No-knead wild yeast bread: It's a Yeast water bread recipe

By now you would know how obsessed I am with wild yeast-leavened bread. In the last post, I shared my experiments with making wild yeast water. This post is in continuation with the previous one. I will be sharing my easy no-knead wild yeast water bread recipe that is made using raisin yeast water.

Estimated reading time: 13 minutes

It's the same method that people have been using for centuries to make bread. Before the sale of commercial yeast started, people have been making bread recipes with sourdough starter, yeast water starter, potato yeast, homemade yeast cakes, etc.

The convenience and dependence on commercial yeast have made us ignorant of these traditional methods. I think we must learn them and pass them on to our next generations.

We never know when times like this pandemic will fall on us and we might not be able to source the instant yeast or active dry yeast from the grocery stores. So, in case you are interested in learning about how to capture the wild yeast using fruits, do read the previous post.

Just a reminder that by wild yeast I am not referring to the sourdough starter here. Though it is also a wild yeast starter, we are specifically referring to the wild yeast captured from the dry fruits.

Talk about how to make wild yeast water.

How to make wild yeast water?

The method to capture the wild yeast from our surroundings is pretty straight and forward. We select organic fruits like apple, blueberry, dry figs or raisin, etc. Put them in filtered water and let them ferment. With minimal daily feeding and maintenance, we will have wild yeast water ready in 5-7 days depending on various factors. I have a complete post on this.

What are the two methods to make yeast water bread?

There are two ways that you can use to make wild fruit yeast bread using yeast water.

One way is to make a starter from it and maintain it lifelong like a sourdough starter. And continue making bread recipes with the starter yeast. While the other one is an exhaustive method.  Here we directly use the yeast water to bake bread and after 2-3 bakes the yeast water is consumed completely.

Let us discuss these methods in detail:

Method 1: Making bread recipes with starter yeast

In this method, we make a yeast water starter to make bread. Preparing a yeast water starter and maintaining it just like maintaining and feeding the sourdough starter.

We mix equal quantities of flour and yeast water to prepare a starter.  Now we let it ferment until it doubles in size. We can use it to leaven any kind of bread, once it matures after a few feedings.

The process is very similar to sourdough starters. We keep discarding the excess and giving fresh feeding to the starter.

 (But you know I'm not in favor of discarding. So, my recommended way of baking with a yeast water starter is discard-free, once it matures a bit.)

Maintaining and feeding the yeast water starter:

Note: This maintenance and feeding schedule will benefit you if you bake once a week

Day 1: You prepare a yeast water starter ( mix equal quantities of yeast water and whole wheat flour) and let it rise.  Maintain the starter at room temperature for about 4-5 days. After that, when the starter is at its maximum activity and has matured a bit, we will use a part of it to make bread.

And we will feed the rest of the starter with equal quantities of flour and yeast water.

Then we will put it in the fridge. You can let it cold ferment for up to a week in the fridge, if you want.

After 7 days: Then, after seven days, we take out the starter from the fridge and let it come to room temperature.

Feed it and take the amount required for making the bread, when it peaks. We feed the remaining starter with flour and yeast water that was refrigerated( if you are left with it).

Mix and keep back in the fridge.

After 14 days: Repeat the process. By the third week, you must have finished your yeast water.

 So from next week, just add filtered water and flour to feed the starter and maintain it just like a sourdough starter. There is no need to make the yeast water again.

This is a more sustainable method. It will give you a wild yeast starter resting in your fridge that you can use to bake whenever you want.

 The main disadvantage of this method is that it takes a lot of time for fermenting the bread. Especially in the initial few weeks, until the starter becomes stable and sturdy. So, it is a game of patience if you bake with the new starter using a standard starter percentage of 10-20 percent. I recommend maintaining the starter at room temperature for the initial 4-5 days so that it matures a bit.

Please note that: With time your yeast water starter will become sourer and tart like a sourdough starter. By the time I mean somewhere around 4-5 months. And if you have a problem with that, just make another batch of fruit yeast water and repeat the process.

Recipe for making wild yeast starter

• Take 70 grams of the raisin yeast water and add 70 grams of whole wheat flour.
• Mix and let it rest on the kitchen counter. Depending on your ambient kitchen temperature and concentration of yeast culture inside the yeast water, it will take anywhere from 4-7 hours to double in volume.
• When it has doubled in volume, take out about 70 grams of the starter and feed the remaining 70 grams with 70 grams of whole wheat flour and yeast water.
• Repeat the process until you deplete the yeast water and then maintain it like a sourdough starter. Replenish with flour and filtered water. By day 4-5 you will have a stable starter.

Method 2: Making bread recipes with wild yeast Levain

This is sort of an exhaustive method. If you want to just bake a loaf or two with the wild yeast that you captured, you can use this method.

In this method, we use the fruit yeast water to just prepare a levain for the wild yeast bread and refrigerate the rest.

We use the remaining water whenever we want to bake another bread. And once the water is almost finished, we will start again by making the fresh yeast water. We use a little bit of the remaining yeast water to initiate the fermentation process. This makes new yeast water very quickly.

As you can see, this method requires making the yeast water again and again. This method is particularly helpful when you are not looking for a sour fermented flavor in your bread. Unlike the bread made with method 1, the bread made with this method tastes very similar to the commercial yeast-leavened bread.

Also, making bread with this method is much quicker as we use a large quantity of yeast water to make levain, it eventually speeds up the bread fermentation in comparison to the starter method.

So, based on your needs and choices, choose the method that suits you the best.

Instructions

This is the method that we will use to make our no-knead wild yeast bread. The purpose of choosing this method is to make quick bread. Not as quick as instant yeast, but pretty close when compared with wild yeast starter bread. Let us discuss the entire method in detail.

Ingredients for making yeast water levain

• 124 g whole wheat flour
• 284 g yeast water

Process:

• Into a bowl, I add ⅓ of the total flour to be used in the recipe for making the levain. In this particular recipe, I start by measuring 124 g of whole wheat flour. You can use all-purpose or bread flour (adjust the hydration accordingly). Whole wheat flour has more bran, hence it has a good concentration of naturally occurring yeast. It is neither bleached nor highly refined. So, an ideal flour for creating a starter or levain with wild yeast. Rye flour is also a good option, but probably not ideal to use as ⅓rd flour in a no-knead bread.

• Then, I hydrate it with the 284 g of room temperature yeast water. Combine well to incorporate water into the flour and make sure it is well combined with no dry flour patches. I cover it and let it ferment until it doubles up.

Mine took about 4 hours ( in late spring, California)  to rise and become bubbly. The time may vary. So, watch for levain to become a bit bubbly, and you can start making the bread.

No-kneading/ just combining all the ingredients and bulk rising

I have used a combination of bread flour and whole wheat in this wild yeast bread recipe.

• When the levain is ready, combine the rest of the flour, water, and salt. Mix with the back of a wooden spatula until everything comes together and becomes a dough. Use hands towards the end if needed.
• Cover with a cling wrap or a kitchen towel and put it in the refrigerator for bulk rising overnight.

Since the dough has not been kneaded there will not be much strong gluten structure. But cold fermentation does help with gluten development.

Shaping and proofing

• By the next morning, the yeast water bread dough would have doubled in volume. Take it out of the fridge and remove it onto a flour-dusted work surface.
• Dust your hands with some flour and collect the edges to pre-shape the dough. Collect the edges from sides and tuck them at the center over one another. Now grab the lower edge and fold it over the dough and flip the dough over in a way that it is resting on the surface with all the seams facing down.

• Let it rest for 5 minutes. Before doing the final shaping of the dough.
• For shaping the dough, dust your hands and the work surface around the resting dough. Flip the dough with the seam sides now facing you.
• Stretch the edges outward and tuck them one over the other. Now grab the lower edge, stretch toward yourself and tuck it at the center. Repeat the same with the top edge. Now, gently flip the dough. Using your hands pull the dough gently toward you, to build tension on the surface. Rotate the dough, 90 degrees, and again pull towards yourself.
• Now using a dough scraper, gently lift the dough and flip into a proofing basket or a bowl with flour-dusted linen.
• Let the dough proof until it doubles in size. It's important to note that no-knead bread does not get much oven-spring. Reason; not well-developed gluten structure, of course. The same is the story with our wild yeast bread. In such scenarios, our best bet is to let the dough proof well enough that it would yield fluffy bread.

In other words, you can say that the no-knead bread should be proofed much more than an ideal lean bread.

Baking and slicing

• Now, preheat the oven to 500 ⁰F and place the Dutch oven inside. Gently transfer the dough onto parchment paper. I like to put a slash on the loaf, to prevent uneven cracking all over the surface and also give the bread some guide to rise along.

• Bake covered for 20 minutes. Remove the lid and bake at 450 ⁰ F for another 20-22 minutes until the loaf becomes brown.
  
• Let the loaf cool completely before slicing. Please note that the hot bread is still cooking, so give it some time before you start to slice.

Is wild yeast bread healthy?

Yes, wild yeast bread is healthier than the baker's yeast-leavened bread. Though the nutrition profile of wild yeast bread and wild yeast bread is very similar. But the bread that is fermented with wild yeast has higher levels of folates and antioxidants.

 Also, it has lower phylates levels. Phylates form complexes with various minerals and other nutrients and hence hinders their absorption. Since wild yeast bread has a lower level of phylates, it allows better nutrient absorption.

Some Frequently asked questions

• How to make yeast water with fruits?
  
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Happy wild yeast baking!

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