Traditional Homemade Leaven Bread

I grew up in the 80’s as a young child and reminisce all the precious ways that are soon to be forgotten as the generations moves on.In our community  a certain way of living was sustained and one of it was making leaven bread.I wish I had a photo to show where this bread was baked as it was a DIY oven,like a pizza oven in the backyard.Sometimes my grandma used the coalstove also for baking bread.

It is considered it to be tastier and healthier than the bread from your bakery and easier to digest and less likely to spike your blood sugar.

As I said in a previous post, I was very much into reading and crafting , so my sisters are more experts on this topic.Here is how my grandma made her leaven.

First you need to make the leaven so it can be leave overnight in a warm spot to ferment.

You will need :

1 potato peeled and cut

1 tablespoon of sugar

1 cup of boiled water

A glass jar

A 1/2 cup of split peas

Optional : She added a small piece of protein for eg. Sausage or chicken.

Method

Rinse your potato , peel it and cut into pieces.

Then add it to the sterilized glass jar together with the split peas , sugar and any protein( not necessary) .Add one cup of boiled water and let it cool for 5 minutes.Then wrapped it in something warm and leave it overnight in a warm area .The heat activates the fermenting process slowly .

Before

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After

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We know that the leaven is ready when foam appears on top and the strong smell.I must warn though , my children does not like this smell , but cannot wait for the bread to come out if the oven.

When the leaven is ready , you use a sieve to pour the fermented water into the bowl with dry ingredients.

Now you use luke warm water to mix the leaven into 2.5 kg flour and knead to form soft dough and also add two tablespoons of vegetable oil or any other oil .Work it into the dough.Cover the batter and leave it in a warm spot to rise.

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When the dough rose double it size, it is being divided and put into two breadpans that then are set in a lukewarm oven to rise again.Whisk an egg and brush the dough on top.

It is then baked at a temperature of 180 *C for 1 hour.When it is golden brown on the top , the loafs are removed and left in the hot oven for 10 minutes. When the loafs are removed from the oven, my grandma used to put on some butter to soften the crust.

It sounds like a lot of work , but its worth it.You can enjoy it with a spread or cheese.We love to add a fresh loaf of this bread to our staff parties.

Enjoy

ChallEngEr