Dolce Forno Blog

Sourdough Bread – Time and Tradition

What features make bread #realbread? Some argue it comes down to taste, but others note down it is a combination of the crust and texture inside the bread, smell and characteristics of taste.

Artisan bakers use passed down traditional processes to ensure that these features are embodied within each loaf. The fermentation of the dough during bread-making plays a pivotal role.
Bread such as sourdough requires a long fermentation process to achieve a good rise. But the process towards #real bread begins with the pre-ferment (also known as bread starter). Also referred to as the mother dough, it becomes the main foundation of the bread-making process. The combined water and flour (starter) requires wild yeast, which lives everywhere (in the air, in a bag of flour etc), which is then regularly fed with more fresh flour and water until the starter is bubbly and billowy. Due to this process, breads such as sourdough are distinctive to each bakery and no two bakeries as the same.

Yeast is the most commonly used leavener in bread making and fermentation is the key secret to making great #realbread. For fermentation to take place, yeast requires food, moisture and a controlled warm environment. The by-products are carbon dioxide, alcohol and other organic compounds – with gas acting as the rising agent and alcohol and compounds playing a significant role in flavouring and texture.
Yeast provides the enzyme zymase, which acts as a catalyst in fermentation – this largely begins after the dough is mixed. This creates the leavening effect, with gas bubbles created by carbon dioxide causing dough to rise. This then allows protein and water molecules to move about and form more gluten networks.
The fermentation process results in better-developed and more extensible dough. This also gives the bread a greater aroma, which is notable during the final steps to baking.
Did you know?
– Fermenting dough with wild yeasts for at least 12-15 hours improves the digestibility of the bread and lowers its glycaemic index.
– Ancient Greeks used wine in their bread making process
– Ancient Gauls and Iberians used the foam produced atop ale for dough fermentation
– Breads that have gone through a timely and proper fermentation process have a better shelf life than those that have not

One popular, well known artisan bread that utilises the long fermentation process is sourdough. Its notable features include a glossy, open crumb structure with large holes, a irresistible crackling but chewy crust and a complex, delicious and mouth-watering taste and aroma. Sourness is dependable on both the skill and choice of the baker ranging from barely noticeable to a robust tang.

Fermentation is considered a great art and artisan bakers work towards preserving tradition by offering a unique experience with each loaf of bread. Dolce Forno provides breads such as sourdough, which you can enjoy with a dip, in a sandwich or even enjoy by itself (toasted can accentuate certain flavours!).

Dolce Forno offers five delicious, hearty and wholesome sourdough breads with each loaf developed with a fermentation process that is more than twenty-four hours. We believe in keeping to traditional processes to provide the ultimate artisan bread experience with #realbread.

Are you a cafe, venue or restaurant looking for a local supplier of fresh baked pugliese, ciabatta, sourdough and other artisan breads? Dolce Forno delivers freshly baked artisan breads and pastries within Hertfordshire, St Albans, Surrey, Berkshire, London and Buckinghamshire.

Contact us today to arrange a FREE sample tray of our artisan breads or pastries. Call our team at Dolce Forno Breads on 01727 762 456 or alternatively email contact@dolceforno.co.uk to find out more.

Tradition Preserved: Communal Ovens

Bread throughout history has always been a by-product of creating a community and intertwines with tradition and heritage. Right from the sourcing of ingredients, producing the dough, right through to placing in the oven – it’s a process passed down generation to generation.

Baking in the south of Italy has long been a communal affair, especially within the small towns and villages situated within the region. Depending on the calendar and cycle of harvesting wheat. Growers would come together at the mill for grain to be processed.

Within small villages outdoor communal ovens were situated at the heart of the the community. This was the place where all the bread in the village was baked. Sometimes done by the women of the village or by the resident baker, the bread was then distributed out depending on how much grain was given or based on bartering or services shared within the community.

The communal oven can be argued to be place where the village gathered. The daily place where neighbours shared news and gossip, debated on the latest politics and created memories. It plays a key part in the history of italian bread and in the preservation of long standing tradition in bread making and baking.

For us at Dolce Forno Breads, our vision is to preserve the idea of shared experiences – through our bespoke delivery of artisan handcrafted bread. We believe in cherishing the key origins of artisan and handcrafted bread.

We offer a range of italian bread such as ciabatta and foccacia.

 

Are you a cafe, venue or restaurant looking for a local supplier of fresh baked ciabatta, sourdough and other artisan breads? Dolce Forno delivers freshly baked artisan breads and pastries within Hertfordshire, St Albans, Surrey, Berkshire, London and Buckinghamshire.

Contact us today to arrange a FREE sample tray of our artisan breads or pastries. Call our team at Dolce Forno Breads on 01727 762 456 or alternatively email contact@dolceforno-breads.co.uk to find out more.

A Slice of History

Ever contemplated about the origins of how bread was invented?

We would have to go way back in time…

Historians note that humans processed and consumed wild cereal grains as far back as 23,000 years ago in the Upper Palaeolithic period (also called the Old Stone Period). Simple but effective stone mechanisms helped to smash and grind various cereals, removing the outer husks to leave just grains.

Our ancestors began to crack and grind grains, mixing it with water to create more options and variety of palatable food such as gruel (which didn’t need to be cooked) and thicker porridge. By experimenting with the heat of the sun and leaving it out, the paste dried created a bread like crust.

When wild yeast from the air combined with flour and water this created a fermentation process. It would be unpredictable in results and depended entirely on the flour texture, liquid, type of grain, wild yeast and highly influenced by the weather. A far cry from any oven!

You could think of this as a art form – as the skill of controlling various ingredients in addition to turning grain and water into edible bread required a ‘artisan’. Specific individuals within groups and communities were given high status and importance.

The trade of a baker is one of the oldest crafts in the world and was appreciated throughout history. One key example is that within Ancient Egypt, bread making was considered an important life skill. It’s importance is still to this date inscribed within tomb chamber walls.

Currency, Status and Art

Ancient Egyptians often paid their officials with good bread. They also noticed that they could take a piece of dough from a produced batch and save it for the next day. It is said that this is where the origin of sour-dough stemmed from. As valuable goods, bread was offered to Gods such as Isis and Osiris (protectors of grain and givers of bread). They also aimed to perfect the milling process to make grain refined, leading to the availability of baking whiter bread.

Empire Expansion

The skill of baking bread spread through travellers and soon flourished within the Roman Empire. It was in 168BC that the first Bakers Guild was formed. Within the space of 150 years, there were more than three hundred specialist pastry chefs in Rome.

The artisan craft was developed in a guild of bakers, “COLLEGIUM PISTORUM’ and has significant importance within the Roman empire. They enjoyed a variety of breads and often added milk, eggs and butter to make it richer. However, only the wealthy and privileged could often it.

Only a Slice

This is only a thin slice of the long history artisan bread-making. But it emphasises how for more than a thousand years the impact of bread, the baker and artisan bread has become part of human history.

Are you a cafe, venue or restaurant looking for a local supplier of fresh baked ciabatta, sourdough and other artisan breads? Dolce Forno delivers freshly baked artisan breads and pastries within Hertfordshire, St Albans, Surrey, Berkshire, London and Buckinghamshire.

Contact us today to arrange a FREE sample tray of our artisan breads or pastries. Call our team at Dolce Forno Breads on 01727 762 456 or alternatively email contact@dolceforno-breads.co.uk to find out more.