pgh13
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There used to be a few bakers on here, and with people having more free time, bread making is reported as becoming more popular, however, the current situation has made flour and yeast difficult to find. A couple of ideas (assuming you have some flour).....
Sourdough is suddenly very trendy. If you put a small amount of flour and water in a container and then each day, add equal quantities of flour and water, after 5 days or so, the mixture will start to ferment. This is a sourdough starter. It can be used as the raising agent to make bread. It will cause the bread to rise more slowly, so better flavours develop. No yeast required.
However, there is also a school of thought that says that fermented foods are good for the gut and help to boost the immune system. Such things as sauerkraut, Kombucha and Kefir. Kefir is a fermented milk. Kefir makes a very good bread raising agent. If you have (or know someone) who makes kefir from grains (kefir grains look like a cross between cauliflower and rice pudding and make the milk ferment), beg, steal or borrow a little and start your own. Left to their own devices, they will multiply to take a cheese like consistency, so you need to daily top up with fresh milk and occasionally tip some away.
Anyway, to make bread, add 100g kefir, 100g flour and 100g water and stir to a creamy consistency. After a few hours it will be good and bubbly, then it can be used for bread. Just add 400g flour, 8g salt, a slug of olive oil and about 300ml water to make a dough. Cover it and leave it. No need to knead, the long fermentation does the work. When it has doubled in volume, knock it back and shape it. Like sourdough, it will be quite a soft dough so needs to be constrained to stop it spreading out if it isnt being baked in a loaf tin. I usually use something called a proving basket, which is regular equipment for sourdough - more later.
But...
I recently found a video on YouTube - search for noknead Steve (it comes up as nokneadwithstev). He has a series of videos where he makes bread using tiny amounts of yeast (handy when yeast is scarce) giving a long fermentation times which means great flavour and, again, no kneading required. Also, he has some interesting ideas for the final proving and baking.
Hope this is useful.
Sourdough is suddenly very trendy. If you put a small amount of flour and water in a container and then each day, add equal quantities of flour and water, after 5 days or so, the mixture will start to ferment. This is a sourdough starter. It can be used as the raising agent to make bread. It will cause the bread to rise more slowly, so better flavours develop. No yeast required.
However, there is also a school of thought that says that fermented foods are good for the gut and help to boost the immune system. Such things as sauerkraut, Kombucha and Kefir. Kefir is a fermented milk. Kefir makes a very good bread raising agent. If you have (or know someone) who makes kefir from grains (kefir grains look like a cross between cauliflower and rice pudding and make the milk ferment), beg, steal or borrow a little and start your own. Left to their own devices, they will multiply to take a cheese like consistency, so you need to daily top up with fresh milk and occasionally tip some away.
Anyway, to make bread, add 100g kefir, 100g flour and 100g water and stir to a creamy consistency. After a few hours it will be good and bubbly, then it can be used for bread. Just add 400g flour, 8g salt, a slug of olive oil and about 300ml water to make a dough. Cover it and leave it. No need to knead, the long fermentation does the work. When it has doubled in volume, knock it back and shape it. Like sourdough, it will be quite a soft dough so needs to be constrained to stop it spreading out if it isnt being baked in a loaf tin. I usually use something called a proving basket, which is regular equipment for sourdough - more later.
But...
I recently found a video on YouTube - search for noknead Steve (it comes up as nokneadwithstev). He has a series of videos where he makes bread using tiny amounts of yeast (handy when yeast is scarce) giving a long fermentation times which means great flavour and, again, no kneading required. Also, he has some interesting ideas for the final proving and baking.
Hope this is useful.
