|
<Back
| Home | Basics |
Departments | Get
Involved | Site Map | What's
New
Our Daily Bread
By Katherine Czapp with Garrick Ginzburg-Voskov
My father Vasilii was diagnosed with celiac dis ease, or gluten intolerance,
three years ago after nearly 30 years of suffering from chronic digestive
and absorption problems that no one could explain or help relieve. Although
complications from the disease had brought him to a very precarious
state of health, he made steady improvement the moment all sources of
gluten were banned from his diet and nutrient-dense foods--including
plenty of gelatin-rich broth--were introduced instead.
So dramatic was his recovery, in fact, that about a year and a half
later, my father was feeling so good that he believed himself "cured,"
and so when a local farm implement dealership sponsored a pancake breakfast
which would be an opportunity to socialize with many neighbors, my father
wanted to participate. My mother strongly advised against this move,
but they ultimately compromised: Dad could have one pancake. Dad kept
to the bargain, but less than 48 hours later, unpleasant symptoms of
an allergic reaction began and did not fully disappear for almost 2
weeks. A bitter lesson, but one not likely to be soon forgotten.
Bread--A Modern Curse?
According to recent news articles, celiac disease--the inability
to digest certain proteins in gluten-containing grains such as wheat,
rye, barley and oats--afflicts at least one in 30 people. So common
and so debilitating is this malady that many popular nutrition doctors
and nutrition writers forbid the consumption of grains as a matter of
course. In The Paleo Diet, for example, author Loren Cordain
blames the consumption of grains for our modern deficiency diseases,
and the narrowing of the jaw so prevalent in modern humans. According
to Barry Sears, PhD, author of The Zone Diet, the switch to
a grain-based diet in Egypt was a chief factor in the emergence of the
diseases of modern civilization. Dr. Joe Mercola tells his patients
to avoid grain, period.
Yet Weston Price studied several societies that enjoyed remarkable
good health even though they consumed grains as a principle foodstuff.
The primitive Swiss of the Loetschental Valley baked a sourdough bread
in communal ovens, made of locally grown rye ground fresh in a stone
mill. Rye bread plus rich dairy products
--milk, butter and cheese--were the chief articles of the
diet. Likewise, the primitive Gaelic peoples subsisted on seafood and
oats. Both these groups exhibited beautiful facial structure and were
free of deficiency diseases.
Price also found healthy groups in Africa and South America that consumed
large quantities of grain, usually as a sour fermented porridge or beverage.
Bread--The Staff of Life?
Back to Dad: during his recovery, my husband Garrick, originally from
Russia, took an interest in genuine Russian sourdough breads. Eventually
he perfected his sourdough bread recipe and had baked and frozen many
loaves of bread for my mother, who had stopped baking bread at home
in deference to my father’s inability to eat it. I might add here
that the gluten-free breads commercially available are mostly pretty
wretched. All sorts of odd things are thrown together in a sad attempt
to mimic the real thing: rice flour, bean flour, xantham gum, potato
starch, and so on. The taste and texture of them bring to mind siege
conditions. As we sat around my parents’ dining table discussing
the mechanism of sourdough culture–yeast that is the leavener,
and bacteria that develop the gluten and thereby the taste--we
all had the same thought: perhaps the long, slow fermentation somehow
digests the gluten? Perhaps it would be safe for my father to eat? Of
course after his nasty pancake experience no one could expect him to
become a guinea pig again, but in the interests of science, Dad decided
he would try a piece of Garrick’s bread.
To our great relief and cautious excitement, after a couple of days
there was no reaction, so he ate the bread again. And again there was
no reaction. He has continued to enjoy the bread, although he does not
eat it every day, for the last year and a half. He has never had any
adverse reaction. In fact, he is now able to tolerate oats and corn
and spelt (which he had been unable to do initially) and eats them in
moderation as he does Garrick’s bread. He is also able to enjoy
French and Belgian unpasteurized bitters and ale (made from barley malt
and hops).
Of course each person with celiac disease has a unique response to
the condition and recovery varies greatly. I don’t know that every
person with celiac disease could tolerate this bread, and in fact, several
people to whom I told this story were horrified that my father would
eat it. But he is strong and energetic and agile: last fall at age 75
he re-shingled their garage alone, and he and my mother baled hay which
he stacked in their barn. He fells dry trees in their woods and chops
them to heat their house. I only hope I have as much energy at the same
age and can take the same pleasure in life.
According to a recent article in Science Magazine (September
27, 2002), gluten in grain is not fully broken down, even by all the
digestive enzymes normally present in the digestive track. What does
break down gluten, according to the article, is a bacterial enzyme.
. . just what the bacteria in a sour dough culture are likely to produce!
The Science article stated sadly that it would be years before
medicine would have a pill available for celiac sufferers--but
why not just apply a little logic to the problem and go back to preparing
bread with a long fermentation. This ancient method not only seems to
digest or completely break down the gluten (as my father’s experience
proves), but also neutralizes enzyme inhibitors (that interfere with
digestion) and phytic acid (that block mineral absorption). Bread prepared
in this old-fashioned way is truly the staff of life--a highly
nutritious storage food that provides many nutrients in a form that
is delicious and easy to digest.
F.B.I. (Friendly But Important) warning:
In our house, the daily bread is made weekly. Garrick has perfected
the method and now it is routine. Before giving all the particulars,
let me provide Garrick’s F.B.I., friendly but important, warning.
I’ll let him put it in his own words: "When making the starter,
do not use on yourself perfumes and be sure your kitchen is free of
chemical cleaners. Also it is a good idea to use a wooden bowl and spoon.
Keep fur of cats and dogs out of your bread-making area and avoid major
fightings between spouses. Remember: the dough has a better memory than
you. All sins of omission or commission will be revealed later in the
bread. This is true karma essence."
Tools You Will Need
1. Kitchen scale calibrated in grams
2. Covered clay pot, such as a Romertopf baker, about 7 1/2 inches high
by 10 1/2 inches wide by 14 1/2 inches long
3. Oval basket or banneton, about 12 inches by 9 inches by 4 inches
deep, in which dough will proof. These can be obtained from the Baker’s
Catalog (800) 827-6836, www.BakersCatalogue.com
4. Baker’s mittens
5. Room thermometer
6. Probe-type thermometer (as for poultry)
7. Grain mill, hand-operated or electric
8. Large mixing bowl, preferably wooden
Making Your Starter
You will need 200 grams of organic hard red winter wheat berries and
200 grams organic rye berries.
Day One: Grind all the grain together and take from
this flour mixture 120 grams and place in a clean vessel. Pour over
120 grams spring water and mix well. Cover loosely with a piece of unbleached
parchment paper and a damp towel and allow to stand for 48 hours at
60-65 degrees.
Day Three: You now have 240 grams of not very active
starter. Discard half of it and to the remaining portion add 60 grams
of the wheat/rye flour and 60 grams spring water. Mix well, cover as
before and allow to stand another 24 hours.
Day Four: Repeat the same process as the day before.
Day Five: By now, one hopes to have a visibly active
starter: bubbling and with a good smell--something like a wine-y
smell. (If it smells bad at this point, discard and start all over again.)
Let the starter stand, covered, for another 2 or 3 days to ferment further.
It should become light, airy and fragrant. At this point you have approximately
240 grams of starter ready to use for baking your first loaf. Note that
for each subsequent loaf you will use a piece of the previous bread’s
dough as your starter; this piece of dough is called the chef.
Making Your Bread
The following recipe is for one loaf of wheat bread of approximately
4 pounds, leavened over 4 days.
The ideal room temperature for fermentation is about 65-70º F.
At temperatures above or below this ideal, the timing of procedures
will vary. Experience will teach you to adjust according to the conditions
of your own kitchen. The following times and hours of fermentation are
given as examples and are approximate.
We use all organic grains which we grind ourselves, spring water and
Celtic sea salt. The technique of baking in the covered clay pot may
seem at first cumbersome, but I highly recommend it for producing a
loaf that most closely replicates one baked in a wood-fired brick oven
in both beauty and flavor.
The day before you begin, grind all your flour together: 800 grams
of hard red winter wheat berries, 600 grams of hard red spring wheat
berries, and 200 grams of rye berries for a total of 1600 grams of flour.
Keep the flour in a covered bowl at room temperature until used.
Day One, 10 am: Place your starter in a large mixing
bowl and add 300 grams water. Stir until you have a milky, homogenous
mixture. Add 300 grams of your flour mixture and stir very well. Shape
into a ball, dust with flour and loosely cover the bowl with parchment
paper and a kitchen towel. Let it ferment about 20-24 hours.
Day Two, Morning: Add 400 grams of water to your dough
and mix very thoroughly, until it has the consistency of soft butter.
Now add 600 grams of your flour mix, stir very well and knead with a
wooden spoon or spatula right in the bowl. Again shape into a ball,
dust with flour and cover loosely with parchment paper and kitchen towel
for another 20-24 hours.
Day Three, 9 am: Dissolve completely 20 grams of sea
salt in 260 grams of water. Crush to powder 2 teaspoons of coriander
seeds in a mortar with pestle. Add this to the salty water and pour
all together over your dough. Stir very well until you have a homogenous
mass again. Now add the remaining flour to this mass, stirring, and
then kneading first in the bowl, then on a floured surface for approximately
30-50 turns of dough. You are now making the final dough, but not yet
the final shaped loaf. The dough should be slightly sticky and not dryish.
Form into a ball and let it rest, covered by parchment paper and towel,
on the table for about a half hour. Next, knead again briefly for 1-2
minutes, form into a ball, return to original bowl, dust with flour
and cover with parchemnt paper and a towel. Let the dough ferment for
10-12 hours.
Day Three, Evening: Prepare your banneton (oval basket)
for proofing the loaf: line it with a thin kitchen towel and then parchment
paper. The size of the banneton and your clay pot should accommodate
your loaf without crowding. A little experimenting will show you what
works. Now comes a step you mustn’t forget! Cut off a piece of
your dough of approximately 280 grams. This is your chef which
you want to save and use for starting your next bread. Dust it with
flour, wrap in a piece of parchment paper secured with masking tape,
place it in a covered container and refrigerate. You can use it tomorrow
or next week or even next month as the starter of your next bread.
Now you have the major part of your dough remaining in the bowl. If
the temperature in your kitchen is 70 degrees or more, you can shape
your loaf and proof it overnight and bake it the next morning: take
your dough out of the bowl and place on a floured surface. Knead for
several minutes, using a bit of flour, but do not allow the dough to
become dry. Shape the dough into an oval close to the shape of the inside
of the clay baker. Dust lightly with flour and place in the banneton.
Cover with parchment paper and light towel and let proof overnight.
However, if your kitchen is 62 degrees or less, as ours is in winter,
you will proceed a little differently: cover the bowl with parchment
paper and a towel and leave until the morning.
Day Four, Morning: The cool-kitchen loaf needs a boost:
shape the loaf as described above and place, uncovered, into the oven
with an electric pan of steaming water that raises the temperature to
about 95 degrees.
In the case of both rising methods, the dough is proofed when you press
it with your finger and the indentation does not rise, and the dough
is soft and there are slight cracks in the surface--usually this
takes about 3 hours with the oven-steam technique.
Now prepare your clay pot for baking: follow manufacturer’s instructions
regarding soaking the pot about a half hour before baking time. Wipe
dry, and place covered pot in cold oven and set temperature to 450 degrees.
When temperature is reached, use baker’s mittens to take out clay
pot, open and wipe up any drops of water--areas where the bread
would stick! Strew coarsely ground grain on pot’s bottom and then
take banneton and carefully but decisively overturn the loaf into the
hot pot. Slash the loaf’s top in several places, cover pot and
place in oven. Immediately raise the temperature to 500 degrees F. When
oven reaches 500 degrees hold it here for 5 minutes then lower temperature
to 450 degrees and bake for one hour. Now prepare a shallow pan with
about an inch of hot water. Open oven, place pan on bottom of oven and
remove the top of the clay baker. Reset oven temperature to 425 degrees
and bake 25 minutes more. Remove bread from oven and use your thermometer
to check the inner temperature of the bread. It should be close to 205
degrees (plus or minus 5 degrees). Remove bread from clay baker. Thumping
the bottom of the bread should elicit a hollow sound. Place on rack,
dab hot water on top and sides to help soften the crust, and cover with
several kitchen towels. Let your bread cool at least 3 or 4 hours before
tasting–the bread will still be warm and your house will smell
absolutely wonderful! The crust will be more pliant the next day.
This bread is dense, but has a very nice crumb and can be sliced thinly
for open-faced sandwiches. It keeps a long time (more than a week) if
well-covered, and freezes beautifully. And nothing else comes close
to the well-developed flavor of the grains in this bread.
Nostalgia
Virtually everybody who has had Garrick’s bread, and is from
Eastern Europe, Lithuania or Germany, is immediately plunged into a
nostalgia for the last time they had such bread, usually in a village,
often before World War II. One woman remembered that her grandfather
had been a village baker and made such bread before the War--she
hadn’t thought of any of this for decades.
For Garrick, too, who is 68, baking this bread has significance on
many levels, and it has been, unpredictably, a healing avocation. Unpredictable
and unlikely too: Garrick can boil potatoes and make tea, but that about
covers his culinary experience. Until this bread!! Who knew he had this
talent lying hidden for so long. But now he gains so much satisfaction
from baking bread and giving it to others to enjoy. Needless to say,
he’s so pleased to share the recipe.
Sidebar Articles
Sourdough Blini
The same starter that goes on to become bread can be used in a diluted
form to make pancakes, or better still, blini, which we find the most
delicious. Blini are crepes or thin pancakes found in traditional Russian
cuisine and are raised by yeast, in this case, by wild yeast. Blini
batter is a very useful resource in your pantry when unexpected guests
come. In a few moments you can serve an elegant snack of tender blini
filled with grated Gruyere cheese and scallions with a glass of white
wine, or sweet blini filled with sour cream and fruit preserves with
tea--or even filled with cream cheese, onions and caviar. Versatile
and delicious and quite easy!
Once you have an active starter, you will use soft winter wheat berries
that you grind as you need. (Sometimes I add some buckwheat flour to
the batter for a different taste.) The basic formula is to "feed"
your culture at least 8 hours before you plan to use it. You can make
the batter rather thick at this stage, adding only flour and water;
exact quantities are not important. When you are ready to use the batter
you will thin it with a beaten egg and enough milk or cream to produce
the consistency of thin cream.
Prepare the blin in a 10-inch skillet or sauté pan–I
use a well-seasoned cast iron pan. Let the pan become very hot on the
stove and grease with a nub of coconut butter or ghee or swipe pan with
a piece of pork fatback (butter will burn). Quickly add about 3½
tablespoons of batter and swirl in the pan to cover the entire surface.
The blin will cook quickly and is ready to turn when the top surface
becomes dry. Flip over and cook for about 45 seconds more. Serve immediately
and allow diner to add fillings: caviar and minced scallion, mushroom
ragout, curried chicken–you get the idea! To serve with cheese,
add grated cheese directly to the blin in the pan right before you would
normally flip it. Fold blin in half and allow to cook for 30 seconds
more (just enough to barely melt the cheese) and serve--this is
like a Russian quesadilla!
If you do not plan to use the batter every day, feed the batter modestly
and refrigerate. Remember to feed it a few tablespoons of flour and
water when needed every 2-3 days while refrigerated and not in use.
The batter will still ferment, although slowly, in the refrigerator.
You can use it directly out of the fridge, but it behaves better if
you allow it to return to room temperature overnight. About the only
thing that will harm this batter is high temperature, so plan to keep
your culture cool during the summer. With a little care, your culture
should last a very long time. Our culture has been in the same bowl
for 2 years now!
My Weekly Bread Routine
By Tom Cowan, MD
Most people say they don’t have time to make bread. Yet with
my full-time, busy medical practice, I still make sourdough bread every
week. Here is the routine I have developed, along with a couple of tricks
to ensure the bread turns out well every time. One is to let the bread
rise in a "tupelo bread bowl," available from Lehman’s
(888) 342-2387. The bowl keeps the dough warm and ensures a good rise.
Also, I add 1/8 teaspoon yeast plus 1 teaspoon rapadura to the dough
on the morning of baking--this ensures a good rise every time.
The routine goes like this. Every day grind about 1 cup biodynamic
rye berries. On the first day, place the flour into a bowl, add
enough water to make a soupy consistency and cover with a cloth.
On each subsequent day, add another 1 cup flour plus water
to the mixture. This is your starter. Keep at room temperature, but
if you won’t be using the starter for a while, store in the refrigerator.
The night before baking grind about 8 cups flour--I
like organic spelt berries or biodynamic nonhybrid wheat the best, but
any flour will work. In a large bowl place 1 cup starter, 1 3/4
cup cool water and 2 cups freshly ground flour. Cover
and allow to sit overnight.
In the morning, soak 1/8 teaspoon baker’s yeast in 1/4 cup
water. Stir in 2 teaspoons Celtic sea salt and 1 teaspoon
Rapadura (dehydrated cane sugar juice). Add this mixture to the
flour mixture, stir and begin adding the rest of the flour. Once it
forms into a ball, place the ball onto the counter, cover with a damp
cloth and allow to rest for 10 minutes. Then knead the dough for 10
minutes, adding new flour to keep from sticking. Oil the tupelo bread
bowl, shape the dough into a ball and place in the bread bowl. Cover
with a damp cloth and allow to sit between 2 and 4 hours, until about
double in size. Remove the dough, punch it once, knead again briefly,
and put it back in the bread bowl for another 2-4 hours. Remove from
bowl, cut in half, allow to sit for about 10 minutes, then shape into
oiled bread pans (I use butter to grease the pans). Allow to sit for
about 1 hour, then preheat the oven to 350 degrees, slash the tops of
the bread with a knife, beat an egg and coat the top of the bread with
the egg wash, sprinkle poppy seeds on top and bake for 55 minutes. The
bread should sound hollow when you tap on the bottom. Place on wire
rack to cool for about 1-2 hours.
That’s all!
Healthy Yeasted Bread
Genuine sourdough bread required dedication and time (although our
own Dr. Cowan finds time in his busy schedule to make sourdough bread
every week). A compromise, quicker bread--and one that may be more
acceptable to western palates--is soaked yeasted bread. The following
recipe has been developed by Sonja Kepford, head of our Des Moines,
Iowa chapter. The total fermentation time--rising and proofing--is
7 hours, which is the magic number for deactivation of phytic acid.
To prepare the bread, you will need to have on hand 1 cup kefir "starter"
and 3 cups "sponge." Starter is some soaked, fermented flour
that you keep on hand. Sponge is freshly rejuvenated starter. The ingredients
are the same for both. The only difference is that the "starter"
has been sitting around for a while and is really sour whereas the "sponge"
is very fresh and active and has not become as sour.
How to make the kefir starter? Mix 1 cup flour with 1
cup kefir and enough water to make a mixture the consistency of
pancake batter. Keep in a covered container where air can get to it,
such as a bowl with a plate on top. Stir it once in a while if you remember.
You can probably use it after one day, but wait three or four days the
first time if you can.
The night before you want to bake, mix 2 cups flour, 2 cups water
to 1 cup starter to make about 3 cups sponge in a big bowl. Leave covered
on kitchen counter overnight to get bubbly.
Soaked Yeasted Bread
Makes three 9-inch by 5-inch loaves or one 9-inch by 5-inch loaf,
two 8-inch pizza crusts and 8 rolls or hamburger buns
3 cups sponge
1 cup water or 3-4 eggs plus enough water to make 1 cup
2 teaspoons baker’s yeast
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup softened butter
1 1/3 tablespoons sea salt
6 cups plus 4-6 tablespoons whole wheat flour, preferably freshly ground
Mix 2 teaspoons yeast into 1/4 cup warm water and let soften for 15
minutes. Remove 1/4 cup sponge to keep for future starter. (Feed the
starter with 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup water and put in covered container
in the cupboard. The starter will keep for one week, until the next
bread making, without anything being added, but it should be stirred
occasionally.)
Place 6 cups flour in a big bowl. Add 1 1/3 tablespoon sea salt and
stir in. To the bowl containing the sponge, add the honey, egg-water
mixture and yeast-water. Beat and stir into the flour. Add a small amount
of additional water or several tablespoons additional flour until the
dough feels right--it should be somewhat flabby. Knead in the bowl
for 10 minutes, using water on your hands to keep from sticking. Toward
the end of the kneading, smear 1/2 cup soft butter in your kneading
bowl and work this in. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise for 3 hours.
Deflate, round and let rise another 3 hours.
Grease your pans--loaf pans, pizza rounds and a pie pan for the
rolls--and divide, round, relax and shape the dough. You may use
unbleached white flour to help with the forming. (If you are making
hamburger buns, make balls of the dough, flatten and place on a greased
cookie sheet.) Proof in warm place 45 minutes to 1 hour, covered with
a damp cloth. Don’t overproof. Preheat oven halfway through the
proofing. Bake at 415 degrees for 15 minutes, then at 315 degrees for
15-20 more minutes.
To make cinnamon rolls, make a rectangle of dough, flattened to about
1/2 inch thick. Smear with soft butter and sprinkle with Rapadura or
maple sugar, raisins, walnuts and lemon zest. Roll up from the side
and cut into individual rolls by tightening a string around the roll
at 1-inch intervals.
If you want a VERY light loaf, follow the above recipe, except use part
unbleached white flour, add the butter (melted) to the liquid ingredients,
and use white flour to keep the dough from sticking during kneading.
Tortillas: Mix 2 cups sponge, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 tablespoon honey
and 1/2 cup melted butter or lard. Add about 3 cups fresh
whole wheat flour. The dough should be soft but not too sticky
to work with. Let proof 7 hours. Deflate and form into about 15 balls.
Roll to about 1/8 inch thickness, using unbleached white flour to prevent
sticking. Cook tortillas about 1-2 minutes per side on a dry, medium-hot
cast iron skillet.
Note: For meanings of terms such as "proof," "feels
right," "round," "deflate," etc., and
for many other tips on baking with whole wheat, such as why to smear
butter in rather than melt it, please refer to the excellent book, Laurel’s
Bread Book by Laurel Robertson.
Bread Machine Bread
Thank you for your article on bread, Spring 2003. I have been working
on a recipe for soaked bread for a breadmaker and think I have finally
achieved it.
The first couple of times you try the recipe, don’t leave it
unattended. You may need to make some slight adjustments to get it right
for your particular breadmaker, climate, type of flour, etc.
This recipe has been tested on a Panasonic SC-2000. It requires that
the yeast, then the dry ingredients are put in first. If your machine
has different instructions, alter the order given in the recipe.
This has been tested using spelt flour. Wheat flour may give slightly
different results and require slight adjustments. If you can’t
tolerate any dairy products, try replacing the butter with olive oil
and the yoghurt with some lemon juice or cider vinegar (but keep the
total liquid the same). This has not been tested.
150 ml (1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons) yoghurt
200 ml (scant 3/4 cup) water
450 g (1 pound) wholemeal flour, less 3 tablespoons
1 3/4 teaspoons yeast granules
3 T arrowrood
1 t Celtic sea salt (fine)
1 T molasses
2 T butter
Weigh out 450 g (1 pound) flour, then take 3 tablespoons back out
again. Mix together with yoghurt and water and add to the flour. Mix
to form a dough. Cover and leave in a warmish place for 18-24 hours.
Put the yeast, arrowroot, salt, dough, molasses and butter in the
breadmaker. Set it to a wholemeal setting and begin. When it’s
partway through the kneading section, check that all the ingredients
have mixed together and check the consistency. If it is slimy, add some
more arrowroot, if it’s too dry, add a few more drops of water,
drop by drop. Proceed as directed and enjoy the bread!
Deb Gully, Kilbirnie, New Zealand
<Back
| Home | Tour
| Calendar | Contact
Us | Funding | Join
Now
|