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Old tech bread
Strelets:
Mesophilic, if you want to start completely from scratch then I agree with Del, cider is the way to go. If the apples are crushed and pressed then the unsterilized juice will begin to ferment without any added yeast. If you have quit drinking you could probably get a friend to do you a favour by drinking the cider for you.
If this is a "completely from scratch" project are you going to grow the wheat or rye and stone grind it? I recently visited the Ancient Technology Centre in Dorset with my son and a party of kids from his school. We tried our hand at grinding wheat in a stone quern and baked the flour into unleavened bread. It was a lot of hard work for a very small amount of unappetising flat bread. It made me wonder why they ever gave up the Mesolithic hunter-gatherer lifestyle, living off salmon, venison and oysters, for the drudgery of farming.
I tried to insert a link, but it doesn't seem to work. Here is the URL:-
https://ancienttechnologycentre.com
Mesophilic:
--- Quote from: Strelets on December 21, 2019, 12:43:30 pm ---
If this is a "completely from scratch" project are you going to grow the wheat or rye and stone grind it?
--- End quote ---
If I had the space I'd probably give it a shot just for kicks and to teach my kid how hard life was before all this modern technology.
Thsnks for the cider tip. Next year when the apples come off I'll give it a shot.
M2A:
Cool thread, interesting topic. From what I know most/all apples will have natural yeasts on the skins while McIntosh varieties seem to carry more so some of the old timers I use to know would make sure they had of those in the mix when starting their "hard juice":). For what its worth, the crab apples are still hanging tight here in Penna and can still find some wild grape still on the vine, I bet either of those would have some yeast still on the skins :)
Look forward to see what you come up with.
Mike
DC:
I was just watching Alton Brown's "Good Eats, the Return". An episode called "Wild Yeast Risin' ". He goes through making a wild yeast starter. You may be able to find it online although it's a new series. He just mixed water and flour and immediately covered it with a towel. Then he left it for a day or so. Then he started feeding it. He said that he had to feed it for four or five before it started rising fast enough to use for baking. Don't know if this helps.
DC:
--- Quote from: DC on January 01, 2020, 10:57:39 pm ---I was just watching Alton Brown's "Good Eats, the Return". An episode called "Wild Yeast Risin' ". He goes through making a wild yeast starter. You may be able to find it online although it's a new series. He just mixed water and flour and immediately covered it with a towel. Then he left it for a day or so. Then he started feeding it. He said that he had to feed it for four or five before it started rising fast enough to use for baking. Don't know if this helps.
PS here's a link to his starter recipe. I dropped the "H"
ttps://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/wild-sourdough-starter-7480403
--- End quote ---
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