The first thing I did when I started my eat local pledge last year was order a grain grinder, a lot of grain and a few books on making whole wheat flour.
Whole wheat flour is not at all like working with white flour and if you simply substitute it in your favorite bread recipe you’ll end up with loaves of bricks. This isn’t so much because the ratios are off, it’s because whole wheat flour is it’s own child. Once you learn how to treat it, by providing a proper pre-ferment in acidic medium and sufficient autolyse or hydration period it will mind like that child you dreamed of having before you ever got pregnant.
Perhaps that’s why gardening and baking are so relaxing for me – the plants and grains don’t talk back and they generally let me shape their will into what I had envisioned would be compliant and yummy.
From the beginning I viewed this experiment as if I were Ma Ingalls. Now Ma Ingalls just might have some grains in the food shed, warm raw milk from the cow, freshly churned butter, honey, molasses and salt from Olsen’s Mercantile but she certainly would not have little packets of dried yeast.
Sadly, my family is not fond of sourdough bread unless it’s been hollowed out and filled with chowder. So I put that thought on the back burner. And then one day while glancing through the Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book I noticed a recipe for Flemish Desem bread.
Unlike a bubbly, liquid sourdough starter that takes a week or less this one takes several weeks to achieve the strength necessary to raise your loaves. You start your desem mother by kneading 2 cups of freshly ground organic bread flour with 1/2 cup of filtered water then placing it in a container so it’s surrounded by more flour, close the lid and put it in the cellar. Nearly every day you feed it with more flour and water and knead that in for about two weeks. In the end you’ll have a new little pet that you breathed life into and will raise your bread for you.
My family actually liked the flavor of the desem, though they still preferred sandwich bread as our daily staple. And by feeding your desem twice weekly as you are required to do it continues to grow. Despite that it made kick-ass crackers at the drop of a hat I just didn’t use it enough. So after creating this wild creature I eventually neglected it and it slipped away.
This winter, though, I’m bringing it back and hopefully for keeps this time. Now that I have this blog and some fairly faithful local readers I’m hoping that we can divide the mother once it gets big enough and each try to keep it alive. If one of us loses our wild creature perhaps we can borrow from the circle of wild yeast.
In about a month my mother should be large enough to share with several of you which I’m happy to do. Or if you like you can start your own wild yeast creature along with me.
To start your desem on the first day combine 2 cups of organic stone ground bread flour with 1/2 cup filtered water. Knead it until you have a nice ball of stiff dough. If you are using a bag of ground bread flour simply bury your wild creature in the middle of the flour bag, seal it up and store it somewhere that is between 50 and 65 degrees. If you have no flour bag simply use a plastic container with a lid or another small paper bag that you can roll up and secure against bugs somehow.
It will stay in that spot for 48 hours at which point I will hae further instructions for you. I find it’s easiest for me to start things like this at night because that is when I clean the kitchen and feed all my wild critters – the ginger bug, the dairy kefir and the mystery buttermilk. Just think of a time during the day when you would not be pressed on any day of the week to rush off and neglect your wild charges. For me that is night time, when all wild things are born.
I hope you’ll consider playing along with me on this wild adventure in bread making.
10 responses so far ↓
1 Mangochild // Jan 9, 2010 at 8:10 am
I’m looking forward to reading more about your venture. I baked with yeast (including sourdough) for about the past 2 years before going gluten free, and the taste was really different (and better, I thought) with the sourdough. Another thought if you’re looking to get away from packaged yeast is to try a few flatbreads – they naturally don’t require yeast, can often be made on the stove-top, and often include other kinds of whole grains too. Just wanted to throw it out there. But I am excited to hear how this goes for you and I’m sure I’ll learn more that I can use baking for my friends.
2 julia // Jan 9, 2010 at 11:55 am
I’m here to learn. I have mad respect for you!
3 kitsapFG // Jan 9, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Very interesting. We actually do like sour dough but I invariably neglect my starter (and I would the desem too) and I lose all the time invested in it. (sigh)
I stick to the more traditional process of using purchased yeasts – but like you have found that presoaks are necessary to get a decent loaf from whole wheat. I would be curious if you have any tips and or suggestions on using whole wheat in the no knead recipes? I have gotten up to about a 50/50 mix of whole wheat and unbleached flour with decent results, but seem to deteriorate significantly if I try to do any higher proportions of whole wheat in the recipe. There has to be a way! I would love to get close to the crisp crust and good crumb of the 100% unbleached flour version of the no knead bread – using close to (if not entirely) 100% whole wheat.
4 Aubry // Jan 9, 2010 at 12:03 pm
i did the wild yeast thing for years and it was pretty much as wonderful as all it’s praises. One nice thing I found was that if I got out of routine, I could put a chunk in the freezer and up to a year or two later I could revive it. It would take a couple of days to get it back to full strength, but it saved me the two week hassle. I actually got mine down to a one a day feeding. It took a little longer in rising time, but somedays I just couldn’t commit to two feedings.
5 admin // Jan 10, 2010 at 1:14 am
Hi Aubry, what kind did you make? A desem? That is great advice about the freezer. I keep meaning to do that with my buttermilk culture & kefir grains too.
Hi KFG, I tried the no knead once with 100% flour, it was the 100% flour version from the Mother Earth News site and it bombed. It’s the only time I’ve tried the no knead. I just really like the crumb and texture of sandwich bread and I don’t see how you can get that. I don’t knead much, it’s more folding which I think improves the crust. My regular bread recipe is under category and then bread and it is 100% whole wheat but there is some kneading involved.
Mangochild – I’m really hoping this is the yeast and not the gluten bugging me because I cannot imagine life as a baker even though I suspect we would be better off giving up grain. Have you been to glutenfreegirls site? I’m sure I’m the last person in the world to have discovered it…
Julia, I hope you try this! It’s really fun harnessing something wild and there aren’t too many mustangs left out there so this is a great place to start. :p
6 Becky // Jan 10, 2010 at 10:19 am
I just found your website from KFG’s site and I’m so glad I did!! What you’re doing is what I aspire to. I can’t wait to read more!
Question, we’re on a really tight budget so sometimes cost prohibits me from buying local (especially meat and dairy). Do you find your local food much more expensive then supermarket foods? Do you have any tips for keeping the prices down? I spend about $120 a week on groceries now (family of 4 with 2 daycare kids during the week). Do you think it’s do able on my budget?
Thanks!
7 admin // Jan 10, 2010 at 1:41 pm
Hi Becky, I’m glad you’re here! I just wrote a really long post and then we lost connection. It should have really been it’s own post so I’ll do that now. Welcome!
8 Aubry // Jan 11, 2010 at 1:19 am
I did the soupy pancake batter version of wild yeast. The starter is basically pancake thick water and flour with a cheesecloth bag of mushed grapes or apples or whatever fruit you have on hand. It sits for about a week then you toss the bag and add flour and water twice a day. After two weeks of starting with a cup of starter and adding twice that in flour and water twice a day (lot’s of doubles!) you have strong starter. It works beautifully and produces a very mild sourdough. I actually can’t tell it’s sourdough unless I do a super long rise. The bread turns out amazing of course. But you have to bake pretty often or you end up with leftover starter. But the pancakes made from starter are awesome!
9 admin // Jan 11, 2010 at 1:59 am
Hi Aubry, sounds like you don’t keep it up anymore? My family seems to prefer the desem to sourdough but I’ve never tried to make my own sourdough. Maybe I should try!
10 Aubry // Jan 11, 2010 at 6:19 pm
It’s really mild. You really have to work to get it sour. It pretty much tastes the same as conventional yeast, but with that super developed wheat flavor. Awesome. It’s pretty much the same as your desem version, just wetter. There are a bunch of ways to use wild yeast and they all work pretty well. It just takes a little effort with the continuous feedings. I go through phases where i bake a lot of bread and phases where I’m not. I do a refrigerator dough a lot when I’m otherwise occupied. Also the wild yeast dough I use has a hard time in the summer as our kitchen gets soo warm and I have to skip it for a while.
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