Who knows! As soon as I returned to the mountains to farm, I encountered a natural disaster.

Yeast is also a kind of life.

Unlike commercially available dry yeast, natural yeast is fed through cultivation. The fermentation effect is much better than that of finished dry yeast, and the aroma of fermentation is also stronger.

The operation is not difficult, but it takes a long time and the process is a bit cumbersome.

Zhao Yeqing: "With this weather, I don't know if we can succeed."

Cultivating yeast and subsequent cultivation require a more suitable environmental temperature, and it is indeed a bit too cold now.

She stood up and put her hand on the fireplace to feel the heat.

It feels about 20 degrees Celsius, so it would be suitable to put it on this.

It's just that there is a fire inside now. I'm afraid that if I don't pay attention to it, the temperature will become unstable after the fire is out.

After all, yeast cultivation is not a matter of a day or two. After it has been cultivated for ten and a half months, the temperature does not need to be so high. It can be cultivated at the temperature of a refrigerator.

I used to watch a documentary about Jin Province. Many people there do not use yeast when making pasta. They just leave a small piece of noodles after each pasta is made, and add that noodles the next time they make it.

That is the method of retaining old noodles, but the yeast activity of old noodles is not high.

There are also methods of fermenting flour with yeast and then drying and grinding it to make dry yeast. However, the yeast made in that way is prone to bacteria and is not safe to eat.

Mu Xi was stunned for a moment after hearing this, "If you grow yeast, will there be no bacteria?"

Just like making your own wine, there are bound to be bacteria, right?

Zhao Yeqing shook his head and explained, "No, because it is made in a sealed jar. After the yeast inside is activated, it will start aerobic respiration. When the oxygen in the jar is consumed, it will start anaerobic respiration again."

"At this time, alcohol will be produced. This alcohol is different from self-brewed alcohol. This alcohol has a high concentration. Generally, bacteria cannot survive in this environment."

Mu Xi suddenly said, "How can you even do this?"

Zhao Yeqing blinked, "That's not the case."

In fact, when I worked in the city before, I didn't want to go out and just liked to work at home alone.

Growing vegetables and cooking something to eat on the balcony are my only interests.

She was obsessed with bread for a while and found out that many master bread makers cultivate their own yeast. There are even workshops dedicated to cultivating and caring for yeast. The method is very simple and she learned it after seeing it.

"I'll prepare whatever tools you need."

Mu Xi is the type who has to do whatever he has to do, which makes up for the procrastination of Zhao Yeqing very well.

She swayed on the rocking chair, "Two small glass jars can be filled with anything, but the lids must be sealable."

Glass jars must be sterilized to avoid the growth of harmful bacteria to the greatest extent.

Mu Xi washed the glass jar and scalded it with boiling water before going back to the room to call her.

The two of them wiped away the water vapor inside and outside the jars. Zhao Yeqing took out the flour, scooped a few spoonfuls into one of the glass jars, added a few spoonfuls of cold boiled water, stirred it into a paste, and closed the lid.

"Is this good?"

Mu Xi was still holding another empty jar in his hand and was stunned on the spot.

Zhao Yeqing nodded, "Okay, that one will be used tomorrow."

Natural yeast can be made using only natural ingredients, wheat flour and water.

It would be better if there is whole wheat flour. The fermentation efficiency of flour ground from wheat with husk is higher than that of wheat flour.

Take the glass jar of batter to the fireplace and set it.

By the same time the next day, the batter in the glass jar began to smell like lactic acid.

Open the jar, stir it with sterilized chopsticks, transfer the batter to another jar and continue to seal it and let it rest. If the glass jar is empty, clean it and disinfect it and wait for next use.

The yeast is activated on the third day, and the feeding stage begins at this time.

Add a spoonful of cold boiled water and a spoonful of flour to the glass jar, stir well, and then transfer to the previous glass jar.

After each transfer, the glass jar needs to be cleaned and disinfected. Mu Xi took the jar to wash and found it funny, "The most troublesome thing about growing yeast is actually washing the jar."

Zhao Yeqing explained, “Yeast fermentation will stick to the glass jar, which is not conducive to observing the fermentation expansion every time.”

On the fourth day, the yeast in the glass jar began to ferment and expand.

The batter has expanded twice as much as yesterday, and many small air holes have appeared. Stir the batter evenly, use chopsticks to pick up a lump and put it into another glass jar, and continue to add water and flour.

From this day on, every day thereafter, use chopsticks to pick up a lump and put it into a clean container, add water and flour and feed it, once in the morning and once in the evening, until the tenth day.

The weight of flour and water fed begins to increase to two spoons.

On the thirteenth day, increase the flour and water to three tablespoons.

On the fifteenth day, the yeast in the glass jar had reached less than half of the jar.

At this time, the yeast has expanded to three times its previous size.

Zhao Yeqing took the yeast jar off the fireplace, and Mu Xi came over to look at it.

"Is this enough?"

Zhao Yeqing nodded, "After raising it, it can be used now, but the longer it is raised, the better."

If there is no mold or hair in the cultured yeast, the fermentation is normal, and the smell is a normal lactic acid smell, it is considered a success.

The next step is to put it aside and feed it every three to five days.

For naturally fed yeast, the longer the feeding time, the better the activity of the yeast. This is also a process of training the yeast activity and inhibiting and screening out miscellaneous bacteria.

Zhao Yeqing felt a sense of accomplishment when he looked at the glass jar, which he had grown with a handful of water and a handful of powder.

In half a month, the temperature outside has risen to 0 degrees.

Finally, some different sounds could occasionally be heard outside the window, sometimes it was the chirping of birds, sometimes it was the squeaking of unknown insects.

"Are you going to make steamed buns or something today?"

Mu Xi asked first, and if he wanted to do it, he went to prepare the dough.

Zhao Yeqing shook his head, "Don't worry. One problem with natural yeast is that it has a strong sour taste. The bread and steamed buns produced will be very sour. You have to neutralize the sour taste and make alkali."

It is not uncommon to make alkali in rural areas, but Mu Xi can do it.

He nodded, "Then I'll prepare the plant ashes."

There was still a lot of straw at home. He wanted to get relatively clean grass ashes and did not want to mix them with the wood ashes in the fire pit. Mu Xi took the straw to the side of the oven.

I cleaned out the ash inside and baked the pizza only once. There wasn't much ash inside. After cleaning it, I put the straw in it.

The carbonized ash from the incomplete combustion of straw still retains some of the shape of the straw itself, which is black and gray.

Zhao Yeqing took a large basin and placed a large piece of gauze on it, the same piece used to make kudzu powder last time.

Mu Xi poured the ashes on the gauze and poured water from a ladle on it.

After all the ashes are wet, start rubbing the unburned parts with your hands to obtain alkaline water.