The process of making steamed bread with old noodles and hair noodles

Old flour, also called starter, flour fertilizer and leavening agent, is the main raw material for wheat flour fermentation. Old leaven heads usually have the following five ways:

The first type: natural fermentation without addition. Take some dry flour, mix it with warm water into a slightly soft dough, cover it tightly with a wet steaming cloth, and put it in a hot place, such as a heatable kang, a bed with an electric mattress, and a bread proofing box, until the dough becomes sour and fat. According to different seasons, it usually takes about 10 hour, and the dough will swell, increase in volume and be honeycomb-shaped, which is the old dough starter. If you don't make steamed bread every day, you can put the old yeast in the refrigerator to prevent the long hair from going bad.

The second type: made of white wine or beer. Add some white wine or beer to the dough, because the wine contains fermented substances, so it can promote the dough fermentation and make the dough ferment into an old leaven. 500 grams of common flour, liquor or beer 120 grams, and 300 grams of hot water. It takes about 6 hours in summer, 8 hours in spring and autumn and at least 12 hours in winter.

The third kind: use honey as yeast head. Generally, honey is added to warm water or poured into flour to make dough. The ratio of honey, warm water and flour is 1: 12:25. After the dough is mixed, cover it with a wet towel and put it in a warmer place. Due to different seasons, it usually takes 6- 10 hours until the dough swells and gives off sour taste.

The fourth type: using fermented mash to make yeast head. According to the ratio of 500: 150:200, flour, fermented grains and water are evenly stirred to make dough, which is placed in a basin covered with a wet cloth and fermented in a warm place until the dough is swollen and fluffy. Due to different seasons, the temperature, time and water quantity are all changing.

Fifthly, using the existing steamed bread as starter. Cut the steamed bread into small pieces, soak it in warm water, pour in a proper amount of dry flour, stir it evenly into dough, cover it with a towel, put it in a damp and warm place, and ferment it for 6 hours, and it will become an old dough. The old leaven is acidic, so you must leave a small part after steaming the steamed bread every time and put it in the refrigerator or at a low temperature for later use. If the yeast head is not used for a long time, it will dry up into pieces, which can be melted with warm water after crushing and mixed into flour.