A delicious selection of Caldwell's organic naturally fermented vegetables, unpasteurized to preserve their natural enzymes, lactic bacteria, and lactic acid, which are all important for your health. Pumkinpapa - would love to see some photos of your desem when you get back into it. I had come across it earlier in Kiko Denzer's Cob oven book but he instructions were too simple and lacking for me at the time. You can shape it into a loaf and then flip it over so the rough side is up in the pan. The bread I ended up with was ... not exactly a brick, but not exactly light either. If your friends have the second type, yet do not have a histamine reaction to kefir, please let me know, I'd like to try it but am afraid until I've done more research. But if you go to http://www.bakingcircle.com/msgboard/ and search "desem" you will get a ton of information. New organisms will emerge and become dominant, and it will transform into a "desem" starter naturally and with less frustration.". Yeah, dairy allergies pretty much preclude making buttermilk bread. Dried sourdough starter cultures can be ready to create baked goods within 3-5 days. Each box contains 1 packet of dehydrated Desem Whole Wheat Sourdough Starter Culture. If I can find an hour or so this evening, I'll do a full write-up. So, I haven't baked any basic No Knead since the first couple of loaves. Laurel is absolutely right that 1 Tbs of butter per loaf really helps the rise a lot. Most likely it will be fine to use. Other dairy free starters are the sourdough breads, water kefir grains, and the kombucha scoby. That's what I did. However, to establish a desem is a bit difficult from a young liquid starter - many people tell me that they end up with a chunk of odourless dough which, when they use it, doesn't produce outstanding results. I'd love to see your write up and photos of your desem-making process - thanks! In a few days, you will have a thick, sponge like starter… I tried subbing soy products for dairy in a similar recipe to yours above, but did not get great results (dense and not a good rise, bland flavor) - somewhere I read that soy proteins may interfere with gluten development, so I may be out of luck for making a nice enriched but dairy-free sandwich loaf. Plus, it's no-knead. Mine was very dense, alas I have no pictures either, but now that I have some organic hard whole wheat I shall soon! I can tell by the picture of the Desem cut open in the above thread that it is pretty young. Canola oil doesn't seem to affect the flavor much at all, so that's what I use when I don't feel like using butter.BTW, you've inspired me to try making Desem bread this weekend, but with my regular starter kept stiff and cool. There's no added sugar in any of the recipes! In November, I decided to try my hand at the legendary Desem bread from the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book. Our sourdough starters are shipped in a dehydrated format so they make the trip safely. offers dozens of easy fruit recipes to make from scratch at home. And as a bonus, you get to control all the aspects of your kombucha, from the sugar, to the flavor, and the fizz. But I doubt that made a difference. They have one characteristic in common: they transform sugars into a beneficial form of lactic acid. Tough and chewy or tender and crispy? That may be a shaping issue, though. Combine everything in a mixing bowl, let rise for 8-12 hours. I'll report back how it goes! The thing is though, pain paillase, being a sourdough bread and baked into a fat baguette shape, is tastier than the all-white flour No Knead Bread. I had never made dosas with desem that was so young before, it but it still came out great. Thanks JMonkey - great pics - mine right now looks exactly like your pics above, so I guess it is very young and I'll keep at it for at least another 2 weeks of feedings to see what I get - Laurel says it should look like tan cottage cheese inside when it is mature. Today the top of the flour has cracked open, so it's growing. Because, after it's been fed some fresh flour and water, it turns quite spongy within a few hours. Homemade fermented foods are not only good for health; they taste good too. One of our favorite sourdough starter cultures, Desem Whole Wheat Sourdough Starter is a Flemish-style starter made with organic whole wheat flour. Ingredients: 4 1/2 C flour 2 tsp salt 1 3/4 C desem starter 1 3/4 C water ideally, a clay baking dish, but definitely a dish with a lid The pan on top simulates a brick oven effect and makes the bread rise a lot higher. This has a lot to do with the fact that in this country good bread is quite easy to get. Mountaindog, what is the specific component in dairy that you are allergic to? I didn't get a shot of the crumb -- or if I did, I can't find it now -- but it wasn't what I'd call a "light" bread, though it wasn't quite a brick either. It might be just personal taste though. Caldwell’s starter to ferment vegetables doesn’t contain any dairy. Learn to activate a sourdough starter. It's somewhere between regular baking and a science project. The Fresh Loaf is not responsible for community member content. Northwestsourdough, you have great pics on your site, and you certainly make me want to keep at it and try to make desem, thanks! I buried the dough ball in the flour, covered it, and put it in my basement, where it tends to stay below 65 in the fall. Activate using whole wheat flour and unchlorinated, unfluoridated water. Last week I made a batch of the more traditional Desem recipe which is in Laurel’s Bread … Information provided in this communication is not designed to and does not provide medical advice, professional diagnosis, opinion, treatment or services to you or to any other individual.