Pasta Madre, step by step

Making of Pasta Madre, with a bit of Nordic flavour

I finally got sick enough of the miserable bread situation of this country to start making my own. You can ask any Finn how bread should be like - most definitely not the white fluffy toasterslices, the only thing the poor Dutchies have available. So, off to natuurwinkel for some rye flour and to Casa to learn about Pasta Madre it was.

Recipe is a new content type on the site, to facilitate sharing food - more on that (plus making it all look pretty) a bit later... read further to find out how to make Pasta Madre!

Pasta Madre, step by step
Ingredients
1
2
1
handful
handfuls
handful
Rye flour
Wheat flour
Soy flour
Pasta Madre
Water
Sunflower seeds
Oil
Instructions
Pasta Madre, step by step
Pasta Madre, step by step
Pasta Madre, step by step
Pasta Madre, step by step
Pasta Madre, step by step
Pasta Madre, step by step
Pasta Madre, step by step

Mix all the flours together (you don't need to make a volcano ;)

Shape the flour so that there's a flour-enclosed space in the middle (kind of like a volcano crater). Pour in water up to 2-3 from the top of your crater

Add Pasta Madre

Mix Pasta Madre with water until it's all one consistency Start mixing flour with the water&Pasta Madre mix in the middle. This process is to be taken easy, there is no rush. Keep it as one consistency which you let get thicker little by little.

Make sweet love to your bread with your hands until the dough becomes solid enough and no flour-walls are needed to contain it.

Sprinkle some sunflower seeds on your bread and spread around a little bit of oil.

Let the bread rise for a couple of hours in a warm, draftless place

Bake the bread at 175 degrees Celcius for approximately 40 minutes. But every oven is different so time and temperature varies! Check if the bread sounds hollow from the bottom, by knocking the bread with your hands.

Let the bread cool off (post-bake). The bread is actually still cooking so at least give this half-an-hour and if you leave it for several hours or more, it will taste much better!

Eat & enjoy!