Herman

[mint]

A friend from the gym gather me some of this mixture which is like a natural yeast.

The recipe itself is from the Alsace.

It smells very yeasty and you look after it for a few days and then you make a cake out of it and there is enough to give to 3 friends.

On account of the Bank Holiday, I hadn't seen anybody to give some to and so I just made the one cake as on the recipe adding some dried fruit.  It was a very interesting taste, with a strong yeasty smell.  I asked OH if it was like the Welsh yeast cake of his youth and he told me that no, it was completely different.

Anyway, sad person that I was, I couldn't find 3 baking friends to give some of mixture to so I made a loaf of bread, using the mixture and milk rather than water.  I'd have used flour for brioche except I didn't have any in the house.

The bread was lovely, soft and tasty but with a distinct sweet flavour and made a nice change from "ordinary" bread.

If we were a bigger family, I'd keep Herman going so that I could bake lots of things using it.  But, as we are trying to cut down on carbs, I think I'll bake some scones tomorrow to use it all up.

Has anyone used this yeast?  Idun?  Anyone has any ideas what else might be nice to make with it?

[nomoss]

"Herman" seems to be the latest name for a "rediscovered" sourdough starter.

You can make your own quite easily, e.g. [url]http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-your-own-sourdough-starter-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-47337[/url]

[woolybanana]

Well, too far away to take any, I'm afraid, but I do wonder how many people do their own baking these days.

[Patf]

Well I do Wooly, for one! I bake all our bread, but use dried yeast.

Mint - you're lucky to have been give some sourdough starter. I've tried twice to get one going, no success. Maybe I'll try again.

There was a programme on BBC2 last night, one of the Hairy Bikers on a tour of Egypt collecting recipes. At one place he visited he reckoned their version of the sourdough yeast was the first in history, originated thousands of years ago. Before that people ate flat, unleavened bread.

[idun]

I don't understand why it is 'sweet'. Sour dough is usually rather 'sour'?????

Not to my taste at all, like creme fraiche, there are very few things I like with creme fraiche in them.

My husband would probably know more about this than I do, but, at the moment is away, so I cannot ask him, as he has a sour dough thingy in the fridge at the moment.

People baking, well not many do these days, that is for sure. But some of us do!

[Val_2]

I love making bread and have a machine as well but to be honest, my Bosch food centre has a dough mixing hook and is by far the best method of making bread as I just put all the ingredients in the bowl, switch it on and leave it being kneaded for a good ten mins or more, then into the oven on the dough proving cycle for an hour and then back again to the dough hook all in the same metallic bowl. No need to use myhands at all until I decide whether to make rolls or just plonk it in a tin. Result is a lovely close textured bread without the horrible holes the machine paddles leave after baking. I live two mins walk from the village boulangerie but havn't bought any bread for years as its either all holes and crust or you end up with broken teeth and its stale by teatime as well!

[mint]

Thank you for the comments and I am back to give more info and answer some questions.

Nomoss, I looked at your link and it does look like Herman except that Herman has sugar as well as milk in it.  No idea how my friend Cécile got her starter but she gave me about 5 or 6 fluid ons which she told me not to put in the frigo and not to cover it.  I did cover it with a very light cotton tea towel which allowed it to breathe but not for flies to drown themselves in it.

So the whole thing took 10 days from "Herman arrive" (Jour 1) to the 10th day when you "nourrir Herman pour la dernière fois avec la recette suivante":  flour, sugar, eggs, butter, some levure (makes sure the cake does rise, I suppose) and chocolate bits or dried fruit or apples or any other fruit, I guess.

The rest of the time you just "remuer plusiers fois" once a day except for Day 4 when "Herman a faim, lui donner";  milk, flour and sugar.

I was a bit dubious at first in case the milk went off as it's been rather warm but indeed the milk was a bit like "kefir" which I made when 5-element (who no longer posts) introduced me to it.  That went by the board because I was away for a walking holiday and it had died the death on my return.

As to your question, idun, you now see why the bread was sweet!  There is a fair bit of sugar in it.  I didn't add extra sugar to make the bread but I did add salt as bread made without salt is disgusting.

I see now from the accompanying instructions that the name is Gateau de l'amitié Herman (Gateau Alsacien).

I would keep it going but I really don't think I make enough bread and cakes to warrant it.

Pat I wish I lived near enough to pop in with Herman as it's very prolific and by the 10th day, it filled the best part of a big mixing bowl!

[Patf]

I wish you could too Mint!

Val - I make our bread the same way - I have a machine with a dough hook. I used to do it all by hand, but after a fall where I injured my shoulder could no longer do that.

And I agree with you 100% about french bread [+o(]

[Gardengirl]

I used to make all our bread in England until a few years ago using my ancient Kenwood Chef with it's excellent dough hook, but as we began to eat less bread, it dropped out of use for bread apart from very occasionally.

Here in France, we still have a choice of around 15 boulangeries, and prefer various ones for varying items, but mostly use M. Eton - he used to be a chef at Eton College when he was much younger. He makes an excellent range of organic breads, all made by him, but with age he's becoming less able to cope with the terrible hours he has to work, so I fear he won't stay our baker of choice for much longer.

I don't remember ever having had a sourdough plant, but used to love my ginger beer plant, a wondrous thing.

[idun]

I have never had a bread machine, although we do now have a kenwood with a dough hook and husband uses that for his sour dough bread.

I wouldn't dream of not doing it by hand. That first kneading is about the best way I can think of, of pummelling something as if I'm trying to do it great harm and yet, is actually doing good to the dough. If I am annoyed or angry about anything, I make the best bread. So for mint, it would that awful tree killing neighbour and I'm sure that we all have someone we know that really deserves to be pummelled.

I used to do 'quick' bread, that was many many years ago. And using the superactive dried yeast, which is what dried yeast is these days, nearly did for my husband, he was very very very ill with it. And so even up to 3kgs of flour, I use about a third of a cube of yeast and just leave it for hours to slowly slowly rise, Elizabeth David method I think. Makes beautiful and tasty bread. So I start it on a morning and then leave it, somewhere cool, never even warm and about 4o'clock knead it gently this time, and then I do encourage it to second rise, in an almost warm oven and then bake. Cool, and freeze what we don't eat at that meal. Loaves are carved up into useable pieces or buns, that are easy to defrost.

When I used that quick acting dried yeast, we'd get in from work and have the bread done in no time, however, as I said, I ended up with one very sick man on my hands.

Herman sounds like a brioche sour dough, so would be sweeter, interesting.  Ages since I have made brioche, I am not keen on just brioche, like pannetone, find it dry and boring, but as a tropezienne, well, delicious.

edit, and our ginger beer plant, made with that super dried yeast, also made my husband very very very ill. I had forgotten about that.

[mint]

OK, you'd be pleased to know that I used up the last bit of my Herman today.

Baked a large batch of scones and they were some of the best I'd ever made.  All rose beautifully, looked evenly browned and the insides were soft and slightly crumbly and the crust was satisfyingly crisp.

A French friend had just brought me a jar of strawberry jam made with fruit from her garden and the only thing I would have liked would be some whipped double cream. 

[idun]

I baked scones today too[:D]

Sorry to make you drool, but we had a choice of extra thick double cream OR clotted cream on them.

I have never had yeast based scones, but I have seen them baked on the tv.

I have had yeast based pastry in France though, that was odd, but the person who gave me it, was not a good baker, and that could have been the cruicial difference.