As we all know, yeast is a rare commodity, so I was looking skeptically at the 2 sachets I had left, thinking that I could only make 4 more loaves with my recipe, of which I need half a sachet for a bread. Then I thought that the yeast… grows, multiplies. And I started looking and trying. After scouring the internet, I adapted a yeast-raising recipe to millet flour and psyllium bran. So let’s proceed. I mixed half a sachet of yeast with 100 grams of water and 100 grams of millet flour, mixed well, put a lid on it and put it in the fridge. We will call this thing “cold preferment” and it must stay in the refrigerator minimum 24 hours, maximum… I don’t know. I make one loaf a week and it has held up beautifully. When you want to make bread, you take the cold yeast out of the fridge, weigh half, that is 100 grams, then add 50 grams of water and 50 grams of millet flour, mix well and put it back in the fridge. The next day we can start another bread, pizza, cake or something else that requires yeast. The point is to take out only half and then fill in what you took out with water and millet flour.
So we have 100 grams of cold preferment. We mix this in a jar or saucepan with a lid with 100 grams of lukewarm water, 50 grams of millet flour and 4 grams of psyllium bran. Leave it somewhere warm, I put it on the radiator, and leave it for another 24 hours. We’ll call this “warm preferment”. In 24 hours it doubles its volume. Now we can knead the bread. The quantities are as follows, depending on the amount of warm yeast: 100% warm water, 80% millet flour, 2% psyllium bran, 2% salt. More specifically, 250 grams of warm yeast, 250 grams of lukewarm water, 200 grams of millet flour, 5 grams of psyllium bran, 5 grams of salt.
Mix the warm preferment with the warm water, bran and salt and mix well. Let the bran hydrate for a few minutes, then add the flour and mix with a spoon until all the flour is incorporated. I put the dough in a large bowl with a lid, a larger bowl to give it room to rise, and wrapped the bowl in a blanket. The dough was warm from the water in the composition, and the lid and blanket kept the warmth. I left it for 6 hours, then I transferred the dough to the bread pan, with my hands greased with a little oil I gave it shape. I left the pan covered with a towel on the stove, with the oven on, for another 2 hours, during which time it rose nicely. The oven was hot, I put a pot of water in to make some steam, then the pan and left for 20 minutes. I removed the pot and reduced the heat to half and left for another 25 minutes. I took the bread out of the pan and put it on the oven rack, with the heat at minimum, for another 10 minutes. It is removed on a wooden surface and left for a few hours until it is cut. I know, it’s hard to walk around and not be allowed to cut it, but it’s better because it continues to bake until it cools completely.
What do you say? Come on, it’s not that complicated. And it’s worth it. It’s a dense bread, with a harsh, natural taste, and very nutritious. It lasts me a week.
