Heritage bread is a lost art that artisan bread makers are holding onto. My sweet neighbor Cindy gave me a Heritage Bread Baking cookbook that sparked a love for baking within me.
I started with organic Hard Red Wheat and water. Over 10 days, I fed it every day in order to get the right fermentation. To feed a starter, you take half of the starter out and add water and flour back in. On day 11, I tended to the bread every 30 minutes by using a pulling/folding method until it was time for the bread to “sleep”. The following morning it was baking time! Again, I highly recommend the book Heritage Bread Baking Cookbook, because it explains each step thoroughly for even beginners.
There is something so special about a loaf of bread made with ONLY wheat, water, salt, and love.
Also, the author of the book brought up several great points about the industrialization of farming. This sparked my interest to dig deep into the mysterious world of grain. I went to Barnes & Noble to find something that would tell me more about grain. After all, I went 5 years gluten-free until now, since I am making my own bread. I left the store with the book Grain By Grain in hand. Quickly I learned in that book that farmers had to “feed America” and started using chemicals in order to make it happen. So, we shifted from homesteading to farmers needing to mass produce for the population. Now, farmers are getting sick and trying to stop the use of those chemicals that were used during that era. The book is truly eye-opening and will make you want to seek out not only organic meat and vegetables but grain as well.
I encourage everyone to try making Heritage Bread at least once-it is worth it trust me!