How to Make Wild Yeast Bread & Why It Works

Wild Yeast For Bread Baking - How To Make Wild Yeast Bread

Baking bread with wild yeast is sort of like baking with sourdough - in that we are cultivating a colony of wild unknown yeast and bacteria in order to bake bread. But in most cases the wild yeast water method gives you a ‘cleaner’ and less acidic taste more like what you would get with a commercial bread baking yeast.
However - as with all wild and unknown yeast strains… it might not always work out.

For this experiment I grabbed a handful of grape vines and partially dried grape clusters from the vines in our backyard. Put the vines into a mason jar with about 600 mL of distilled water, and a teaspoon of sugar. Gave this a shake and let it sit (loosely covered) on the counter for a few days. I gave it a swirl whenever I walked by, and added a tsp of sugar each day to feed the yeast. After 4-5 days I had a viable yeast colony to bake with; I also did the same thing with a hand full of raisins. After your colony is established you can remove the grape vines (or whatever fruit you used), and re-fill the jar with the same amount of water you take out to bake with. Feeding every week with a small amount of sugar - 1 tsp - keeping it in the fridge will slow down activity and extend the time between feeding.

You will need to watch, learn, and listen to your wild yeast water colony - because every one will be different. There isn’t a one size fits all group of instructions that will guide you through this process of creating yeast water.

Over time the make-up of the yeast colony will change; every time you open the jar new yeast will be introduced and the flavour will imperceptibly shift. The same thing happens with sourdough - that ‘100 year old’ starter that people brag about tastes nothing like it did 100 years ago… or even 5 years ago.

You could use just about any dried fruit, flowers, herbs, twigs…
But don’t use these fruits because they have an enzyme (Actinidain) that will destroy / prevent gluten development in your bread: Mango, Pineapple, Banana, Papaya, and Kiwi.

Eventually the colony will give up and die - letting you start over with some other flower or herb you might find in your backyard.

The bread recipe is pretty straightforward:

Day 1 Poolish / pre-ferment Ingredients:
250g all-purpose flour
250 mL yeast water (room temp)

Day 2 Final Mix Ingredients:
250g all-purpose flour
125 mL water 40ºC (100ºF)
10g salt
All of the polish from day 1

Bread bakers %
Total flour: 100%
Total water: 75%
Salt: 2%

Method:
On day one; make the polish by combining the flour and yeast water.
Cover with a lid or tea towel, and leave at room temperature for 12 -18 hours.

On day two; in a large container, mix together the flour, water, salt, and polish from day one into a ragged dough; cover and let rest 20 minutes.
Uncover and ‘fold’ the dough; wet your hand and grab a piece of dough from underneath and fold over the top.
Turn the container slightly and fold again; repeat around the container 6-8 times then recover and let rest 10 minutes.
Uncover and repeat the folding process two more times - a total of 3 folds: fold at 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and 40 minutes.
After the third fold, cover and allow to rise until tripled in bulk which could take 3-4 hours.
Dust a proofing basket, and lightly flour part of your workbench.
Carefully tip the dough out of the container onto the floured workbench; without deflating it too much.
Repeat the folding process, then flip the dough over onto an unfloured surface.

Carefully move the dough ball to the proofing basket seam side up.
Cover and let proof around one hour.
Preheat a cast iron Dutch oven or challenger Bread Pan in your oven to 450ºF.
After proofing, carefully turn the dough out on to your lightly floured counter and then transfer seam side down to the Dutch oven.
Score the top of the loaf with a lame of a knife.
Bake with the lid on for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and bake 20 - 30 more minutes.
The bread is done when it registers at least 190ºF internally, but I usually bake until around 205ºF.
Remove to a wire rack and let cool 20 minutes before slicing.

#LeGourmetTV #GlenAndFriendsCooking

[GlenAndFriendsCooking]

Oops - This went live on the wrong day, and I haven't completed the write-up yet... working on it.

[Chyeld]

For those asking about the list of fruits you need to avoid - the enzyme in question is called actinidain and is found in mango, pineapple, kiwi and papaya fruit among others.

[callumalden]

Glen, you inspired me. I live in the North Western Highlands of Scotland (looking across to the Isle of Skye). I'm sure you'll like the sound of this; after watching your video I plodded across the peat and heather to collect some water from a burn - a tiny wee river that flows from a loch on top of a nearby hill - to use in my sourdough starter. After a little research re. the use of heather for producing ale and Meade by the Pictish people (earliest Scottish Celts) I decided to bung some heather in a jar and see what happens. Something happened! I've added some delicious organic, stone ground bread flour and I'll continue to top-up the starter over the next few days with water 'off the hill'. I've also done a 'V2' using a wholegrain flour from an artisanal mill, so that's exciting. Thanks for the inspiration. All the best to you!

[charlenerogers]

There is no fruit listed in the down box

[AdamTheKluga]

Hah, I've been there with bannetons! I *believe* the trick of the trade is to "season" them. I didn't do so with my first set and yep - everything stuck. You can season them by hitting them with a few sprays of water and following it a coating of flour. Do that a few times and the inside of the baskets should start to form a stick-proof crust.

Also, using a gluten-free flour (e.g. rice flour) is great to use for proofing in a banneton as it won't want to adhere to your dough! 😃

[misterquinion]

Challenger Bread Pan for the win. It will elevate your bread baking to new heights.

[singediabolique]

I did the raisin yeast loaf a couple of years ago, Almost exactly what you did here. I saved a little of the poolish and used it to make a sourdough starter and she is going strong today. I named her Sheena Yeaston.

[peshgirl]

Midnight post... Probably an accident. Gonna watch anyway!

[iakkatz]

middle of the night posts. I'm all for it. I'm a night owl anyway. We recently started using our bread machine as a dough maker and baking our bread in the oven. The bread comes out bigger and we shape it to a more usable shape. That paddle always got in the way. That Challenger pot might just be the thing for proper loafs.

[thecalicoheart]

This was absolutely fascinating. Thank you Glen. I love how you own yourself enough to leave in your ‘learning opportunities’. I really appreciate it. I learn so much from you. God bless you Glen. 😁🙏

[ChallengerBreadware]

This is awesome, Glen! Love the demo and wild yeast water!

[Narchi]

Hi Glen, im a baker from denmark, i just wanna say that these videos with bread baking are my favorite :)

[danm.]

This is super interesting, really wasn’t expecting the grapes 🍇

[robkorczak]

Oh cool, midnight episode. Don't know why but wild yeast has always fascinated me.

[johnhanes]

I put my dough into a cold pan in a cold oven. The time it takes to come up to temperature gives it a great oven spring. For my sourdough loaf I use two regular bread pans, one for the loaf and the other for the lid to keep the steam in. I remove the top about half way into the baking to brown the crust. It looks like you will have a constantly evolving sourdough starter eventually that reflects your regional mix of natural micro organisms. Very interesting project.

[Blaine]

I got into bread making last spring... apparently thousands of people had this idea at the exact same time, so a lot of things where hard to come by for a while. So to make due without a banneton I started using cotton duck cloth -- I kinda make a hammock shape in a loaf pan and then clip the cloth in place with paper clamps. Coat it with flour and it works great. Also it's easier to transfer the bread onto parchment paper first instead of directly to the pan. This will let you adjust the position pf the bread in the pan. (In keeping with the office supply theme, I started using an old clipboard as a peel. Instead of taking the hot pan out of the oven, I leave it in and slide the loaf on its parchment paper into the oven.)

[rcsutter]

Man that bread looks amazing. I love fresh homemade bread, however you make it. Just some butter and honey, or a bowl of chicken noodle soup on the side to dunk it in, I'm in heaven!

[WisdomCalls]

I really liked this because they didn’t turn it into sour dough by letting the bacteria take over. I dislike sourdough and was looking for a way to use wild yeast. Thanks!

[PewPewPark]

Based on the crumb of the loaves I think I prefer the raisins. Looks more uniform for spreading home made jam on. This is really cool though and definitely want to try this out. There has been times I was really down and out and ate flour, water and a little salt, a bit of sugar if I was lucky in a super dense flat bread with some peanut butter. Had I known how easy getting yeast to make much better bread was... thank you for this video. 👍🏼

[thedeceptivekhan]

I love that you left the failure in the video. A great reminder to everyone that success is not linear and failure will teach you the lessons required for success. Good on yah Glen. Great video as always.