My Yeast Mother

Preparing sourdough at home is simple and cheap, you only need two ingredients and lots of care.

Ingredients:

• Flour type 00 200g
• Honey 5g
• Water 100mL

Tools:

• glass container 
• a cloth
• an elastic
• a sieve 
• a spatula 

Preparation:

In a glass container put 200g of sifted flour and a spoonful of honey (about 5g). Work well with your hands, adding a little at a time 100mL of lukewarm water (< 30°C) until you obtain a very soft and a little sticky dough. We transfer the mixture into a glass jar similar to those used for preserves, of medium size. We close it with a damp cloth and an elastic band and let it rest for 48h at about 20-25°C. 

After about two days we check that the volume of the dough has grown and that the rising bubbles have formed, at this point the mother dough will be ready. We can use part of it directly, while a part needs to be refreshed to keep the growth active. 

Advice:

• The sourdough is ideal for pizzas and bakeries for its lightness and high digestibility and especially for complex doughs.

• For bread, pizza and other leavened products you generally need about 50g of sourdough dough every 500g of flour and 350g of water.

Refreshment and preservation procedure:

 After the initial growth we keep the glass jar in the refrigerator at about 4°C to maintain a low but constant growth and we refresh once a week. For refreshment, we need an equal amount of sourdough dough and type 00 flour, which is a fresh source of nourishment for the yeast. We knead them together, adding water, until they have a consistency similar to the initial mixture.