“The smell of freshly baked Bread is one of our favourite things here at Black Oystercatcher.”
“As it is harvest time at Black Oystercatcher, we decided to share this special bread recipe with you. The sourdough starter, or biga, is made from Sauvignon Blanc grapes and uses the wild yeast naturally found in grapes. The grapes also provides the sugar on which the yeast feeds.”
Biga (sourdoug starter)
1. Crush the grapes slightly, and measure out about 2 cups into a glass bowl. Add the flour and water.
2. Mix with a wooden spoon until the batter becomes thick and gooey.
3. Cover the bowl with a clean towel and let it sit at room temperature overnight.
4. The next day, check the starter for bubbles of gas coming to the surface, a sure sign of fermentation. Be patient: This can take as long as 5 days in some environments.
5. Once the starter has begun to ferment, strain out the grapes and “feed” the starter with a bit of flour and water.
6. You can use the starter right away, or you can let it sit for another few days. The longer you let the starter ferment, the stronger the flavour of your bread will be; after about 4 days, chances are it will be too sour to eat.
7. If you aren’t ready to make bread right away, or if you’ve made enough starter for several loaves, you can freeze your starter and save it for later. Simply divide it into 1-cup portions, wrap each one in 2 layers of plastic, and put them in the freezer.
8. To bring the starter back to life, let it sit in a glass bowl overnight at room temperature. When the yeasts “wake up,” the fermentation process will start again.
9. Knee to together, let dough rise to double its size, knee down and let rise to double size again, bake at pre heated oven 180c. For +- 40 min
For the Harvest Bread
1. Start with 1 cup of the Biga and kneed in the other ingredients.
2. Let the dough rise to double its size, knee down and let rise to double size again, bake at pre heated oven 180 c. For +- 40 min