Baking without commercial yeast

Hi Nancy,  sorry to hear about your condition. 

You do not need yeast in those recipes, but may have to allow for more rising times.  A vigorous starter that is properly fed and refreshed 3-5 hours prior to baking will work fine.  First and second rises: Instead of doubling in 45 min to one hour with yeast, it can take 90 min to 2.5 hours depending on flour, temperature, conditions, etc.  Suggest looking at the sourdough and poolish entries that you will find in forums and search box, hundreds of posts.  There is no right way as you can get great results under a variety of methods.  A bit of study and practice and you will be rocking!  And you surely will prefer these breads given complexity, ease of digestion, more flavor, longer keeping and more.  This site has all you will need and will take you down many interesting paths!!

Good luck...

for sure, if you tolerate gluten...i made from scratch my own sourdough starter almost 3 years ago, and I now use also to make panettone, brioche bread, etc...here is the way i made it:

1) get an old glass jar and clean it very well

2) start pouring in it a small amount of unbleached or all purpose flour (say 50 gr, for istance) and about 25 gr of  lukewarm water (good quality water) stir well: you should get the consistency of a pancake batter and cover the jar with a lid (plastic wrap helps too) making sure some air may reach the mix you made it.

3) Let rest 24 hours at about 70-75 faranheit away from direct sunlight and wind.

4) repeat step 2 for at least 3 days more...always adding the quantities of flour and water I suggested ...do not be frightened if in the second or 3rd days your sourdough starter will smell something like rotten eggs...it doesn't mean you're failing something ..it's a part of the process

here in Quito, with an average room temp of 70 degrees, the first bubbles started to appear at the end of the second day..your house's temp will help or slow down the process, if a bit cold, try this trick: get a glass of water and get it to boil in the microwave (3-4 minutes)? then without taking out the glass of water put your jar of starter...well, i wish you good luck! It takes a quite a long time and patience, but the rewards will come in the future!! Happy weekend and baking from Quito. Paolo

pd: once you managed creating your starter, do not hesitate to write me about quantities to use to make bread, feeding  etc...best wishes :-)

Look around for threads about sourdough--there really are hundreds of them and many knowledgable people that will help you out.

For a good tutorial about making a starter, try this link  http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/233.

Good luck!

recovering.  I wouldn't rush into baking with yeasts, sourdoughs, or anything with molds or fungi while you're still even a little bit sensitive to them, wild or tame.

Bodies take time to heal and longer than we think.  We have to learn to be patient with ourselves.   Rushing into baking may seem smart but if the rash comes back, you may have twice as long to wait until you're baking with anykind of yeast again. 

Mini

My father was a baker with as many as 39 outlets.  I love baked goods and the hammer of discipline has fallen.

I have had symptoms for years but not until recently does it seem to be that I have candida.  I have have been trying oil of oregano for the last 4 days and it seems to be working.  It has anti-fungal properties.

I have been eating flat breads but they are rich in carbs which could add to the problem.

Good luck,

Al

That is exactly what I have always wondered! Yeast perishes at 140F. Spores are destroyed at 131F according to the National Institute of Health in the USA so a loaf of bread reaching an internal temp of 190-205F will kill all yeast and spores included. Real medical issues should have real science behind its medical recommendations.This is not the forum in which to discuss that.

The yeast species is so ubiquitous to our environment that if a person has a reaction to yeast, it is a tough problem to treat. There is absolutely NO WAY to avoid yeast in the environment/food but a good doctor (possibly an allergist) and nutritionist can help an individual with their reaction to it. Perhaps there needs to be more medical intervention and less amateur intervention to help the individual.  This is NOT a medical forum.

By the way-sourdough IS yeast! It just has a different "last name" than commercial yeast.Please see an accredited doctor for your unfortunate circumstances.

To answer your original question:

The baker can always bake using just sourdough or just commercial yeast or any combo thereof. The long, slow rise of the sourdough yeast builds flavor and the quick rise of the commercial yeast gives the baker a consistent and faster rise. My recipes are set up for sourdough but I often add some commercial yeast because I don't have enough time in my day. :)

Good Luck and Good Health.

You could simply skip the yeast entirely and use other leaveners like baking power or baking soday with buttermilk etc.  You could make biscuits, tortillas, pancakes, crepes, and other type of flour based baked goods to use as your sandwich breads.  There are also many recipes for quick breads that are savory rather than sweet, so that you could cut down on the sugar too.  No clue about the medical issues, but if it's simply yeast you need to stay away from then there are a lot of alternatives.

Joanne 

Just a thought - Granted, certain temperatures kill yeast, but that doesn't mean that the dead yeast is any less of an allergen. My allergy to dust mites exists whether the mite and his leavings are live, or not alive. I would suspect if one is allergic to yeast then you are allergic to it whether it has been killed, or if it is alive.

Sorry about your plight.

Also - I found a recipe in Grandma's old recipe book for Salt Rising Bread. It contains no yeast. It works from a starter based on potatoes, sugar, water, salt and cornmeal. The dough contains: milk, baking soda, water, shortening and salt + flour.

If you'd like the recipe, I'll post it here for you. I've not made it myself - but am intrigued and would like to make it someday.

This website got me on the track of making a starter: http://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/rye-sourdough-starter-in-easy-steps/
Only, my starter needed more than the 5 day indicated, I'd say another 5 days. So, 10 days altogether.

There is also a recipe for a sourdough only bread with simple instructions: http://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/san-francisco-style-sourdough-bread/

I introduced myself with a recipe of a multigrain ryebread (photos included): http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/28050/greetings-reykjavik-calling

Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Olof

Discard.  (that's a subtle order)  :)  

Keep in mind you are not cutting your starter or hurting it.  It is not one organism ("embryo") but many.  There are thousands of living single celled adult organisms in the culture and they demand to be fed or they will go catatonic.  (Discard into the compost where they can have all kinds of bio-fun!)  

It is better to reduce them in number and generously feed the remaining beasts than to try to feed them all only a little tiny bit (to keep a budget) and have the starter growth stall on you.  Remember to grow and maintain a culture for bread baking not take over the world.  If you don't discard, and feed the hungry bacteria and yeasts properly, you will soon have bathtubs of starter and it won't even be a stable yet.  (and where would you take a bath?)  

Stability improves with generations of healthy growth and so we have to keep their numbers in check.  Much of the mature starter is waste by-products (the more mature, the more waste) great for flavour but lousy for beasts to grow and stay active.  "Discard and clean their cage."

I feel it is pointless to save starter culture in this early stage to grow separately.  If you want two starters, divide the starter once it has proven itself to make bread.  

Mini Oven

Cheers Mini ....i have been punished anyway as starter flopped back to a stiff flat paste today day four ...might try water kefir if i can find some ...

Dont worry, i will promise to discard as instructed xxxx

Hey mini x went to have a taste but the smell stopped me x searching for water kefir in the hope i can cut down the time it takes to build a starter ...havent baked a single loaf yet..but i am making beef jerky xxx

I chucked it out as it was green...oops....we had two day cold snap and it shrunk back to one inch high with green bumps so i tossed it in the bin....so not a good move i am guessing ...?