From: feldstei@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Ronald F. Feldstein)
Subject: Re: Too much sugar
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 22:23:34 GMT

In article <1992Nov20.182957.1084@llyene.jpl.nasa.gov> julie@eddie.jpl.nasa.gov (Julie Kangas) writes:
>In article <BxzzMw.Gwz@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu> feldstei@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (Ronald F. Feldstein) writes:
>>A common technique for making sugar available to the starter is the use of
>>a small amount of "boiled" flour.  This is mentioned in Russian books on
>>breadmaking, but I haven't noticed it mentioned much here.  The idea is
>>to take 1 part flour and 1 1/2-2 parts water at around 150 F.  Pour the
>>hot water over the flour in a container, stir, then wait until it cools to
>>85-90 F.  Then, add it to the starter and it supposedly improves the taste,
>>structure, and available sugar.  The "boiled" dough should not really be
>>boiled.  It is known as "zavarka" in Russian.  Is there a standard English
>>term?
>
>Perhaps adding very hot water to the flour kills any foriegn yeast
>that might invade your culture.  
>
>I was originally going to say that I couldn't see how this method
>increases the available sugar, but then I remembered the hows
>and whys of mashing grains for beer making.  Basically, the barley
>is coarsely ground, mixed with water, and held at a high temperature
>in order to extract as many "fermentables" (yeastie food anyway)
>as possible.  [Please note: I've only read about this kind
>of brewing so I'm probably leaving bunches out].  These fermentables
>get into water and are probably evenly distributed.  If you
>don't heat the water, you probably get very little sugars
>coming out of the flour and then only in the vicinity of
>the flour particles.  I'm sure the yeast are happier when
>they are living in a warm liquid environment surrounded
>by nutrients and no nasty hard flour particles.  Making the yeast 
>happy probably makes your bread better.  
>
>BTW, where did you get the Russian books on breadmaking?
>(And, what are their titles?).  I tried finding bread 
>books in Russia and was told "nobody makes their own bread
>anymore!"  I didn't even see any sourdough bread there :(
>
>Julie
>DISCLAIMER:  All opinions here belong to my cat and no one else


In answer to the question about where I got the Russian bread books,
they came from different sources.  Two books came from the Kamkin book-
store in Rockville, MD.  One was fairly new when I bought it and was in
their catalogue.  They other was old and one-of-a-kind and I found it
on their shelves on a trip to the store over 10 years ago.  These two
are:                                                                    

 1. Pishchevaja tsennost' khlebobulochnykh izdelii, by E. Danilova and
K. Tsurkova.  Moscow, 1973.  A catalogue of virtually all Russian
breads commercially available. 79 pp.

2. Khlebopekarnoe proizvodstvo, by I. Roiter.  Kiev, 1966.  An old
technical manual for people in the Russian bread industry. 531 pp. 

On a recent trip to Russia, I picked up a very handy pamphlet, which
consists of 6 very large pages.  It's called Domashnii Khleb, published
by Panorama in the series "Krest'ianskaia usad'ba," and written by N.
Brunnek.  It is designed for amateurs, in contrast to the Roiter book
cited above.  I suppose this is a series for back-to-nature individu-
als.

Another interesting source is the article on bread (Khleb) in the old
edition (from the 50's) of the Household Encyclopedia (Enciklpediia
domashnego khoziaistva).  It gives two main recipes:  Pshenichnyi khleb
and Khleb rzhanoi obyknovennyi.  The new edition of the encyclopedia
has dropped the bread article.  Generally, nobody bakes their own bread
nowadays in Russia, especially in cities.

I was a regular customer of Moscow bread stores and have tried to remember
the taste.  I can make a fairly decent replica of Borodinskii khleb. 
It's sour, but the sour flavor is a little different from what I had there
and they somehow achieve a more porous sour rye bread than I've been able to.

A previous message said that sourdough can't be found in Russia. I find that 
hard to believe, since all of their dark (rye) breads are essentially
sourdough, meaning that they are made with a sour ("zakvaska"), in contrast
to white (wheat) breads which never use a "zakvaska."

There are some other interesting Russian bread books.  If you have
access to interlibrary loan, they can be borrowed (and Xeroxed) that
way.  Another major author's name to know in this field is L. Auerman,
whose books appear in national catalogues.

I just came across another Russian bread book in our library, which can be
added to the others on the list.  It looks especially interesting to me,
as it claims to be written from the perspective of my own specialty,
Slavic linguistics.  It is:

     Kul't khleba u vostochnykh slavian:  opyt etnolingvisticheskogo
 issledovania.  By Strakhov, Aleksandr Borisovich.  Verlag Otto Sagner,
 Munich:  1991.  (244 pages) Number 275 in the series Slavistische Beitrage.
 The Library of Congress call number is GT 2868.2  .S65 S72 1991.

It is not a recipe book by any means, but the first lengthy book I've seen
that looks at the customs, taboos, legends, and myths of East Slavic bread-
making.