How to maintain raisin yeast water

*How I maintain my raisin yeast water:

*Use a sterilized jar and filtered water. (no chlorine water)

 

*And the raisins are NOT coated with OIL. Organic ones taste much better.

* I don’t measure the water actually but by volume like the picture above.

Ingredients:

This volume will be about

• 13-25g raisin yeast water (5-7% in the summer  10-11% in the winter) *  The temperature by the snake light differs from all season so that I adjust the raisin yeast water amount by the room temperature.
  
• 45 g raisins                   (20%)
• 225 g water                   ( 100%)

Method:

1) Shake the jar vigorously after putting all the ingredients in the jar.

2) Close the lid not too tight /not too loose and keep it at 76-82F around for overnight.

3) Shake the jar vigorously and store it in the refrigerator. ( I don’t discard the raisins in the jar)

* It is very important to keep some sugar in your yeast water not to get your yeast water hungry.

I use the refreshed raisin yeast water after 12 hours I store it in the refrigerator to stabilize.

4) Shake the jar vigorously every morning 1 time to get some f your raisin yeast water.

     I shake it vigorously every morning and night which is  2 times in total  now.  (September,20011)

If you store it more than several days, I will  *refresh it before baking.*Using this maintain raisin yeast water method.

Here is the link that you might be interested in:

————————————————————–

Other methods that I found in Japanese sites

1)levadura san no method:

I read one of Japanese home baker’s method of making raisin yeast water: To make non sour (sweet) and well risen bread, she tighten the lid and shake the jar gently once or twice a day during the process, and she said” if you make bread with this yeast water, you will have dense bread because the yeast didn’t get enough oxygen while it was fermented although the taste is wonderfully sweet. In according to make bread that has volume, she add mashed mixed fruit in the yeast water to ferment it again in a bowl that is covered with plastic wrap at room temperature .It sounds good, but it will give me more work. I rather make raisin yeast simply in good condition.

2) No lid method:

She tested 2 kind of methods between with lid and no lid like me.  She said that No lid doesn’t have any alcohol smell and rise very well. She is right but I had a different result after baking. I smelled alcohol from the crumb and the crumb remains wetter in the crumb but I also think that no lid one rise well in the oven.

Here  is my result.

———————————————————————————-

Q & A:

Q:  Does the taste of yeast water affect to the bread?

A: I say ” Yes” That is why I smell and taste my raisin yeast water if it is fine. My raisin yeast water is  sweet with mild alcohol generally. When the raisin yeast water is just made, You may smell strong alcohol, but it will be milder and read to bake in the next day.  If you smell sour or funny, I strongly recommend you to throw away all of your raisin yeast water, and make a new one.

————————————————————–

Q : Why do you shake it vigorously during the process?

A: I have two purposes. I can squeeze more sugar to feed the raisin yeast water by the vigorous shakes, which also activate the raisin yeast.I don’t recommend this technique for fresh fruit yeast water which have bitter skins because the bitters remains in the yeast water and the bread.

———————————————————————————————-

Q:  Can I use a water bottle to make raisin yeast water ?

A: I prefer a jar. It depends on you.  However, I highly recommend not to use a weak water bottle like “Walt-mart” brand.I tested it before. On the second day, I smelled some chemical from the bottle. Although I noticed that the raisin yeast water in the bottle had a lot of bubbles and very active, which reminded me of  the process to make beer.

Day 1                   Day2

 

————————————————————

Q:  How do make bread with raisin yeast water?

A:  I use my yeast water like sourdough I used to have.

Here is one of my examples.

 I also use my raisin yeast water as sherry wine or mirin ( sweet Japanese sake for cooking) to make teriyaki sauce, orange sour chicken sauce, and so on. I also keep my alcoholic raisins that are fermented in the jar for home made rum raisins. So I can make Daisy’s Panettone.

 Once, I used 2 tbsp this rum syrup to fix the sour flavor when I made David’s miche ( NO.5)

Home made rum raisins.

I add some sugar in whenever I add more alcoholic raisins.

I discard the raisins that I make raisin yeast water from beginning because they are smashed and less sugar left in them.

————————————————-

Q :  Is it okay to smell strong alcohol from my raisin yeast water?

A: Yes. When the raisin yeast water is just made, You may smell strong alcohol, but it will be milder and read to bake in the next day. Also,If your raisin yeast water is kept in the refrigerator for a couple of days only, It will be fine. If you smell it strong, I will shake the jar vigorously. it won’t be strong smell.  It is very important to see how active your raisin yeast water is. Very healthy one is the raisins keep floating  around the top of the water, and you can hear strong pops ( shwwww..) when you shake it and open it up.

Here is the result of my sandwich loaf when I used my old raisin yeast water that was little strong alcohol smell.

————————————————————

Q:  How is it different from between non organic and organic raisins?

A: I have some experiments using Sun-maid raisins ( golden and regular ones)

Regular one is okay, but I tasted weird flavor in the bread a little bit when I compare to organic one.

I strongly recommend not to use sun-maid golden raisins.  It tasted and smelled very weird.

————————————————————

Q: Is it okay that my raisin yeast water sank on the bottom in the refrigerator?

A: This is depends. If  all of the raisins doesn’t float back up to the top of the water within a day after shaking vigorously, I think that the yeast is weak or some unwanted bacteria are in it.  I did throw it away and  made a new one when I had the problem. It happened when I didn’t take care of the raisin yeast water for a couple of weeks.

————————————————————

Q; What temperature is better to make bread for raisin yeast water?

A:  For Levain bread:

In the summer, I  use colder temperature around 70-73 F for bulk fermentation, 70-76 F around for final proof   .

In the winter, The temperature is around 76F for Bulk fermentation, 70-76F for final proof.

I think that raisin yeast water bread is not sour unless you retard it for a long time.  But it differs from what king of flour you use.  Rye and Whole wheat flour give it more acid or earthy flavor.

 

————————————————————

Q: Is it okay to add more water and raisins when I have 1/3 to 1/2 amount of raisin yeast water left  in my jar?

A: Yes, You can make as good bread as usual.

                               I made the loaf with it.

                         Make sure that the smell of  the raisin yeast water are close to the same as usual.

————————————————————

Q: When I shook my jar vigorously in the morning after refreshing, I only heard a little sounds of ” SHWw…” .  Is that okay?

A:  Depends…  At first You store it in the refrigerator for 24 hours, then  if  you should hear strong sounds of  ” SHWWW” or  a popping sound after shaking vigorously, Yes, that is very active and ready to use.  If you can’t hear the sounds, the yeast is not active.  It may take a long time to ferment the dough.

 

I hope that you can maintain your raisin yeast water well. * Reminder: From my experiment, All kind of natural yeast’s life span is about 6 months. I make it from scratch every 6 months.

 

 

Found this post useful?

 

Koubo by Akiko is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

 

How to make raisin yeast water

There are many ways to make raisin yeast water. I have tried many of these methods to figure out which one is the best.

I also tried so many kinds of yeast water and ended up making sandwich loaves with raisin yeast because it doesn’t have any typical (unpleasant) flavors.

Generally, it takes a week to be able to make bread, but with this method it takes only five days if you can get the right temperature to ferment your raisin yeast water.

This raisin yeast water is very healthy and makes good bread as well.

Ingredients:

1. 45 g raisins(* I use organic Thompson raisins. they are NOT coated with oil, I recommend to use organic one.) The oil will disturb the yeast to elaborate.
2. Purified water or Spring water. NO using tap water. (Chlorine will kill the yeast.)
3. A jar (I use emptied jelly jars all the time.)

 

Method :

Day1:

 1) Sterilize your jar: Put the jar in the boiling water for a few minutes and take it out. Leave it until they are dry.

 

2) Add the all raisins and the water as to 1:1 ratio like the picture below.

No chlorine water! It kills yeast!

3)    Shake the jar vigorously  * Tighten the lid

 Before shaking

After shaking vigorously

  Close up

4) Keep the jar at 82 F / 28℃.　* Tighten the lid

The right one with lid is correct. The left jar is the other method that I tried to compare with my original one. I will explain to you why the no lid method is not good at the end of this process.

5) 4-5 hours later :  * Keep the jar at 82 F / 28℃. Tighten the lid

  Before shaking

After shaking vigorously * The raisins are soaked with the water. Now it is the time to add more water.

6) Add some purified or spring water until double the raisins. 

 After shaking vigorously,

* Keep the jar at 82 F / 28℃. Tighten the lid 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 2 :

7)  Shake the jar vigorously as many times as you can. * Keep the jar at 82 F / 28℃. Tighten the lid

—-   I shook the jar vigorously around 6:30 am ～  8:20 pm – thirteen times. * Tighten the lid

*All the raisins stayed on top of the water.

    

 6:20 am

  Before shaking

 

 After shaking vigorously   * Tighten the lid

 

 

 

 

8) At night close the lid not too tight and not too loose. 

 

* I think that the yeast needs to get some oxygen to breath to activate for over night, therefore, No more close the lid tightly because the raisins stayed up to the top of the water for a half day.

Day 3:

9) In the morning, Shake the jar vigorously.     ＊Close the lid not too tight  and not too loose

 Before shaking

close up

 After shaking vigorously

Close up

10) Refrigerate the jar after you hear some fizzing sound.

  *Close the lid tightly after shaking vigorously. If you don’t hear the sound, keep the jar at room temperature at 82 F to do (9) process again.

Day 4:

11) In the morning: *Close the lid tightly after shaking vigorously and put it back in the refrigerator .

 Before shaking

Close up

 After shaking vigorously

Close up

Day 5:

12) In the morning : Shake the jar vigorously.   Tighten the lid and put it back in the refrigerator.

   Before shaking

* I smelled a bit strong alcohol which means fully fermented, but she needs more rest before baking bread.

  After shaking vigorously

* The smell of alcohol has weakened after shaking.

13) At night (Approximately 12 hours later)–  IT IS READY TO BAKE!

To make *levain for my sandwich loaf with raisin yeast water.

*Levain is a mixture of water and flour that has been converted into a leavening agent through the process of fermentation. This method gives  a lot of benefits: The taste and rich volume to the bread.

Levain

• King Arthur all purpose flour   149g
• Raisin yeast water                      107g

—————-The day before———–

1. Pour 107 g raisin yeast water into the container.

The taste:  Sweet and little bit of alcohol.

The result of the PH level test

Between PH 5.5 and 5.75.

Added 149 g KA AP  and made the levain.

Viscosity: Hard. I had to knead the dough by hand.

* “Hard ” means that there is a lot of sugar in the dough.

——————————————————————————

Day 6: Next day— Final dough

•  King Arthur bread flour                       301g
• 1 egg yolk + Whipping heavy cream=58g
•  Water                                                            144g
• Sugar                                                                 13g
• Butter                                                                29g
• Salt                                                                    6.8g

Method

1.  Mix all the final ingredients and the levain except the butter and salt.
2.  *Autolyze 30minutes.   ( * The dough gets rest. Auto-rise.)
3.  Add the salt and butter and knead the dough until you pass a window pane test.
4.  Bulk fermentation at the room temperature until triples.
5.  Preshape
6.  Shape
7.  Bake  35 minutes at 410F until golden brown.    *Cold oven method:  Spray a couple of time  in the oven and put the loaf in.  Set up 284F for 20 minutes. increase the temperature to 410F for 10 minutes, rotate 180 degree the loaf pan and bake 10 more minutes until golden brown.

The levain rose tripled ( 9 hours later)

Bulk fermentation: The final dough rose almost tripled in 5 hours at 72-73F.

Final proof: The dough rose over the top of the tin in 2 hours at 82F.

Baked for 35 minutes at 410 F.

 I couldn’t use the ” cold oven method” because I was using the oven an hour ago before

When I ferment the final dough at colder temp, I can see the cracks.

          

It tastes good and the crumb is soft and very goo volume with fruity aroma, which came from the raisins, the scent was very limited and very pleasant.

————————————————————-

  Comparison:

5/26 7 :00 am–

   From left: No lid / Vigorous shakes/ my old one (generous shakes)

10:30 am–

  From left: No lid/ Vigorous shakes/ my old one(generous shakes)

5/27 5:50 am

  From left: No lid/ Vigorous shakes/ my old one (I just refreshed)

Comparison of the crumb:

   12 g sugar not 13g  used in the final dough.

Vigorous shakes

  No lid

* I don’t like the No lid bread because I smelled strong yeast (brewer or yeasty smell)when I put it in my mouth.

    

The No lid raisin yeast water itself  has no strong yeast smell neither taste which gave me a big surprise.

Our taste gives us more details than this PH test in my opinion.

 

For reference,  I want to mention about yeast water and other natural yeasts that I learned from books, online, and my experiments.

Good luck on your raisin yeast water!

Happy baking!