Baking with sour dough; How to make a loaf of bread in only three weeks!

Bread was first leavened by the Egyptians around 2300 BC. They discovered that a mixture of flour and water left uncovered for several days bubbled and expanded. If mixed into unleavened dough and allowed to stand for a few hours before baking, it yields light sweet bread.

This kind of natural leavening remained the basis of Western bread baking until the 20th century when bread made from commercially prepared yeast was introduced.

In this little experiment of mine, I'm baking like the Egyptians. Since it's impossible (to my knowledge) to buy dried sourdough starter in Norway, I'm creating my own from fermented peel of apples. Buying a finished one is also considered cheating, and will not produce bread with a small hint of the aroma from the fermented fruit. I guess all kinds of fruit peel will do. I read that mangos are excellent and I guess grapes are good since they use it in wine making.

The thing that fascinates me and what makes me do this the hard way, is the fact that I'm doing something humans have done for thousands of years. I’m also trying this out to see if the bread tastes better. I'm always interested in finding out for myself if slow or expensive means high quality.

Please note that I'm making a "fine" sourdough for "fine" bread. It's also possible to make a more "healthy" wholegrain dough using rye. I've done that earlier with little luck. Killing my colony of friendly bacteria with a triple dose of salt, one day before baking might have something to do with the horrible result.

This recipe is taken from the book "bread" written by Sidsel Hjelme, and published by Cappelen. I hope they don't mind.

Baking Natural leaven bread is a time consuming process. You should plan ahead and start 17 days before you invite your guests for soup. Don’t let the fact that the time from start to finish is over two weeks for baking bread. Most of the time, the bread is making itself, and after you finish this, you'll have your starter forever if you only remember to feed it once a week or so.

Day 1

Peel apples until you have about 300 grams of peel. I had to peel about 7-8 medium sized apples to end up with 300 grams. I tried to mix up different sorts of apples, but I really doubt it matters when it comes to taste of the final bread.

Put the peel in a large glass jar together with 2 liters of water, and leave for about 14 days. I spent $5 on a jar with a rubber-band seal on my local IKEA. I suggest you smell the Jar every once in a while to see if it's finished or not. When finished, the smell should be bit like wine; my guess is that we now have an alcohol containing liquid in the kitchen.


(Aproxemately) Day 14

The fermented apple peel liquid should now be ready for the baking process. Take 300 grams of fine wheat flour and mix in 3 dl of your fermented liquid.

I made sure that pieces of the peel didn't end up in my dough, but I doubt it will affect the taste or finished product in any way if something falls in. After two weeks in my jar, the liquid is no longer clear and some particles have fallen down to the bottom of the jar.

Day 15

Take 3 Dl of fermented apple liquid and add 300 grams of fine what flour. Add 1 Dl of the product from day 15. Let this rest in room temperature for another 24 hours.

Day 16

Take 3 Dl of fermented apple liquid and add 300 grams of fine what flour. Add 1 Dl of the product from day 15. Instead of leaving the dough in room temperature, put it in the fridge for the next 24 hours.

Day 17

Baking day ! I'll post a good recepie in a week or so when my dough is finished.