First loaves from yeast water
With dabrownman's assistance I was able to successfully start my YW. I used organic raisins and organic apple with spring water. I did a small test batch of levain using 50 g YW and 50 g AP flour. Growth was evident in an hour and it tripled in 6 hrs. For this first test batch of SD I simply subbed all YW for the water in the formula. There is a lot of info on TFL about YW. RonRay has cataloged it in one post. He uses all YW for some of his breads in place of regular water. Other folks use only a TBsp or so with flour to make a levain. It is all good as far as I can tell . Will need a lot more trials to see how it goes over time.
The dough was stickier than it usually is. It also showed abundant growth during the autolyse time of 2 hr and also after each set of in the bowl s&f's and the 2 on the board s&f's. I shaped and left at room temp for 1 hr. I then retarded shaped loaves overnight. As you can see they held their shape well when removed from baskets. I placed cold slashed loaves in hot pots and baked covered 15 min as per my usual bakes and 15 uncovered. I will post crumb shots later today when we have these with conchiglie tutto giardino.
Crumb shots added. The crust is fantastic...after sitting unwrapped for several hours it is wonderfully chewy. The crumb is very tender and not sour at all. I am pleased with the crumb structure. Will see how it evolves as the YW gets stronger. Lots to explore. c
day 1 YW 
day 2 YW 
day 3 YW
day day 4 YW 
test
levain 
sunsets while waiting on YW 
retarded loaf just our of fridge 
turned out of basket 
fresh from oven 
Comments
I have never tried replacing all the water in a bake with YW and have always used it to make a levain. Have read RonRay's YW blog many times but using all YW never registered in my apprentices brain pan.. Can't wait to see your crumb shot after seeing that well browned, blistered, blooming (3B) crust.
You will love baking with YW and find all kinds of great breads and baked goods to put it in.
Happuy baking
You helped me so much dab ! I added crumb shots. The crust is wonderfully caramelized and chewy now that it has sat for several hours uncovered. The crumb is very tender, which I gather is the characteristic of YW breads. No sour at all. I took out most of the fruit and water and added all new and it is bubbling already. So I guess we are in the biz of YW !!! I appreciate all your help.
There are so many different ways to use YW...I saw several folks in the stuff that used it for all their water...had to read and read LOL. c
jar of YW you need to use it for all the liquid ......just so when the revenuers come they won't put you in jail for making un-taxed hooch - well not more than year or two for that amount:-)
Soft tender and moist crumb and the crust a beautiful thin chewy brownn when cool - That's YW all right, Now a baguette with YW and don't use any commercial yeast at all and no SD. You will be surprised....at how good it is.
Cinnamon rolls are to die for and use the left over fruits in it too... Delicious!
I will definitely try it with baguettes. I guess I am confused as to how long I should be leaving my YW at room temperature. As Janet notes below and I have noted I do get an alcohol smell now right away. So should I stop leaving it out at room temp ? Or as you said just for 4 hrs ? I changed out all the fruit one time so far and added back a bit of old water/fruit and then all new fruit. I wonder if I did it too soon. It was on day 5. I have tried adding in some honey also. Guess I have a mish mash for sure !
Janet appears to use a qt jar too ;) c
Beautiful looking loaf. I am curious to hear how the taste compares to a bread baked with your usual sd leaven.
RonRay, Akiko (telekeke) and several others left a wealth of knowledge here on how to make, use and store YW. The Japanese use YW a lot in their breads and Akiko did hours worth of translating to bring all the specifics out here for Ron and others to use. It was quite an ongoing process with lots of contributors chiming in to help create a whole picture. RonRay did a superb job in bringing all the information together in one cohesive whole.
I for one am hugely grateful for all that they did as I use YW regularly when I feed my whole grain leavens now. It helps to minimize the sour which can get very sour when using freshly milled whole grains. My leavens now are really nice smelling and work beautifully in my breads. For some of my loaves I do as you did and replace all the water with YW though I still do use my leavens as the primary leavening agent.
I have experimented with several fruits over the years and have ended up keeping 2 jars of YW going in my refrig. I bake daily so I alternate between using my raisin yeast water and my apricot yeast water. I used to keep an apple yeast water because I loved how it smelled and worked in my breads but found it a bit messier to maintain than the apricot and raisin YW so it got pre-empted….though recently I tossed a large slice of apple into each of my bottles just cuz my son left 2 pieces of apple sitting out on the counter…..Couldn't resist.
Glad to hear you were brave enough to give YW a try and love that you had such good results on your first bake! Hope you continue to experiment with it and share what you learn in the process.
Take Care,
Janet
The flavor is very different from that which I get with just my usual wild yeast culture. As you have noted there is no sour. What I did was just add all YW to my usual amount of wild yeast culture. The YW seems to completely cancel out all sour. Crumb is much softer and more tender. I love the chewy crust...very flavorful.
Do you use dried apricots for your YW? I assume no sulphur/organic.. I will have to give it a try.
My leavens are currently my primary also but I look forward to seeing if I can get this YW strong enough to raise the bread. I shall do as you do and try feeding my culture some of the YW too . Thanks for looking and the suggestions. I posted crumb shots.
Yes, organic dried apricots. I use a quart juice jar about 3/4ths full and I can't remember how many I used to get my YW started but now maintenance is easy and apricots make 'strong' YW.
I bake daily so when I build my leavens I simply use YW in place of all of the water.[i.e. 67:70:100 (seed:YW:flour)] I do 2 builds about 4 hrs apart prior to use. . I replace the amount of YW taken from the jar after each use so quantity remains constant. Since I alternate between my 2 YW it has time to inoculate the fresh water before being used again.
I keep 8 apricots in the jar at all times. This keeps the yeast that are present fed as well as providing new yeast when I change out the fruit. I change out the fruit (but keep the YW that is in the jar) about every 10 −14 days depending on the color of the water and it's fizz when shaken. If I don't have time to change out the fruit and the yeast look hungry I give them a bit of honey to eat which holds them over until fresh fruit arrives :)
Routine is the same with the raisins. I keep about 1/4 a cup of raisins in the jar. Used a lot more when I first got it started but that was over a year ago…. Both jars live on the shelf on the door of my refrigerator. Kept at room temp. that get an alcoholic aroma very quickly. In the refrigerator the aroma remains very fruity which I prefer.This stuff lasts and is really easy to maintain!
Nice crumb shot. Glad to hear you liked the flavor too.
Have fun experimenting with yours now that you have entered the YW world *- )
Take Care,
Janet
My YW is definitely getting an alcohol smell right away at room temp. I thought I needed to keep it at room temp at least for a while to get the yeasts to grow. I am using apple and raisins. If I pour off a lot of the water and add all new but keep the fruit the same for 2 weeks it will still inoculate the water ? Wow...only change out fruit about every 2 weeks. I already changed all the fruit on day 5 since it was all getting very soft and faded looking. But it has only been at room temp. The fruit was OK but pretty pale tasting. I wonder if it has just worked too hard at room temp. I think I will leave out the apple and just do raisins and try apricots too. Any tips you can give..such as how long do you leave out your YW after feeding the new fruit or after adding water to old fruit would be great ! Thank you..so much good info here . c
At room temp. you will have to feed much more frequently. (Think what happens to your leaven at room temp. Alcohol = hunger.)
When I first start up a YW I use about 1/3 fruit to 2/3 water in my jar. I have had these 2 jars going for over a year so I am approximating here….I think it took about 3-4 days at room temp. before life appeared in my jars. Once I knew there was life I moved them to my refrig.
Note that I am only using about 100g or less of my YW each day and the water removed is being replaced right away so the jar still has lots of live yeasties to keep it alive and well. I store more than I use based on when I used to have an aquarium. The ideal environment then was 1 fish per a gallon of water to keep things healthy. I want to make sure my yeasties have an environment large enough to keep them happy. My method seems to be working thus far so I have kept with it.
My fruit gets pretty spent too but takes longer. It is also an indication of how healthy the yeast are. If it is floating I know the yeast are producing enough CO2 to keep things strong. If they aren't - a change out of fruit in imminent. I fudge a bit with the apricots though because an apricots mass is huge in comparison with a raisin. Apricot YW - yeasties on steroids :- )
Sometimes after I refresh the fruit I will leave the jar out on the counter overnight - sometimes not. I just go by the looks of the YW remaining in the jar. If it looks weak (light colored) I leave it out. If it darker - it goes back into the refrig. Remember - the cold does not stop the yeast - just slows them down and mine have time to recover since they are each used alternate days.
My routine just kind of happened. Like David S. says - 'watch the bread not the clock' can be applied to your YW too though I use color and aroma as my guides - not a clock or specific day. If you continue to use yours you will find a routine that works for you. Like a leaven - YW are pretty hardy. I do think they get used to a routine just like my dogs do so my routine is what fits into my day and baking schedule.
Forgot to add. I set up all my baking supplies (mis en place) the night before a bake. THis includes my YW. The amount I need gets poured into an 8 oz. jam jar and it sits out at room temp. from the evening through the day that it is being used. Very versatile. I know room temp. won't 'spoil' it in that short of a time frame.
Hope this helps.
Take Care,
Janet
Welcome to the wonderful world of YW. I have baked several breads using YW to build a starter and in place of the water. Looks like you had success with your first attempt.
Cheers
Ian
I did indeed have good success. I simply used my old wild yeast starter in the usual amount and replaced all the water with the YW. I shall look forward to more explorations and try at some point to raise the bread with only YW. I know many have done it. Lots to explore. I posted crumb shots...I am pleased with how open it is. Thanks for looking. c
Congrats on the success of your yeast water culture and (delectable) bread.
I have neglected my YW for months now but if I recall correctly my YW comprised of loose tea leaves, mineral water, and honey, and was chilled for the majority of its existence. Judging from your description, though, it seems your YW was more active than mine... Makes me wonder if yeast is more prolific in fruit based YW compared to YW with tea leaves.
Keep up the great bakes and happy baking,
Zita
you must get your YW out and feed it ! Thank you for posting. I look forward to your bakes. c
I instinctively did exactly what you said ! Great minds and all that ;) I did see huge bubbling growth on 4th day and that is why I went ahead and used it. Worked great. I also was looking at the color and all fruit is always floating. I did put it in the fridge after changing out the fruit as I had an "ah ha " moment as you say and realized it grows just as my wild yeast does . Alcohol = starving ! So all is well and the bubbly stuff is in the fridge. I may well use less or more YW as I explore the world of YW. I do many of the formulas from Susan at Wild Yeast blog and she uses a large amount of levain. I also do some of David Snyder's formulas. I tend to not use any add ins...we like our bread very simple and go more for crust and crumb. I don't like to chew excessively in seeded breads, if that makes sense.
Thank you again for taking the time to respond. I confirms all that I was thinking and I shall proceed from here. I only bake once a week or once every 2 weeks now. I don't do the farmer's market that I was doing and it is just my husband and I so we can only eat so much. I shall post more in future. c
I have tried twice unsuccessfully starting a YW. Now based n Janet's input, I will be shopping for organic apricots and try it again. During both previous tries, I just had way too much other stuff going on and things got a little forgotten, but I have time now for this attempt.
Regards, Brian