škroba se razgrađuju na jednostavnije šećere, a mnogobrojni nutrijenti prirodno prisutni u žitaricama postaju dostupniji našem tijelu za apsorpciju. Zbog veće količine mliječne kiseline koja nastaje ovakvom fermentacijom, dolazi do većeg stupnja razgradnje fitinske kiseline koja se ponaša kao antinutrijent. Ono zbog čega je kruh od kiselog tijesta također hvaljen je njegov nizak glikemijski indeks u odnosu na standardni kruh, što znači da razina glukoze u krvi nakon što čovjek pojede ovakav kruh neće rapidno narasti. Iduća stvar će možda zvučati kao neka ugabuga-informacija, ali često se navodi kako se velik dio glutena u tom dugotrajnom procesu fermentacije tijesta razgradi na aminokiseline. Iako nisam našla stručnu literaturu o tome, vrlo sam sklona povjerovati u te navode. Ono što mogu reći iz vlastitog iskustva je da ako jedem previše žitarica s glutenom, osjećam se pomalo umorno i kao da mi se stvara nekakav upalni proces u tijelu, dok se nakon što pojedem fermentirani kruh osjećam odlično. Nakon čitanja dosta iskustava drugih ljudi, shvatila sam da nisam jedina. Sve u svemu, ako se ne želite odreći kruha u prehrani a znate da vam ne čini neku uslugu zdravlju, pokušajte s kruhom od kiselog tijesta, razlika je ogromna.

Kiselo tijesto se može raditi i od žitarica bez glutena. Ali ako imate samo neki oblik intolerancije na gluten, možete probati i s kiselim tijestom od pira, mnogima ne smeta iako pir sadrži gluten, a neki odgovorno tvrde da im ni pšenični kiseli kruh ne smeta iako inače imaju intoleranciju; to ne bih znala jer nisam probala. U tom slučaju će kruh imati manje onih zgodnih mjehurića koji nastaju zbog razvlačenja glutena, ali žitarice će biti fermentirane, a to je najvažnije. Ovaj kruh na fotkama sam radila od kombinacije neprosijanog integralnog pirovog brašna i rižinog brašna, zato nema one mjehure iz reklama za francusku pekaru. Ali okus i tekstura su divni. Detaljan opis kako napraviti kiselo tijesto ću objaviti uskoro, a do tada preporučam [ovaj] recept (bez recepta:). Upravo taj da vidite da se ne mora sve savršeno izvagati, kao što to nisu ni naši preci radili dok nisu još postojale one dilerske vagice. Savjetujem da obratite pozornost na to kako treba izgledati dobar starter, kao i na metodu razvlačenja tijesta. A uskoro ću i ja o tome ponešto napisati i uslikati postupak. Pa... živili! I probali kiseli kruh.

[ENGLISH]

sourdough

After seeing all those pictures of vegan burgers, some of those rare dedicated followers of this blog might wonder if I started eating bread despite saying it's not good for you over and over again. Well, I didn't really start eating bread regularly, but I don't mind eating an occasional slice when I make a loaf for my boyfriend. Why? Because sourdough. What is sourdough? Let me explain some things first...

If you have, by any chance, been following this blog for some time, you might already know what is my philosophy about grains and legumes (and other seeds) in human diet. I think those food groups can be an appropriate part of human diet only if they are either sprouted or fermented - because they are full of starches that are not really suitable for proper digestion, and are also packed with some molecules (that nature made for a reason, to help the plant), such as phytic acid, that act as antinutrients in human digestive system. They bind precious minerals and prevent them from being absorbed in human body.

Then I guess you understand what is so wrong about most of today's bread. And I don't mean that whoknowswhat that you can buy in supermarkets and is full of chemicals. In my opinion, that shouldn't be considered food at all. I mean, you know, the most common type of handmade bread that requires pre-cultivated fresh or dried yeast for the dough to rise. Yeasts are actually fungi that feed on sugars (usually from the flour, but you probably know that if you add some sucrose /brown sugar/ to the dough, it will rise more and quicker), and one of the fermentation products is carbon dioxide which makes bubbles within the dough, making it rise. That process is made as short as possible today, leaving no time for the flour to actually ferment. That means the phytic acid won't get decomposed and there will be lots of starch molecules in the dough. Gluten, which traps those nice bubbles in the dough, can be another problem, as I already wrote in one of previous posts.

Not that long ago, bread was not made this modern, instant-way. Our ancestors probably had bigger awareness of what is actually food and how to prepare it. OK, the whole lifestyle wasn't so fast back then and they probably had time to ferment bread for 12 hours, but that is why they didn't get health conditions from eating grains, as modern humans do. Today we hear so much about grains being bad and people being gluten-intolerant and so on. Some conditions that didn't exist 100 years ago... Those people probably knew how to prepare grains to make them appropriate food for human body. Of course this story has more components (one of them is [this one]), but today I'm writing about bread.

What makes sourdough different form modern leaven dough? 
Sourdough bread includes long fermentation of flour with wild yeasts and bacteria that are found on the grains and in the air. The fermentation also results in forming carbon dioxide bubbles inside the dough that make the dough rise, but there are some bigger and more important changes that also happen. The grains included in this process actually ferment, as they really should, and many of their harmful compounds get decomposed. Starches get broken down into simpler sugars, and phytic acid gets decomposed in presence of relatively high concentrations of lactic acid. The minerals and other precious nutrients get much more available for human body to absorb. Sourdough bread is also characterized by lower glycemic index in comparison to "normal" bread, which means it doesn't make blood glucose levels rise too high after consuming it. I also found lots of claims that most of the gluten in sourdough gets broken down to amino-acids in this long fermentation process, but I didn't find any written scientific proof for that. However, I think there must be some truth to it because I felt the difference myself: when I eat too much grains that contain gluten, I feel tired and as if there is an inflammation process going on in my body. After I eat sourdough bread, I feel fantastic. I read about lots of cases where gluten-intolerant people had no problems after eating sourdough bread. All in all, if you know that bread is bad for you but still like its taste or usefulness in your everyday feeding habits, give sourdough bread a try - there is a huge difference in how you'll feel afterwards.

Sourdough can be made from gluten-free grains as well, but it won't look all nice and bubbly as if it jumped out of a french bakery commercial. But the grains (flour) in it will get fermented, and that is all that really matters. This bread on the pictures was made from coarse spelt flower mixed with rice flour, hence its not-so-bubbly look. Nevertheless, the taste and texture were amazing. I will write a post with detailed description of how to make sourdough at home as soon as I have some time, and until then, watch [this guy]. I love this video because it shows that you don't need to measure everything and follow a strict recipe. Our great-grandmas' grandmas didn't have those little kitchen scales. Just pay special attention to how a good starter should look, and to the dough stretching technique. I will write something about it soon, and make some photos of the process. Until then, I hope you try some sourdough bread and fall in love with it..:-)