Pre-ferment Experiment

This may be a bit premature but I thought I'd get you on at the ground floor.  Prior to posting my umami post I had mixed 1 kg of rye flour with 10 liters of cold water and about a teaspoon of instant bread yeast.  I Mixed it up and waited.  Of the different flours that I use rye flour is the most "active".  All things being the same in a recipe, one made with rye flour will proof the fastest.  I've also read that it has a high level of enzymes that will break down its starch and protein faster.  So I chose rye flour.  My original plan was to use just the liquid to add flavor to my dough so the rye flavor of the flour wouldn't really come through in the final product.

On day one, there were some bubbles coming up and it didn't really have much of a smell.  On day two, there were still bubbles but it had a definite smell of alcohol and faintly of apples.  On day three, there was a definite smell of hard apple cider.  On day four, same thing very strong smell of apple cider, with more depth (like really ripe apples).  At this stage the liquid on top looked relatively clear.  By no means could I see to the bottom but all of the sediment was definitely at the bottom.  I decided to take a taste.  To be honest some people who smelled the stuff thought it had a bad smell.  So, I took this as a dare and asked Kathryn, another baker who was with me at the time, if she wanted to join me.  She got two little plastic condiment containers and we both took a sip.  It smelled a lot more like hard apple cider than it tasted but I thought it wasn't too bad.  We both showed up for work the next day so it was deemed non-poisonous.  On day five, a white film formed on the top of the liquid.  I had no idea what this stuff was.  The smell was still that of hard apple cider but it was definitely getting "riper".  At this point, my excitement and not knowing put me over the edge; I had to know what was going on in there. Thankfully I live in a university town and called up the food science department at the University of Nebraska.  I left a message and am now waiting to see if I can get some help from someone.  I'd like to me sure levels of umami, organic acids, anything that might give me some insight into what is going on in my bucket; not to mention in all of my pre-ferments and long fermented breads.  Today is day six and the film has thickened/chunked up a bit.  It smells similarly but as things have been going, even more ripe apples.  I don't want to say rotten because it's not that.  Steve and Kathryn think it smell like wet dog after having a bath with apple scented shampoo. 

I'm not sure how much longer I'll let this go.  I hope I can bring it in to get tested or better yet, start a systematic testing program to see what things change over set periods of time.  I hope I can find someone who is as interested in this as I am.

Below are some photos that show you what has been going on with my little experiment.

Day 2

Day 4

Day 6

Since I started writing this post I have heard back from the food science department.  They told me that the machine that would analyze my solution was booked up and I'd have to go to a commercial lab to have it tested; which, depending on the tests I wanted could cost me a lot of money.  Well, I don't have a lot of money.  I certainly have a lot more questions than than money.  This means that I'll have to do the tests myself and my taste buds as the test equipment.

As I finish this post, my hooch is at day nine.  I will make a dough soon and will let you know how it turns out.

Umami Me

Over the past month or so I've become obsessed with umami.  What is umami?  Instead of trying to explain it I'd suggest you take at a look at this site for a full answer.  If you didn't want to go there let me give you my quick answer.  It's a 5th taste (like salty, sweet, sour, etc.) but instead of having a real "taste" it enhances and rounds out the other flavors.  The Japenese have known about this for a long time.  They incorperate many ingredients in their cuisine that have high levels of umami.  There are some ingredients that have a fairly high level of umami like tomatoes and mushrooms but to really get high levels of umami the ingredient has to go under some kind of fermentation.  Soy sauce, fish sauce or kombu (aged kelp) have high levels of umami because they have been fermented over a long period of time.  Parmasan cheese, the real stuff like parmigiano reggiano, is an something that most of us know about and used that has a high level of umami, because it has been aged for a long time, at least 2 years.

So how does this relate to baking?  Something that isn't and can't be aged for years.  That is true but fermentation is definitely apart of bread making; that's what the yeast does.  So how do you get extra fermentation in the bread?  If you've done any reading on the latest baking techniques you know about pre-ferments, poolish, sourdough starter, biga, etc.  There is also something called autolysing which is simply flour and water mixed together which not only starts the gluten formation, so that you don't have to mix as long which reduces oxidation of the dough, but also activates the enzymes in the flour to start breaking down the starch and protien in the flour.  In my bread I use multiple examples of this: I autolyse my flour, add serveral preferments, long primary proofing times and of couse I use yeast, except in my sourdoughs, to proof my dough.  All of this adds flavor and depth to my breads which I believe can be partly attributied to hightened levels of umami.

Here are some questions that I'm working on:

How can I add even more umami to my doughs?

How can I test the level of umami in my dough?

Can I add too much pre-ferment?  I know the answer to this is yes but, how much is too much?


I will be getting back to you on these questions and in the meantime if you have any info or suggestions I'm all ears.

This post is specifically about adding umami to bread dough but I've been trying to add umami into all of my cooking. It has definately raised my cooking to a new level and I highly suggest you give it a try.