A Quick History Of Sourdough Recipe
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Ingredients : A Quick History Of Sourdough Recipe
For 1 1/2-lb. Loaf
1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp granulated sugar
2 1/2 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose
Special For Machines Bread Flour
2 cup sourdough starter
For 1-pound Loaf
1 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp salt
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 2/3 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose
Special For Machines Bread Flour
1 1/3 cup sourdough starter
Place ingredients into the pan of your machine, in the order listed;
program
for French Bread, or a similar long-rising cycle; and press Start. This
bread won't crown, but will remain flat across the top.
Sourdough may be the oldest of all leavened bread forms. It dates back to
at
least 4,000 B.C., when favorable microorganisms drifted accidentally into
wheat bread made by Egyptians. The dough, probably set aside awhile before
baking, didn't rise very much, but it was enough to give it a lighter
texture and a better taste. Word of this new bread spread, and curiosity
was
raised. Soon, adding ferments to bread dough was a common practice. Beer,
grape juice, wine, and wheat flour porridge left to "go sour" were
leavening
regulars in the ancient world. Still, the demanding process of leavening
bread made such bread a scarce food well into the Middle Ages.
The original leavening process took many forms. The most common was to
leave
a piece of dough from each day's baking and incorporate it into the next
day's mix. This method created the early ancestor of the sourdough
starters
we know and love today. Legend has it that sourdough starters made their
way
to America in the hold of Columbus' ship. By the mid-19th century,
starters
were vital to both prospectors and pioneers.
Prospectors carried the starter in their backpacks to make a batch of
bread
whenever the spirit and hunger moved them. This saved an arduous, if not
impossible, trek to the nearest town for a bit of yeast. By 1849 sourdough
had gathered fame throughout the country.
"Sourdough" even become the nickname for the California Klondike miners at
the turn of the century. So important was their leavener that during the
harsh winter prospectors slept with their starters to keep them from
freezing. The son of an Alaskan "sourdough" wrote that every miner's cabin
featured, hanging over its red-hot stove, a "tin full of fermented dough,
used in place of yeast in making bread, biscuits and flapjacks". A
bubbling
jar or aromatic starter was also the secret weapon of many pioneer wives
and
bachelors in the 19th century. The jar held the key to delicious breads
and
biscuits when milk was as scarce as yeast. The "sponge", as it was called,
was carried carefully in covered wagons and fed faithfully to keep it
alive.
Much like a generous friend, the starter fed many families well. Starters
were passed from friend to friend and from generation to generation. As
bread made from sourdough developed its own unique flavor, it gathered a
legion of defenders who created a sourdough mystique. The legion continued
to grow even after yeast become readily available. For some, bread made
from
packaged yeast cannot duplicate the tart flavor and aroma of a sourdough
bread, and these bakers remain true to that old friend who waits
faithfully
for them in a little jar in their refrigerator.
Basic Sourdough Bread: This following sourdough recipe was developed using
the French bread cycle on the Zojirushi's 1 1/2-lb. machine. This
particular
cycle calls for a total of 30 minutes of kneading, a first rise of 40
minutes, and a second rise of 1 hour, 50 minutes. It's this long second
rise
which allows the sourdough to attain sufficient volume; if your machine
doesn't have a cycle with a long second rise, you may want to increase the
amount of yeast you use. The bread bakes for 60 minutes, slightly longer
than the usual 55 minutes. Your machine may have a whole-grain or some
other
cycle which approximates the Zojirushi's French bread cycle.
Nutrition information per serving (1 slice, approx. 1/10 of 1 1/2-lb. loaf
continued in part 2
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 837 Calories; 1g Fat (0.6% calories
from fat); 5g Protein; 211g Carbohydrate; 4g Dietary Fiber; 0mg
Cholesterol; 5338mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat;
14 Other Carbohydrates.
Nutr. Assoc. : 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Preparation Time: 0:00
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