Eating Healthier in Today's World

Whole Wheat No Yeast Bread From Mature Desem--The Recipe

This will be the last post about the desem for now, but it is the most important as we now are going to work with our mature, ripened desem (no yeast starter).  Trust me, the end product is worth the effort.  Again we are always using unchlorinated water and fresh ground organic whole wheat flour.  (we use our Nutrimill to mill the flour)

With a vigorous desem, ripened for 12 to 14 hours after feeding, this recipe should take about 7 hours from start to finish.  It differs from making bread with the week old desem in the timing and also in the proportion of desem used in the dough:  once the starter attains its full vigor, the desem make up only one-third of the dough.

Mix 4 cups of fresh ground whole wheat flour with 2 1/2 tsp. salt.

Kneading the Dough:  Soften 1 1/2 cups of desem in 1 1/3 cups of cool water, then mix in the flour, adding additional water (up to 2/3 cups more) of water or flour as necessary to make the dough.  Wait a few minutes before you adjust the consistency.  The dough should be softer than the desem itself but 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.  This is where I put it in the Bosch Universal Plus and let the dough hook work and knead the dough for about 10 to 12 min. on speed one until the dough becomes stretchy and strong. (about 20 min. by hand)   I find that the desem dough is easy to underknead by hand, and easy to overknead in the machine:  overkneaded loaves tend to rip toward the end of their final rise.

You will notice that the desem dough made with coarse flour feels dry to the touch when you first mix it up, but as the kneading proceeds, it begins to feel sticky--almost exacty opposite to our regular doughs.  The finished dough should have a smooth, shiny but sticky surface.  Set the dough in a large bowl and cover the top of the bowl with a damp cloth or plate and set aside in a draft-free place to rise at room temperature (about 65 -70 F.degrees)  This dough should take about 4 hours to ripen.  When the dough looses it's surface shine and feels sticky to the tough, then it is ready to shape.  From here on the instructions are the same as for the week old desem

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. 

 Feeding Your Mature Desem:  As I stated in the last post, you need to feed the desem about 12 hours before you plan to mix up the dough for baking.  The desem will have to fed twice a week from now on to keep it's vigor and rising power, whether or not you choose to bake with it.  We have outlined two plans for feeding, one if you bake once a week and one if you bake twice a week. 

Whether you bake once or twice a week, the feeding method is the same--except that you don't remove a part if you are not going to bake.  Dissolve the desem in unchlorinated water always then add the flour and more water or flour as necessary to make a fairly stiff dough.  Knead 10 min.  (You can use the Bosch Universal Plus to do this kneading job for 5 min. on low speed)  If you are baking the next day, divide the lump .  Round the part you will use to make bread the next day, and keep it in a covered container with a little room to expand:  the smaller part is your desem starter.  Round the desem and tie it up snugly in a clean (not bleachy) cloth, and again in a second cloth.  Keep it in a tightly closed NON METAL container.  Keep both of them at 60 to 70 F. degrees for 12 to 14 hours; after that, put the desem in it's closed container in the refrigerator, and make bread with the other, larger part.  If you will not be baking the next day, feed the desem, then wrap and ripen it as described above. 

If you want to control the quality of your bread,  I really encourage you to keep track of the amount of flour that is in the desem.  If you know that, you can caluculate the total quantity of flour in the bread you make, which means you can keep the salt and the starter in proportion.  Here is a rough estimate of weights and measures

Desem Measuring Equivalents  (approx)

Amount of Flour                                      Measure                                               Weight

1/2 cup                                                                           1/3 cup                                                                    1/4 lb.

1 cup                                                                                3/4 cup                                                                     1/2 lb

2 cups                                                                              1 1/2 cups                                                                 1 lb.

TWO SUGGESTED SCHEDULES

If you bake twice a week or more often:

Start with your Mature Desem:   -It measures about 3/4 cup, contains 1 cup of flour and weighs 1/2 lb.

Feeding;    About 12 hours before you mix the dough feed your desem, 2/3 to 1 cup of water, 2 cups of flour

The Desem:  Set aside one-third (about 3/4 cup) for future baking

The Bread Starter:    Round the remaining two-thirds to ripen as starter for your bread dough.  It contains 2 cups of flour

If you bake once a week:

Start with  1/3 cup of your mature desem:  --It contains 1/2 cup flour, and weighs about 1/4 lb.

First Feeding:    Midweek feed your desem   3 to 4 Tbsp. of water, 1/2 cup flour

Second Feeding:   ABout 12 hours before you mix the dough feed your desem:  2/3 to 3/4 cups water,  1 1/2 cups flour

The Desem:     Set aside one-fifth (about 1/3 cup) for future bakings.

The Bread Starter:   Round the rest to ripen as starter for your bread dough.  It contains about 2 cups flour.

I am obviously a fan of this wonderful, flavourful bread and dearly hope that all will go well with you in making it.  If you have some questions that I have not answered or some improvements, I would love to hear from you.