This Community Bake (CB) will feature Jeffrey Hamelman's Swiss Farmhouse bread. It is a full flavored bread with no sour flavor. The dough is leavened with a Raisin Yeast Water (RYW). And raisins and walnuts are used to enhance the flavor of the bread. Abe has been after me for a long time to try this bread. And after finally getting around to baking it I can fully appreciate his enthusiasm. The flavor is unique and I'm certain that all who bake it will agree...
For those that may not be familiar with our Community Bakes, check out the top paragraphs in this LINK, for a little background.
Jeffrey Hamelman has given us permission to post his copyrighted formula and instructions. The Swiss Farmhouse bread is taken from his book, BREAD: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes (second edition), by Jeffrey Hamelman. Copyright 2013. Published by John Wiley & Sons. If you don't own this book, it is an all time favorite on TFL and definitely one to consider.
For those that don't have access to the book, the formula and instructions will be posted on the Community Bake.
Since this particular bread utilizes Yeast Water (YW) for the leaven, it seems best to host the bake it 2 parts. Part 1 will detail the instructions to make your own YW using only Raisins and water. It is much more simple to make than a sourdough starter and is generally mature and ready to use in 5 days or less. Everyone, including bakers that use commercial yeast are encouraged to participate. NOTE - the actual bake (Part 2) is scheduled to begin Friday, August 9.
By-the-way - any kind of yeast water will do...
Once your yeast water is active see THIS LINK for the formula and instructions to bake the bread.
Instructions to make a Raisin Yeast Water Starter, by Jeffrey Hamelman.
At least 5 days before the bake, soak 74 grams (2.6 ounces) of raisins in 179 grams (6.3 ounces) of cholrine free water. Organic raisin are preferred. Any additives or preservatives in the raisins should avoided. Cover and leave at warm room temperature (75-80F). White mold normally begins to cover the surface of the raisins, an indication that the liquid is ready. Occasionally, however, no mold is visible. Once the ferment starts to actively bubble and the smell is sweet and has a tangy aroma, it should be ready and the dough mixing process can begin. If your YW is ready before you want to bake, it can be left out on the counter for a few days, or stored in the refrigerator for much longer storage. NOTE - YW is not nearly as finicky as a sourdough starter and requires very low maintenance. Like sourdough starters, some have kept their YW for years.
I am not an authority on YW, but those that are, will be available to answer your questions.
Abe sent me a link for a good teaching video about making a Raisin Yeast Water (RYW). https://youtu.be/vcfuUtbnteY
If you are new to YW, be prepared to have a blast...
Danny
Build 1 was mixed last night around 8:30 p.m. Noticing that many of the community bakers reported very long fermentation times for their first builds, I wanted to overnight it in the proofer where temps would probably be in the upper 70's°F. When I checked it nine hours later, at 5:30 a.m., it had tripled. Gotta admit, I'm pretty stoked by that :-) When complete, I'll probably record the bake in my blog.
For now, I have some questions about how to refresh YW specifically for a bake. Do you just take a couple teaspoons of YW and add it to a jar of fresh water and fruit – so it's pretty much the same as making a new YW except for the addition of a couple spoonsful of the old YW? Should you add Ascorbic Acid to the water again? (I assume not.) Once refreshed, how long should you wait before you use it? Is it still 5-6 days to allow the flavors to mature, or can you use it as soon as it gets a good "pffft" sound when you open the jar? I know these questions have already been answered on this forum, but a lot of the threads I've read seem discontiguous (if that makes sense) so I just want to make sure I'm pulling all the disparate bits of information together correctly. Thanks!
–AG
Hi AG,
We all have different approaches to it, I think. Some do do it like you describe above.
After using some YW I simply top it up with water and replace all the fruit with fresh fruit. I'm very casual about it - I do it by eye. If the YW isn't used for 2 weeks then it will need to be fed, so what I simply do is strain out old fruit and replace the fruit. Mine stay in the fridge all the time. I don't mind the sediment at the bottom accumulating, but other bakers do.
-Jon
Ah! So using it straight from the fridge after three days of storage was fine. Thank you, Jon!!! It seems to have worked a treat, so I'm psyched.
Unfortunately, the dough's timelines haven't been terribly predictable and my schedule is also now taking unexpected turns, so this bake might not end up working out. But who knows? This project has been one surprise after another and so much fun that I won't mind doing it all again when I have the luxury of time.
–AG
YW preferments last a long time in the fridge, even when somewhat developed. I'm just starting to realize the potential of it, but I've made bread with a week old preferment a few times now and it mostly works out well. So, unlike a sourdough levain there is reduced gluten breakdown as it doesn't become as acidic.
This could maybe help with the scheduling. And as others have said YW preferments stay at peak for a long time so there is also less time pressure there.
.
I’ve had the same YW for years. I do as Jon and top it off with water and remove old fruit and add new at that time. My different actions are that as long as fruit is floating I do not remove it. I have again started adding fresh orange peel which preserves the freshness of the YW a very long time. I usually take out the sludge from the bottom when I refresh but as noted in my pictures I get fantastic growth without refreshing and by using some of the sludge as well. You should never tighten the lid , you should always aerate the mixture . You want an aerobic product not anaerobic! No alcohol formation. Fizzing does not denote yeast formation.
my YW had fantastic growth yesterday there is no fizz at all and hasn’t been refreshed in about two weeks? Would have to look back.
hope this helps
Hi, Trailrunner. I've definitely been laboring under a few misapprehensions regarding yeast water. I thought fizzing and floating fruit were pretty much required. Also, I stirred the refrigerated YW before using it in Build 1, but then remembered reading that the sludge contains many dead yeast cells. I was afraid I compromised the dough and was prepared to wake up to an unrisen Build 1 this morning. I was happy to find it had risen quite well. I'll grab a couple oranges when I replenish my apple supply. Adding citrus peel makes total sense and feels so much better than adding Ascorbic acid to the water.
I've seen many of your lovely bakes over the years and am thrilled to have the benefit of your advice. Many thanks for sharing!
–AG
but I labored under the " dead yeast" sludge misinformation for a LONG time !!! It wasn't until the proof was shown here that it actually has potential for growth and isn't dead at all that I started building a levain from it.I only do one feeding as I haven't found it needs more. . I am amazed at how my levains have been acting. I went ahead and fed my poor underused SD levain before I left last week on vacation. :) It's been my buddy for years and I don't want to lose it.
I have often put both a SD levain and a YW levain in my breads as we don't like sour. It works great. I also sometimes just put the YW in and don't make a levain out of it. That also works. I sometimes make a YW levain and then add in YW as part of the water component in my breads. It all produces wonderful bread and it has one thing in common...it all tastes great!!
There is/was a YW forum that I joined years ago and had to stop posting and reading as there was so much misinformation on there. The biggest kick they all got was to tightly seal it up and then let it explode out all over everywhere to prove how potent it was. Sigh...they were making alcohol . As we all know when our SD levain makes " hooch" and smells like alcohol it is hungry. A fresh smelling YW is a healthy YW.
Looking forward to your bakes !!! c
My over 1.5 year old unfed (unloved) grape yeast water is coming to life. I decided I’d see how quickly it can be revived so poured off the supernatent and discarded the 1.5 year old grapes and sludge at the bottom of the jar. I sliced not organic grapes in half and placed them in a jar with the supernatent from the original yeast water and then topped it off with filtered water. 36 hours later most of the fruit is floating and we have a decent amount of bubbles. I expect by 48 hours it will be quite fizzy. Oh I forgot that I added a tsp of sugar for extra fuel for the yeast because I think I should have had more grapes than I had on hand.
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I’m not sure what I’m going to do with the yeast water yet. It seems that you need to do two levain builds to use it, but I can achieve a non sour dough with a single build if I do a stiff sweet levain so that is actually easier. However, I might get more grapes if this chugs along well and allow it to fully ferment and eventually get it to become grape vinegar. Just a thought I had but I haven’t decided for sure yet.