Eating Healthier in Today's World

BAKING BREAD WITH THE DESEM - NO YEAST STARTER

The  proof of the pudding is in the eating, and the proof of the desem is too,  At this point you have followed our last two blogs on how to prepare a no yeast or desem starter  using un-chlorinated water and organic fresh ground whole wheat flour.  Now we are going to bake a loaf using the desem.  You will want to bake bread after the first week, to get an idea how your desem is faring.  Even though the bread will not be light yet, its flavour should be wonderful. 

MIxing the Dough:  When the desem is very young it doesn't hae nearly the power that it will have later on,  and so as first you will need to plan for a longer fermentation or rise time and a larger proportion of desem than you will need later on.  We will start by taking the desem (approx. 2 1/4 cups) after the seventh day of ripening, and soften  in 1 1/3 cups of water.  Stir in 2 1/2 tsp. salt into 3 cups of organic whole wheat flour.  Mix with flour and salt with the water and the desem, adding additonal water of flour as necessary to make a slightly stiff dough.  Allow a few minutes before you make the final adjustment of consistency.  The dough should be softer than the desem itself gut slightly stiffer than ordinary pan dough, so that when you squeeze it you don't have to strain, but you do feel the muscles in your fingers working.

Kneading:  Here is where a good dough kneader like the Bosch Universal Plus would come in handy.  If you are using a Bosch with a dough hook you can let it knead on speed one (or speed two in a Universal Plus) for about 10 min.  If doing this by hand it will need to be kneaded well for approx. 20 min. or 600 strokes.  Continue until the dough becomes stretchy and strong,  Notice that the desem dough made with coarse flour feels dry to the touch when you first mix it up, but as kneading progresses, it begins to feel sticky:  this is somewhat the opposite of what happens with ordinary doughs.  After you finish kneading, the surface of the dough should be shiny, slightly sticky to the touch.

Set the dough in a bowl large enough to allow it to expand slightly--about 4 qt. capactiy should do.  Cover the top of the bowl with a platter or saran wrap, and set it in a draft-free place a cool temperature, about 65 to 70 degrees F, for eight to ten hours.

Fermentation or Rising Period:  During the eight to ten hours, the desem dough may scarcely rise up--this is quite normal.  if convenient, deflate or punch down the dough some time around the last hour:  this invigorates the leavening organisms.  The dough has now finished ist cool fermentation and is ready for its warm final rise.  During the next stage, the surface will lose it's shine and stickiness and become dry to the touch.  This is the RIPE dough.

As time passes and your desem grows stronger, you will shorten the rising time until finally it takes just 4 hours for this  first, cool part of it's rise.  You can gauge how much time you will need by evaluating the dough for ripeness as described above.  When the rising period is finished, it is now time to shape, proof and bake the bread.

Shaping the Dough--Turn the dough out onto the kneading surface top down, and gently press it to deflate it.  The dough is usually not sticky, so additional flour is not needed, but if your dough seems too soft, flour the board lightly before turning the dough onto it.  Throughout this part of the process, try to preserve intact the smooth surface that developed on the top of the rising dough.  This gluten film will make the best top crust for your loaves.  Flatten the dough and divide it in half.  With the gluten film downwards, press the dough into flat circles about an inch thick.  Fold the edges in to the middle pressing with the heel of your hand to seal the "petals" of the flower down, four or more times until a springy ball if formed.  Turn the dough ball over on its side, and rotate it while pressing on the bottom half to make a teardrop shape.  Then, turning the loaf right side up, with a repeated rhythmic motin that is at once downward, inward and rotating, smooth it into a perfect sphere with a little foot at the bottom  As your turn and round the loaf, the foot should not become a cavern.  Turn the loaf over to check the foot until your are sure of it.  When done just right, the foot is made of a small amount of dough drawn down from the sides of the ball of dough and pressed together underneath by the edges of the palm and little fingers.

Rising the Dough--Let the dough rest covered for 15 min. or more, and then when it has relaxed and is supple again, flatten and repeat the rounding process.  then put the loaves to proof.  This whole process structures the dough inside the ball and stretches the gluten film tightly over it.  The double rounding really does help the bread to rise higher, with and even crumb texture.  Put the loaves seam side down in baking dishes or large loaf pans that have been well-greased and dusted with a sifting of cornmeal.  Proof them (give them the final rise)  for 1 1/2 to 2 hours at 95 degrees F. and nearly 100% humidity.  The simplest way to do it, is to wet the inside of a plastic bag with water, put the bread in it, puff it up well, and seal it.  Keepit in a place warmed by a source of mild heat (oven on low then turned off) or sometimes just the light on in the oven., to get the right temperature,  When the time comes to preheat the oven, one possibility is to set the loaves over a pan or sink of very hot water.  Or use a heating pad or low to medium setting for the whole time.  Having a thermometer is most helpful at this time.  Proof the bread until is feels completely spongy to the touch and loses all it's firmness;  it may even just sag a little,

Baking the Bread:  Desem bread is a traditional hearth bread, meaning that it is formed into a loaf and baked without a pan, directly on a stone or the floor of the brick oven.  If baked in a round casserole dish with a snug dome lid, however, the loaves are nearly duplicate of the hearth-baked version.  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. and just before you put the bread into the oven, poke a few 1/2" deep holes in the top of the loaf with a serving fork or skewer.  This prevents the crust from pulling away form the loaf.  Bake the bread at 450 degrees F (with steam) until the crust brown nicely, then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F. to finish the bake, about an hour in all. 

The Desem bread is done when it is a deep golden brown and sounds hollow when you thump the bottom with your finger.  If you aren't sure, though, take a look at the crumb.  if you have baked two loaves next to each other like buns, just gbread them apart and look there;  otherwise, make a small slice in one edge.  Press on the bread crumb with a light touch: if it springs back, it is done. 

I know it seems like a long time from start to finish but like I said at the beginning the proof is in the eating and the flavour and texture of this no yeast bread is wonderful and you can continue to use the desem starter over and over,  Our next post will teach you how to keep the desem for future use.  ENJOY!