The rise in popularity of home beer and wine making is evidence of a much larger trend: the return of food production to the homestead. Farmer and food philosopher Wendell Berry has pointed out our culture’s trend towards consumerism and away from home production. Beginning after WWII, Americans began to purchase more and more of their nutritional needs from large scale food factories. Small family producers (local bakeries, breweries, etc.) and home production methods, accumulated knowledge and skill severely declined. Food evolved from basic need to commodity - taste and nutrition to branding and packaging. Beyond an economic analysis, this detachment from our food has left us blind to basic health needs and risks. Our dependence on other’s cooking, baking, brewing, and canning has left most Americans in poor shape health wise – not to mention taste wise!
Stemming the consumer tide, Americans began to ask for more from their food and drink. One could only take so much Wonderbread, but healthier and tastier products were few and far between. Phone calls about pickling and baking were placed to grandmas and great aunts while home brewers organized and changed federal laws, only to start their own uncompromised breweries. Berry’s aspiration for increased home production is certainly being worked towards, if only in a new, culturally dynamic manner.
In our time, organic food has become a ubiquitous alternative to conventional food, whilst “green” and “sustainable” imply new (old) production practices in harmony with the ecosystem. As our global economy reaches for the last of the easily obtainable natural resources, those seeking further change in the way we do food business would be wise to learn how former generations made do without the extravagant hoopla of boxed cereal, snack crackers and store bought cookies. The past is the key to the present, or even the future, so let’s take a closer look at a model cooperative and community based producer/consumer relationship nearly extinct today: bakers and brewers.
“Humans have been eating raised breads for 6,000 years, but it wasn’t until the investigations of Louis Pasteur 150 years ago that we began to understand the nature of the leavening process,” explains food authority Harold McGee. Pre-Pasteur, rising dough was a magical thing – a gift from the gods, as was a foaming white crown on a vat of fresh malt wort. Yeast was the culprit, fermenting the bread and beer’s sugars into alcohol (baked off in bread) and Co2, transferred from batch to batch by the baker and brewer who added a small portion of their last creation to the next.
Beer and bread follow a similar history and evolution. Both are derived from various grains. Ancient cultivators cracked or ground open dried kernels and mixed the flour into a paste with water. Wild yeasts residing on the husks, stems and leaves naturally mixed into the porridge, releasing Co2 bubbles in reaction with the glutens, lightly expanding the batter. To make beer instead of bread, the grain’s starch must first be converted into sugar. This is a natural task for nature, as the enzymes necessary for this transition reside, along with the yeasts, on the husks of the barley, rye and oats gathered for eating. Leave the cracked grains in warm water and “nature’s scissors” go to work dicing up the carbohydrates into shorter sugar chains the yeasts can easily metabolize into alcohol and Co2. The concoctions probably did not taste very good or last long before spoilage, so spices and herbs, and eventually hops were added to doctor it up.
In the European Middle Ages and early modern times, both brewers and bread makers gathered similar ingredients and sold or traded with the same community members. They shared heat and fuel for baking and boiling, grain supply and, most importantly, yeast. Once yeast metabolizes and multiplies enough to raise dough or ferment strong sweet wort, they must be kept fed or they will die. It was therefore common for bakers and brewers to share each others active yeast in the form of dough or krausen off the head of fermenting wort.
Reading about this timeless relationship inspired me to ferment and bake my first loaf of bread at home. Here is a list of the necessary ingredients and simple procedure a Siciliano’s Market customer gave to me, saying he hasn’t purchased a loaf of bread in three years! The finished warm wheat bread is sweet and nutty with a pleasant girth that is not too heavy. Its hearty mouthfeel is balanced by the sweet honey flavors and high friability afforded by the addition of fat. If you’re a brewer, try adding a handful of spent grains.
Mix together 3 cups whole wheat flour, 1 tablespoon salt, 4 ½ teaspoons (2 packets) active dry yeast, ¼ cup shortening (or bacon fat) and 1/3 cup honey. If available, use a mixer with a bread hook. Add 2 ¼ cups very warm water and 2 – 4 cups all purpose flour while mixing.
Next, grease a large bowl and cover with a tea towel. Place in oven on warm for 30 minutes to allow the dough to rise. Take out of oven, flour hands, punch down, break in half, kneed, fold and turn the dough. Roll up and turn ends into a medium large non-stick or greased bread pan. Cover with tea towel and return to oven again to rise for 20 – 30 more minutes. Remove, heat oven to 375 F, return and bake for 20 – 25 minutes. Tap crust and listen for a satisfying hollow knock indicating a finished loaf.
Remove from oven, place loaf and pan on a cooling rack. Carefully remove loaf from pan after an hour and let cool. Bread can be sliced once cooled. Store in a paper bag for immediate use or freeze in plastic or foil.
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