Type | Pre-ferment and bread |
---|---|
Main ingredients | Flour (whole wheat, spelt, amaranth or kamut) |
Desem (pronounced DAY-zum) (Dutch for "leaven") is both a type of sourdough starter made from whole wheat flour, spelt flour or other flours (such as kamut, durum and tritordeum) and water, and the resulting bread.
Desem starter is traditionally used in Belgium to make healthy, nutrient-rich bread. The starter is grown in a bed of flour at cool temperatures until it reaches sufficient maturity. The starter is not exposed to outside bacteria and yeasts, but achieves its leavening power from organisms present in the whole wheat flour itself. For this reason, desem starter is best made with grains free of chemicals (i.e. organically grown without herbicides, pesticides or dessicants) and water that does not contain chlorine or fluoride. The leavening power of desem starter may be stronger than that of typical sourdough starters.
The term "desem" also describes the loaf made with this starter. Desem bread made from a mature desem is characterized by a strong rise, and a light texture, with a nutty taste. When made properly desem bread is less sour than German or San Francisco sourdough breads. The loaf is similar in process to the French "pain au levain", but made with whole wheat flour and starter instead of white flour. [1] Desem bread is considered to be a "naturally leavened" bread, rather than a "yeasted" bread. It keeps well and digests comfortably. [2]
Desem bread has a strong following in the natural foods community, where it was largely popularized by vegetarian cookbook author Laurel Robertson.
Unlike sourdough starters which are exposed to outside air, the desem starter is grown in a bed of flour (3-4 inches of flour surrounding the ball of dough made from fresh wheat flour and pure water). [3] Keeping the flour cool (approx. 50-65°F, or 10-18°C) during the initial incubation period is important as higher temperatures may make the desem starter sour. The cool incubation environment is particularly important for desem. [4] While getting a desem starter (a dough starter) going the first time can be challenging, keeping it going can be easier than sourdough starters (liquid starters). [5]
Feeding the starter daily and baking bread once per week is the standard method of keeping the desem starter happy and thriving [6] but feeding it weekly or freezing it for later are viable options. [7]
The techniques for making desem bread are similar to the techniques used for sourdough breads, [8] but present unique challenges. [9]
Fully fermented sourdough breads may be more digestible for those with gluten sensitivity, [10] but more research is needed.
Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made foods, having been of significance since the dawn of agriculture, and plays an essential role in both religious rituals and secular culture.
Sourdough or sourdough bread is a bread made by the fermentation of dough using wild lactobacillaceae and yeast. Lactic acid from fermentation imparts a sour taste and improves keeping qualities.
Dough is a thick, malleable, sometimes elastic paste made from grains or from leguminous or chestnut crops. Dough is typically made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid and sometimes includes yeast or other leavening agents, as well as ingredients such as fats or flavorings.
Pumpernickel is a typically dense, slightly sweet rye bread traditionally made with sourdough starter and coarsely ground rye. It is sometimes made with a combination of rye flour and whole rye grains.
Rugbrød is a very common form of rye bread from Denmark. Rugbrød usually resembles a long brown extruded rectangle, no more than 12 cm high, and 30–35 cm wide, depending on the bread pan in which it is baked. The basic ingredient is rye flour which will produce a plain or "old-fashioned" bread of uniform, somewhat heavy structure, but the most popular versions today contain whole grains and often other seeds such as sunflower seeds, linseeds or pumpkin seeds. Most Danes eat rugbrød every day.
A bread making machine or breadmaker is a home appliance for baking bread. It consists of a bread pan, at the bottom of which are one or more built-in paddles, mounted in the center of a small special-purpose oven. The machine is usually controlled by a built-in computer using settings input via a control panel. Most bread machines have different cycles for different kinds of dough—including white bread, whole grain, European-style, and dough-only. Many also have a timer to allow the bread machine to function without operator input, and some high-end models allow the user to program a custom cycle.
Quick bread is any bread leavened with a chemical leavening agent rather than a biological one like yeast or sourdough starter. An advantage of quick breads is their ability to be prepared quickly and reliably, without requiring the time-consuming skilled labor and the climate control needed for traditional yeast breads.
Rye bread is a type of bread made with various proportions of flour from rye grain. It can be light or dark in color, depending on the type of flour used and the addition of coloring agents, and is typically denser than bread made from wheat flour. Compared to white bread, it is higher in fiber, darker in color, and stronger in flavor. The world's largest exporter of rye bread is Poland.
A ferment is a fermentation starter used in indirect methods of bread making. It may also be called mother dough.
Pain de campagne, also called "French sourdough", is typically a large round loaf ("miche") made from either natural leavening or baker's yeast. Most traditional versions of this bread are made with a combination of white flour with whole wheat flour and/or rye flour, water, leavening and salt. For centuries, French villages had communal ovens where the townsfolk would bring their dough to be baked, and the loaves weighed from 1.5 to 5.5 kilograms (3–12 lb). Such large loaves would feed a family for days or weeks, until the next baking day.
In cooking, proofing is a step in the preparation of yeast bread and other baked goods in which the dough is allowed to rest and rise a final time before baking. During this rest period, yeast ferments the dough and produces gases, thereby leavening the dough.
Vienna bread is a type of bread that is produced from a process developed in Vienna, Austria, in the 19th century. The Vienna process used high milling of Hungarian grain, and cereal press-yeast for leavening.
Salt-rising bread is a dense white bread that is traditional in the Appalachian Mountains, leavened by naturally occurring wild bacteria rather than by yeast. Salt-rising bread is made from wheat flour; a starter consisting of either water or milk and corn, potatoes or wheat; and minor ingredients such as salt and sugar.[1] Some common ways of eating salt-rising bread include a slice with sugared coffee poured over it, a grilled cheese sandwich, and the most popular preference, buttered toast.[1]
The sponge and dough method is a two-step bread making process: in the first step a sponge is made and allowed to ferment for a period of time, and in the second step the sponge is added to the final dough's ingredients, creating the total formula. In this usage, synonyms for sponge are yeast starter or yeast pre-ferment. In French baking the sponge and dough method is known as levain-levure. The method is reminiscent of the sourdough or levain methods; however, the sponge is made from all fresh ingredients prior to being used in the final dough.
Parāoa rēwena is a type of sourdough bread from New Zealand. The bread is leavened with a fermented potato starter that is commonly known as a bug. It originated amongst the Māori people and is closely associated with Māori cuisine. The bread is also known as Rēwena bread or Māori bread.
Bread was central to the formation of early human societies. From the Fertile Crescent, where wheat was domesticated, cultivation spread north and west, to Europe and North Africa, and east towards East Asia. This in turn led to the formation of towns, as opposed to the nomadic lifestyle and gave rise to more and more sophisticated forms of societal organization. Similar developments occurred in the Americas with maize and in Asia with rice.
Borodinsky bread or borodino bread is a dark brown sourdough rye bread of Russian origin, traditionally sweetened with molasses and flavored with coriander and caraway seeds.
Bread is a staple food throughout Europe. Throughout the 20th century, there was a huge increase in global production, mainly due to a rise in available, developed land throughout Europe, North America and Africa.
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