A New Take on Sourdough with Yeast Water

Maybe "new" isn't absolutely on the mark, but for me, this came as a shot from left field. What am I talking about? 

Yeast Water.

I have to believe that I am not the only bread baking person who hasn't heard of this before, and the whole idea came to me in such a roundabout and serendipitous way that I am sure I was just "meant" to find it. I was still working on my bread cookbook, and it was coming to a close. For some unknown reason, I was dragging my feet on finalizing the project, and it had been days since I really did anything with it. And then, I came to a point I thought, "Okay, I have to finish this already!" And with that said, I thought I'd take a look at "The Rye Baker," by Stanley Ginsberg, just to see if there was a blank page in between the last recipe and the Index. Simple enough thing, right?

Sourdough Ciabatta with Yeast Water

There was not a blank page there, but there were a few pages that dealt with things like resources, and one of the resources was blogs that he frequented, both for ideas and for reference. One of these was for a baker in Switzerland, no less, with " . . . a wealth of information of sourdoughs and Swiss regional breads." The blog is Bernd's Bakery (berndsbakery.blogspot.ch).

I love things foreign. I always have. Things from foreign places fascinate me, so I immediately went to check out the blog. Of course it is in German, so that posed a problem. I tried Google Translate, and that left rather more than a little to be desired, but then I realized that the English version of the recipes is right there, just further down the page. All right! After perusing the first page, I looked at the menu bar and chose "Bread Baking with Wild Yeast." After all, Stanley Ginsberg referenced sourdough right there in his Resources. And there I came to a halt and stared. Was I seeing this correctly? He talked of "Yeast Water." And I felt like a fish out of water. I am fairly knowledgeable on bread baking terms. So what the heck was this, then?

Yeast Water?

I read about this phenomenon in that Swiss blog. Then, I opted to just Google "yeast water" and see if anything came up. The very first place that came up was a blog called Drive Me Hungry (drivemehungry.com/yeast-water). Here it is all explained in American English, and this blog showed how the yeast water is made and how it is used. Do check it out - so very worthwhile and so easy. I looked at a couple more places, but this one was sufficient. It all seemed too easy to be for real, but I am always game for something new. I went to the kitchen (about 10 steps away) and got out some figs, sugar, water and a container and mixed them together in a container. Three days later my yeast water was ready.

So, What IS Yeast Water?

Sourdough Ciabatta

Yeast water is fruity, fermented water that can stand in quickly to make a
sourdough starter. No muss, no fuss, and best of all, no waste. Simply a mix of (preferably organic) raisins, figs, or other dried fruit, filtered water and a small amount of sugar. Mix well, cover and set aside. Shake or stir vigorously morning and evening and once the fruit is floating and there are lots of bubbles, plus the lovely fruity fermented smell, it is ready. Strain out the fruit (use them in a recipe if desired, instead of tossing), then keep the fermented water in the fridge till needed. 

With a regular sourdough starter, it must be fed to become active. A flour and water mixture is added to existing starter and left to ferment. But unless you throw out some of the initial starter, you end up with gallons of it. And if your starter is pretty dormant after too long in the fridge, this process is repeated over a series of days until the starter is very actively bubbly. Each time, you are tossing a portion of the starter, then needing to use yet more flour and water to refresh. 

With yeast water, in order to have a nicely bubbly and active batch of starter, all that is needed is to combine equal portions  - by weight - of flour and fermented yeast water. No waste. After a few hours at room temperature, it is as bubblingly active as you could ever want. No discarding anything. This has long been a bugaboo of mine - the waste of flour. Especially last year, with all the grocery shelves bare and flour in short supply. 

When I first created my wild yeast sourdough starter from scratch in South Dakota, it worked exactly as the recipe said, in Peter Reinhart's "The Bread Baker's Apprentice." It was perfect. It bubbled and grew, just as it was supposed to do. Since moving to Arizona, where I opted to recreate a sourdough starter from scratch rather than try to bring an active starter along with me. For whatever reason, though I followed the same recipe, did everything right, my sourdough starter is sluggish. No matter how many times I fed it, it would grow, but never very much.

With this yeast water, which fermented so quickly, I went on to use one of Drive Me Hungry's recipes for Sourdough Ciabatta. I mixed up the Poolish and set it to rise overnight. I mixed up the yeast water and flour and set to rise. Drive Me Hungry's recipe says to let the two starters ferment for 10 to 14 hours, depending on temperature. Well, we live in Arizona, so it's a lot warmer indoors than in Aberdeen. I have a suspicion it may have taken about 4 or so hours to ferment the starters, and next time I am planning to make the starters in the day and once risen, place them in the fridge overnight, to develop more flavors. That will be another post. By next morning the starters were huge. I made the bread and it turned out great. Though, with the very wet dough I had to haul out my baker's couche to support it while rising. All the flour needed on the couche made a thorough mess in my kitchen, then outdoors where I shook it out later, and all over my clothes (face, hair, feet) as the flour flew everywhere when I shook out the cloth. All that aside, I made the Ciabatta recipe and aside from needing a full cup more flour to make the dough even remotely clear the sides of the bowl, it came out perfectly, and it is delicious. 

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Rye Bread and Pineapple Pie

3 loaves of Caraway Deli Onion Rye

Been absent for a few days. Monday we took a drive down to Sioux Falls, so the day was gone between the drive and all. I did get to shop at TJ Maxx for the first time in 3 years, so I was really happy!

Meanwhile, I had continued with the progress toward finalizing the seed starter from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice", and the creation of the next stage; the Mother Starter. All this was described in the last couple of blog posts. Then, Tuesday morning I mixed up the first part of the sponge for the rye bread recipe I wanted to try. It called for using a cup of the "Starter" I had created (I divided up the rest into 1-cup amounts and froze then in zip-top bags) and adding in some rye flour and water, with the addition of 2 sauteed onions. 


Yesterday, finally, I made the bread. A few things worked differently than the book described. The dough did not pass the "windowpane test" after the 5 minutes of kneading. I had to knead for at least 5 more minutes. Then, it was just cool in the house yesterday, so the rising times went far over what was implied in the book. No problem; I just let it go and kept on with other things. Then once the bread was ready to bake, the recipe instructed baking for 20 minutes, turn the pans and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes, or until the internal temperature was between 185 and 195 degrees. Well - after the initial 20 minutes the bread was already at 203 degrees! 

Caraway Deli Onion Rye

Thank goodness I checked! I waited until the bread cooled before slicing, but it was the most wonderfully flavored rye bread I have ever had. The onion comes through just subtly and the crumb is soft and tender with a chewy crust. I just loved it, and now that the Starter is safely in the freezer, I can make more at any time.

Then, as I was testing recipes for another cooking demonstration scheduled for the end of June, I ended up with most of a fresh pineapple leftover. I have made Fresh Pineapple Pie for years and years past, but have not made it in the last 8 years or so, as I seemed to develop an allergic reaction to pineapple. It has been this long since I actually ate anything pineapple, so when I ate the fruit and veggie salad I had used the pineapple for the other day I found I no longer had a reaction. I decided to use the rest of the pineapple and make this pie again, so while the bread was in its varying rising stages I worked on the pie. The pastry was made early and refrigerated. Later on I came back to mix the fruit with its thickeners and then got the pie assembled. 

Fresh Pineapple Pie with Lattice Top Crust

I first started making this pie when I lived in Guatemala back in the 1970s. Pineapples were plentiful there and always sweet and delicious. Prior to going to Guatemala, the only pineapple I ever ate was from a can. At age 20, I had no idea you could eat it raw! When offered raw pineapple the first time it was a complete revelation. Then I had to learn to tackle cutting up a raw pineapple myself. Got that down. Then I started making this pie. Yum. so, here is the recipe for my most wonderful Fresh Pineapple Pie:

Fresh Pineapple Pie with Lattice Top Crust

Fresh Pineapple Pie

Makes one 9 1/2 or 10-inch pie

pastry for a double crust 10-inch pie
5½ cups fresh pineapple, in small chunks
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons quick-cooking tapioca
½ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons lemon or lime zest
1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice
1 tablespoon butter

In a large bowl, combine the pineapple. sugar, tapioca, salt, lemon zest and juice. Mix well and let stand for at least 15 minutes. 

Heat the oven to 400 degrees (375 on Convection). Roll half the pastry dough to ⅛-inch thickness and fit into a 9½- or 10-inch pie plate, allowing 1-inch of dough to hang over the edge of the plate. Roll out the second piece of pastry. If using a solid top crust, cut it to just the width of the top of the pie plate and leave this until you have poured the filling into the bottom crust. If you will be making a lattice top, first cut the rolled pastry into strips of about ½- to ¾-inch width, as shown below. 

Pour the pineapple mixture into the pastry lined plate. Level it evenly. Dot the top with about 1 tablespoon of butter, divided in small dabs all over. If using a solid crust, set the crust over the top of the fruit. Moisten the edge of the bottom crust and flip the 1-inch overhang up over the edge of the top crust. Press to seal and crimp the edges all around. Prick the top of the pastry with a fork of a knife to vent for steam. 

If you are making a lattice crust, first lay strips of the pastry in one direction over the top of the fruit so that they are about as far apart as the strips are wide (photo 2 in the series above, shown with an apple pie). Next, flip back every other one of these strips to just past half way. Lay one strip across (perpendicular) the others. Bring back the flipped sections to cover this first piece across (photo 3 above). Now flip back the alternate strips, so they are laying back over that first perpendicular strip (photo 4 above). Set another perpendicular strip across, about the same distance away from the last one as it is wide. Repeat, returning the flipped-back strips (photo 5 above).

Once you have made the lattice, working from the center out to one end, begin again from the center in the opposite direction, lifting every other strip back, setting another perpendicular strip (photo 1 below) Continue this process until the entire lattice is finished (photos 2 and 3 below). Have a cup of water handy and lift each of the edges of the lattice strips, moistening the place where each will rest and press the strips back into place. Now, bring the bottom crust overhang up and over the edges of the lattice (photo 4 below). Crimp the edges all around and you have a finished lattice top.

Set the pie into the oven and bake for about 45 minutes, until the crust is nicely browned and the filling is bubbling all around the edges.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Back to Yeast Waffles

Overnight Yeast Waffles

I can be very persistent. Just ask my husband!

When I made the waffles about a week ago, trying for a recipe that would be similar to Marion Cunningham's Yeast Waffles, well, it just took too long for the results. The result was wonderful after 3 days in the fridge. Great, if you are having guests and need something spectacular for breakfast and need things done ahead; not so much if you want relatively instant results. 

I consider overnight as "instant" because it is quick to mix up the night before and let it set out overnight. It is ready for use immediately, in the morning. Just add eggs and baking soda and presto - Waffle Batter! The recipe of last week used no time at room temperature to ferment. The fermentation was a long and very slow process in the fridge. I had come to expect the fermented yeastiness of M.C.'s Yeast Waffles. My batter of last week never had that. While it did finally come out tasting of yeast after 3 days in the fridge, it was not strong, nor fermented in flavor. So, I went back to the drawing board. I did some research into such things as sourdough starters, along with other recipes for yeast waffles. 

Batter bubbling away at 10 PM

10 PM: Batter risen considerably

I think these days everyone is so fearful of germs and food poisoning, they forget that sourdough comes from fermenting a yeast batter, generally at least starting out on the counter (as in NOT refrigerated). I read online and about everyone that had posted MC's Yeast Waffle recipe, now called for mixing the batter and then putting it in the fridge overnight. This will never give that great sour, fermented quality that is so unique to these waffles. It will give nice waffles, just not what I was looking for. Granted, it is possible to have a starter go bad; just not overnight. If ir did, it would become very obvious in that it will develop an off color, sometimes pinkish, and smell just wrong. There is no lovely fermented tang; it just plain stinks. 

Long, long ago, I had a sourdough starter going for some time. Once it was there bubbling away, I looked for recipes to use the starter. I made waffles and pancakes, bread and cake. The thing about a sourdough starter is that the longer it lives (as in, using a portion, then refreshing the remainder with more flour and water, so the fermentation is continuous), the more sour the flavor. The stronger the sour flavor, the more it comes through in what you make. Breads become quite tangy, and so do waffles and pancakes. At that point, I was not so enamored of the sourdough starter. I didn't want quite that much sour tang in my waffles or pancakes. So, what to do?

Here entered M.C.'s Yeast Waffle recipe - a real "a-HA!" moment. 

Note light through bubbles when held up to light

So, back to the reason for this post. I created another batter last evening. It is similar to M.C.'s Yeast Waffles. There are only so many things to change. You need certain proportions of flour, yeast, sugar, salt. Other additions are butter or oil, milk, eggs and baking soda. I lessened the amount of butter a bit, and added an egg. I added a pinch of powdered vanilla pod (I save the pod from a vanilla bean when I scrape the seeds, allow it to thoroughly dry, then pulse to a fine powder in a coffee grinder used just for this). A splash of good vanilla extract would be great also. I used nonfat dried milk powder. The batter really took off. I mixed it up at 8 PM. I checked it at 10 PM, before going to bed. It was merrily and actively bubbling away and had risen noticeably in the bowl. This morning, it was still bubbling, though more slowly, and had noticeably fallen in the bowl. This is normal, and expected.

Once I added the eggs and baking soda, I had my "Belgian" waffle maker going. I had never made this kind of waffle in the deeper welled waffle maker and was curious if they would rise to fill the spaces, as the dough is relatively runny. The deeper wells did fill, but I think it just works more nicely in a regular waffle iron. The dough baked into very light and crisp waffles with noticeable tiny bubbles baked into the waffle. They smelled heavenly of the yeasty tang and tasted even better. Success! 

Note height of batter in the bowl

Still bubbly, risen and fallen overnight

One more thing: I am baking bread and other wonderful yeasty things all the time, so I buy SAF Instant Yeast by the pound brick. Instant (or Rapid-Rise / Quick-Rise) Yeast requires no "proofing." If you have a packet of regular yeast, use 1/2 cup of the water called for, warmed separately, to proof the yeast. Save this mixture until the end of the mixing of the batter. I also do not keep milk in the house. I have instant dry milk powder or evaporated milk for those times I need milk for a recipe. If preferred, use 2 cups of milk when melting the butter. The other half cup of water can be added to the milk, or used to proof the yeast if needed.

Thin, gloppy batter

Overnight Yeast Waffles

2½ cups water
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
⅔ cup instant dry milk powder
1 packet of instant rise yeast (about 2 1/2 teaspoons)
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
½ teaspoon baking soda

Mix the water and butter in a microwave safe container and heat on short bursts to melt the butter without overheating the water. Make sure the water is just tepid before adding to the dry ingredients.

Separately, in a large, glass or plastic bowl, combine the flour, milk powder, yeast, sugar and salt. Add in the tepid water and butter mixture and stir well to combine. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to ferment overnight. (If it is very cold outside, you may place the bowl in the oven with the oven light on. Keep the bowl at the furthest point from the light as possible. Some oven lights make the oven too hot, and could hinder the process or kill the yeast.)

Next morning, set up a waffle iron. Add the eggs and baking soda to the fermented batter and whisk in to combine. Pour about ½ to ⅔ cup onto the waffle iron and bake according to directions; usually about 2 to 2½ minutes. Makes about 10 to 12 (7-inch round) waffles.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.