Today, more and more often, many followers of the idea of proper nutrition come to the decision to abandon the use of industrial bread. In an effort to preserve their health, their own and the household, the housewives bake homemade bread according to old recipes. Practical experience shows that this is quite possible not only in a private house with a real Russian stove, but also in a typical modern city apartment.
It has been known that bread and salt have long been a symbol that accompanies all important events, both joyful and sorrowful, that take place in the life of Russian people. Our ancestors sincerely believed in their unshakable holiness. The housewives of the mistress were once judged primarily by her ability to bake bread. According to experts, baking real bread according to an old recipe means not only providing yourself and your family with an environmentally friendly everyday food product. It also means to declare the existence of its own special, different from the accepted in society, philosophy, a special lifestyle, freedom from conventions and frameworks imposed by the technogenic system. Baking bread according to an old recipe every day, we maintain our health strong, and our minds are clear, experts say. And this means that contrary to modern trends, we ourselves are building our own full-fledged life. How to make bread with your own hands according to an old recipe? Let's talk about this in our article.
How did you bake bread in Russia? A bit of history
According to ancient sources, the procedure for baking bread has long been quite complicated. As a rule, in the evening, before sunset, the woman, who was the most experienced in the house, proceeded to prepare the sauerkraut (barrels in which they made leaven for bread). Saucer was washed extremely rarely, since it was constantly at work. It was rubbed with salt, previously mixed with sourdough, poured with water (warm) and placed in it a small piece of dough left over from the last baking. Then the yeast was carefully mixed with a wooden spatula (whorl), a little more warm water was added and flour was sifted through a sieve or sieve from a special dug or plank trough.
Then the dough was stirred until the consistency of thick sour cream. The teapot was placed in a warm place and covered with a clean linen towel from above. The next day, by morning, the dough was rising. Now the hostess began to knead it. This work was quite laborious, requiring considerable skill. The dough was kneaded until it began to lag behind the hands and walls of the pitcher. After that, he was again put in a warm place. When it rose a second time, the dough was kneaded again and started to be cut into loaves, which were allowed to distance, after which it was sent to the oven. Previously, the furnace was well heated, the ash and coals from its hearth were swept away by a broom. Thanks to the uniform heat maintained in the Russian oven, the bread was baked very well. His readiness was judged as follows: the loaf was taken out of the oven, it was taken in the left hand and tapped from below. If the bread is ready, it rang like a tambourine.
It is known that a woman with the ability to bake bread well was surrounded by special respect in the family. The hostess, expertly skilled in the art of baking, had much to be proud of - because those around her considered her one of the most homely. The baker’s work in Russia has long been treated with great respect. The bakers in the monasteries were distinguished by their special skill.
Many ancient recipes for baking bread have survived to this day. We suggest familiarizing yourself with some of them later in the article.
An old recipe for sourdough bread. How to cook the main product?
To bake real bread according to an old recipe (the one that our distant ancestors used to eat about five hundred years ago), you need to prepare a sourdough. The composition of this amazing symbiotic product, which is the main one for baking bread, contains:
- water;
- whole grain flour (wheat or rye wallpaper);
- wild yeast culture;
- strains of lactic acid bacteria.
The ratio of bacterial strains and fungal colonies in high-quality yeast should be: 1: 1000. As you can see, the nature of the starter culture is more lactic rather than yeast. But it is precisely thanks to such a ratio of microorganisms in the leaven that real home-made bread is created, which is unusually healthy, and has a unique smell and taste. The starter itself is made exclusively from flour and water. According to old Russian recipes, nothing more is added to the bread recipe: neither salt, nor sugar, nor any other components.
About the process of preparing the starter mixture
Act as follows:
- Pour pure water (about 2 tablespoons) into a clean jar (without a lid or with a loose cover). Then add wallpaper rye flour (2 tablespoons). The mixture is shaken and slightly covered (it is necessary to leave access for oxygen to product), then put the future sourdough in a warm place (direct sunlight should be avoided). It is best to put a can of young sourdough in a hinged kitchen cabinet or leave it on the table.
- After 24 hours, add 2 tbsp to the mixture. l water and 2 tbsp. l flour and mix well.
- After another day, the action (adding flour (rye) and water (warm, clean) and stirring the starter culture) is repeated.
After three days in a young sourdough, a pleasant sour smell appears, reminiscent of fermented home brew. The product is ready to use.
About the features of sourdough
Those who use an old recipe for bread without yeast should keep in mind that at first the leaven will be young, not ripened. Its ripening and transformation into a mature quality product is by no means a quick process, during which the leaven becomes stable and acquires all its characteristic qualities. Bread baked from a young starter mixture will be completely edible, but not particularly tasty and aromatic.
Making the first baking
Usually the first sourdough is divided in half. About 1 cup of its volume is poured into another container. In the jar, where the second half of the mixture remained, you need to add 2 tbsp. l flour and water (clean) and mix. After that, the jar is placed on the lower shelf of the refrigerator (not the coldest). This procedure should be repeated at each subsequent batch of bread. Next, pour 1 glass of water (warm, clean) into a container with a selected starter mixture and sift the flour in the same volume through a sieve.
Everything is thoroughly mixed, after which the yeast is sent to a warm place for about 8-9 hours. During this time, it should foam and rise, which will be a sure sign of product readiness.
How to knead the dough for homemade bread?
Ready starter (flirting) is mixed with 0.5 l of water (warm, but not hot), in which 1 tbsp is previously dissolved. l and stir 1 kg of flour (any). Knead the dough until it becomes homogeneous and smooth. Then the product is placed in a warm place, preferably not elevated, covering it with a film. When the dough rises, it is placed in a mold greased with oil and waiting for it to fit a second time.
How do you bake bread?
Approached bread in the form is sent to the oven, heated to 180 degrees, in which a baking tray with boiling water is pre-installed. After 20 minutes from the start of baking, the baking sheet must be removed from the oven, and then baking bread for about half an hour. The readiness of homemade bread is indicated by the appearance on the loaf of golden brown. Freshly baked bread spread on a wooden board and cool, covering with a clean towel.
Old rye bread recipes
It is known that rye flour has a huge number of useful properties. Unlike wheat, rye flour does not form gluten, in its composition in a more active state contains enzymes, under the influence of which starch is broken down. Rye flour also contains the amino acid necessary for the body, iron and magnesium in it more than in wheat. Old recipes mainly describe the process of baking bread from rye flour - many of the excellent qualities of the product were evaluated by our ancestors five hundred years ago.
How to bake bread from rye flour (whole grain)?
To bake this bread, you must use the leaven, the preparation of which was described above. In the process of creating baking, they act like this:
- First, make a dough: the leaven (400 g) is poured into a deep bowl, add 250 g of water (warm) and flour (200 g), mix well, so that the consistency of the mixture resembles sour cream. The dough is left to “play” during the night (at room temperature) or about 4-5 hours in a warm place (at a temperature of 28-30 degrees). After the sponge has bubbled up, it can be used.
- Next, knead the dough: to 200 g of warm water add 2 tsp. salt, pour into the dough, with gradual stirring, add 250-300 g of flour (rye) and 100 g of wheat (if you use only rye flour, the bread will turn wet), cover and leave in a warm place, where for 1.5 -2 hours the dough should double in volume. Then the product is mixed (bubbles should appear inside it), the molds are greased with oil (vegetable) and the dough is laid out. The surface of the dough in the molds is greased with water and smoothed by hand.
- Then the forms are covered with a cloth and the dough is left to rise for another hour on the kitchen table or forty minutes at a warmer temperature.
- Then it is necessary to melt the oven, so that by the time they plant the bread, there was enough heat left in it.
- Once the bread has come up, you can start baking. If an oven is used, the temperature should be 200 degrees at the beginning, and after 10 minutes it is reduced to 170-180 degrees. Bake bread for about 40-50 minutes. A beautiful crust will turn out if you put a small container of water at the very bottom of the oven. Housewives usually put water in a cast iron stove.
Another recipe (from rye flour and spring water)
Fermentation is done as usual. To prepare the test, use:
- rye flour (2.5 cups);
- wheat flour (0.5 cups); or only rye flour (3 cups);
- salt - 2 tsp;
- sugar (1 tbsp. l.);
- vegetable oil (1 tbsp. l.);
- warm water (1 cup) - spring;
- sourdough (5 tbsp. l.).
All is mixed and laid out in a pan or pan greased with vegetable oil, covered with a napkin and sent to a warm place for five hours. Bake at a temperature of 200 degrees for about 1 hour. After 20-30 minutes after the start of baking, it is necessary to cover the bread with foil so that the surface does not burn. Finished bread is taken out of the oven and wrapped in a blanket and left to ripen for 1 hour.