By Simha Bode

Basic Sourdough Science

Most bacteria found in sourdough are lactobacilli, cousins of the bacteria that turn milk into yogurt and cheese. These lactobacilli out number the yeasts in sourdough by as many as 100 to 1. Lactobacilli make acetic and lactic acids by converting sugars, this is what gives sourdough its tang. These acids also deteriorate gluten, which is one reason sourdough bread is more digestible. The lactobacilli also create aromatic compounds that infuse bread with flavors and smells. The pH of a well fermented sourdough is around 3.8. Most microorganisms drop out of competition at this point, but the wild yeasts in sourdough can tolerate the acids and convert sugars into carbon dioxide and ethanol making the bread rise. 

Our digestive system  works because of the good bacteria living therein, without them, there wouldn’t be any digestion. Our entire existence directly depends on these friendly bacteria, which help us convert the foods we eat into usable, absorbable nutrients. Everything we eat is broken down into its individual makeup of amino acids (proteins), vitamins, carbohydrates (simple and complex), fats, and more. Sourdough and other foods, using probiotics and fermentation are using nature’s design for predigesting foods our body could use some help to breakdown.

This is using living organisms to process your food, so you must get to know them... have patience, pay attention, be observant, experiment and have fun!

It is Alive!

Yes, sourdough is living, breathing, eating and converting. This requires you to bring awareness to another aspect of food preparation; using a living organism. This is a disclaimer. Sourdough requires a relationship with this living culture, feeding, watching, observing, messing up and trying variations (keeping notes helps). 

Just realize the culture is alive and everything from air temperature to humidity, handling, breeze and time, effect the culture and the breads out come. If you are the type of person that can’t take failure, don’t even attempt to use sourdough... this isn’t to say with some experience you wont be able to get consistent results to a high degree, you can! Most likely it will take composting some of your attempts, each time you will learn something, this is where observation and note taking can be very helpful. 

Not only will you be rewarded with great tasting breads and pancakes but it is a boon that provides a very healthy way to eat grains. Grains are are actually very difficult for us to digest when they are uncultured. Many of  the allergies people experience with wheat consumption, is actually the inability to digest the grain, for some people sourdough has been found to be a ‘cure’ for this reaction. Spelt is a grain that is very low in gluten which is a good option for a more digestible bread, sprouting your grains increases the digestibility even more..

Basic Sourdough Culture

Also known as The Mother or Starter. These wild yeast exist everywhere! It is only a matter of attracting them, so, you create their ideal environment by fermenting sugars.  

Recipe: Add 1/2 cup flour to 1 cup water in a bowl and mix well. Be sure your water is not chlorinated, if it is, let water sit for 24 hours before using. Add a table spoon of flour and stir the batter once a day. In 3-5 days you should start to smell the fermentation happening. I recommended using whole grain flour because, it has all the various components of the grain, though you can use white. It should now be bubbly, if its not keep waiting. You can store your starter in the fridge, this slows the bacteria down. You only need to refresh it every 2 weeks, with no fridge you must refresh daily.

When using the starter to make bread replace the culture you took to make the bread with fresh water and flour. AlWAYS KEEP SOME CULTURE SET ASIDE or you will start from the beginning again! 

When your not refreshing your starter from using it, you should still refresh it every 2 weeks. Remove half and replace it with fresh water and flour,  Freezing it, is also possible. To use, thaw and refresh.

Sourdough RecipeSourdough The night before you will bake mix the sponge: 1/2cup starter 4 cups flour - of your choice

4 cups water (add slowly)

mix well • Let sit over night minimum 8 hours -

Next morning add: 1 TBS salt with NO iodine Stir well - add Add 5 1/2 - 6 cups flour - of your choice Mix and kneed in ingredients well let rest 2 hoursSplit bread into 3 well oiled bread pans let rest for 2 hours Preheat oven to 475 f put a pan in the bottom of oven with some ice or water.

Score the surface of breads 1/4 inch deep with a sharp and wet knife before putting in preheated oven Bake at 450 f - 40 min All the variables; temperature, moisture, handling and time are factors to consider. Take notes, and try again, tweaking as you feel.

Vegan Sourdough Pancakes

Sourdough Crepes 3-4 hours before your ready to cook, mix:

1/2 cup starter1 1/2 cup wheat flour1 cup water

Let sit 3-4 hours

Add1/3 cup soy milk2 Tbs sunflower oilPinch of salt1/4 tsp Baking sodaSweeten and embellish as you like

Heat a lightly oiled pan (olive, corn, sunflower), clay non-tick is the best, on med-high once the pan is hot scoop 1/3 cup of your batter into the center of pan, tilt the pan around in a circle which will spread the batter into a bigger circle. Keep spinning to spread the batter into an even thickness. wait until the entire top surface dries, then flip. You shouldn’t have to oil your pan again if it is HOT.

Serve them hot with jam or maple syrup or refrigerate them and use them for savory wraps for lunch! Experiment!

Ovens in a Rising CultureWhy are ovens important in this ‘Rising Culture’?

Ovens are a temple where Fire is enshrined. In praise of its beauty the harvest is offered unto its sustaining qualities. The Fire receiving our honest offering then transmutes the ‘raw’ harvest into ‘Manna’ BREAD, blessed food to sustain and nourish us.  

In both the building of the oven and the making of bread we must recognize the Five Elements. Either, is the good intention and Love that goes into building the oven and the mixing the bread. Fire, is not just the fire of the oven, but the Sun, to dry the cob, and the fire of digestion that the culture uses to transform the flour into a sourdough bread. Air, is the breathability of the cob building material, the movement of hands and feet, and is sustaining the living culture in the bread. Water, is an essential ingredient of life and in both cob and bread for mixing and moisture. Earth, is the clay, cob, straw, rock and bricks used in building the oven and the grains in the bread. 

Ovens are a gathering place and a place of abundance and magic. Traditionally in Europe, they were in the central town-square or in the church where all the residents would bring their dough to be baked by the village baker. Now, as a new culture emerges with community and food being central to its expression, earth ovens have just as important a role to play.

Firing and Baking in your Earthen Oven

Getting to know your oven will take time and patience. Once you have made several small drying fires and your oven is cured you are ready for your first bake!

Tools and Fire safety: It is important to have tools with long enough handles so you don’t need to reach inside the oven. The tools you need; a peel, a rake, a mop, a poker stick, and a metal container for coals. You should also always have a 5 gallon bucket of water and a water source near by. Wear close toed shoes and have leather gloves on hand

Each oven is unique in the amount of time it takes to get up to temperature and how long it will hold the heat. Some variables; oven size, amount of thermal mass, efficiency of insulation and quality of wood. The more thermal mass your oven has the longer it will take it to get up to temp. (using more fuel) and the longer it will hold heat with the variable of insulation efficiency. Depending on what your baking your firing time will also vary.

From my experience the basic baking thermometers are not of use in these ovens. Typically if a thermal mass oven has a temp gauge it has a minimum of three; one that reads the hearth (floor) temperature, one for the dome and one for the air. I have a more basic low/tech way to check the temperature

Starting your ovenTo start the fire you should have some paper or birch bark, some small kindling and some medium size wood. build a small lincoln-log style fire in the door way. This allows the fire to get sufficient air when starting to create the draft. Once the draft is established you can use your rake to push the fire to the middle of the of the hearth.

In this style oven whether you have a chimney or not, the door is both the intake and exhaust. This means there is a stratification of air, the cool air is being drawn in the bottom half of the door and the hot exhaust of the fire is exiting the top half of the door. This is important to be aware of because the air exiting the top of the door can burn you quickly, whether you are leaning to close to look in or trying to put another log on the fire.

Managing the FireYou will get your oven up to temperature, which means it will be too hot at first. For these smaller home size ovens it will be anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours of fire. When firing it is good to have a long stick that you can use to arrange the wood. Always dip your tools in the 5 gallon bucket after using to make sure there are no embers on your tools. The air is being drawn in along the hearth so you want you fire to be as open to receive this air intake as possible, create a tunnel when possible so the air can pass along the bottom of the fire. A lincoln log approach works good, keeping the sides and back of the oven clear so the air can reach all points of the fuel.

It is a dance that takes practice to have your bread ready at the same time the oven is ready.

Oven Prep

Once it is up to temp you will let the wood burn down to coals and spread them evenly across the heart and wait 20-30 min for the floor temperature to even out. Now you will need your tools, removing the coals can be the most dangerous part of the firing, so be sure you have plenty of water on hand and all combustibles are far away. You will need a metal container to rake the coals into and dowse with water. It is a good idea to use leather gloves and watch for steam it can burn. It also helps to work with wet tools so they don’t catch fire (if they are wood). Once the majority of coals are out, you will use a mop or drape a towel over your rake (as I do) and mop out the majority of coals and ash that are left over. Don’t worry about getting it completely clean, you don’t want to loose too much heat and you will be mopping it again.

Now that your oven is empty you want to close it up. If you are using a plug door, sufficiently wet a towel, double it and drape it across the back (inside) of the door, push the plug in sealing the oven closed. Typically you should wet the towel again in 15-20 min. (or it will burn through) After 30min to 1 hour of being empty the heat should have evened out and you are ready to check the oven temperature. Take a small handful of white flour, open the door carefully and place the flour in a pile near the middle of the oven hearth and close the door. Count 20 seconds and look at the pile. If it is only browned you oven is ready to bake. If the top of the pile is burned (black) the air temp is too hot, mop the oven out again, close wait 20-40 min and test again. if the edges touching the hearth are burned then the hearth is too hot, mop the oven out thoroughly, close wait 20-40 min and test again. Repeat until the flour only browns in 20 seconds. Your ready to bake!

The BakeNow your perfectly proofed loaves are ready to bake. You can bake in bread pans they have their advantages, though there is nothing like a hearth kissed loaf. Typically sourdough loaves are either proofed (left to rise) in baskets or cradled in the folds of a linen canvas, though cotton works. In both cases you flour the surface of the basket and the canvas before putting your loaves in. the linen you should heavily flour on the first use (white flour, the bran is too large) pushing it into the fibers, and after you only need a light dusting, whole grain works best. you can use a sifter to apply the flour in a thin even coat. Sticky sourdough is something that takes trial and error to learn to work with.

You should have a table or shelf set up to the side of the oven door (your dominant side). If you are using canvas you will need to transport the loaves to the oven with the surface they are proofing on, use a board or table top that fits through your door without tilting. Baskets and pans can simply be carried out. Now you need your peel, a razor blade and some flour.

Flour the peel, and transfer the loaf from its proofing place onto the peel (with bread pans you just slide them in). If you used canvas, place the peel next to the loaf on top of the canvas, place your hand on the other side of the loaf under the canvas, lift the canvas and roll the loaf onto the peel. I put 2-3 loaves on the peel to save time and heat by loading the oven faster. Leave some room in between you loaves or they will combine into one. You are finished loading the oven, which should be a quick and smooth operation.

You want it to be quick so you have an even bake, the first loaf has already baked the amount of time it took to load the oven. Depending on your oven the bread could be done in 20 minutes. Check your loaves by peeking if they are risen and look baked, pull one out and tap on it, if it

sounds hollow its done. If you do a second or third bake leave the oven empty 30 minutes for the air temp to recharge in between bakes. As the oven temp drops you can use it to bake different things pies and cookies then leave a stew in for a couple hours or through some root vegetables in, be creative! After you are all done with food, you can load your oven with your next load of wood to get it kiln dried for a really great burn next time.

Baking Pizza

Baking pizza is totally different, as I am sure you know from seeing it done. In baking pizza you keep the fire in the oven and you don’t use a door. This is to have a very high air temperature to cook the toppings. Fire your oven 1-2 hours get a good coal base spread the coals across the floor wait 20 min and push the coals to one side or the back of the oven (I like the side its easier to see as it bakes). You should have some small hardwood pieces to keep feeding to the coals to maintain a flame. mop the hearth out and put you pizza in, you will need to rotate the pizza quite soon. Keep a close eye on the side of the pizza facing the fire. Pull it out with your peel when that side is golden, rotate and put back, typically a pizza only takes a few minutes.