Often in the press there are disputes about the harm done to the body by yeast. Whether this is true or not is for the professionals to judge, but they also have a statement about the benefits of pickled foods, drinks of the type of kvass and others prepared using fermentation technology.
Yes, there are high minds, many nationalities of our great country have been cherishing for centuries recipes for amazing drinks and dishes based on them. Including a lot of such foods exist, prepared without the use of alcoholic yeast. Kvass on a yeast-free basis is the most striking representative of this large family.
Kvass without yeast - general principles of preparation
• Making homemade yeast-free kvass is a long process, but not time consuming. The main work is to prepare the raw materials, mix them with other components and further fermentation in glass or enameled containers.
• Raw materials for making yeast-free kvass can be any berries, vegetables (beets), fruits, wheat or rye bread, and also grain (oats). Often it is cooked on rye sourdough, prepared independently from rye flour.
• If you prepare berry kvass, then first compote is made from berries, crackers are dried from bread, which are then fried. Oats and beets do not require pre-processing. The oats are simply washed with water, and the peeled beets are ground.
• Prepared raw materials are combined with sugar or honey, as well as sources of fermentation - malt, raisins, sourdough. After this, the containers are wrapped up and sent for a certain time to a warm place or vice versa left on the windowsill. At the end of the fermentation, kvass is filtered through a sieve or gauze and, bottled, cooled.
• Homemade kvass, in addition to being an incomparable drink, is used in the traditions of Russian cuisine for seasoning cold soups, such as okroshka or beetroot soup.
Rye flour sourdough yeast-free kvass
Before you start making kvass, you need to prepare a yeast-free yeast for it. It will take more than one day to cook it, but kvass cooked on it can be enjoyed in a day.
Ingredients
For sourdough:
• 300 gr. rye flour;
• drinking boiled water - 300 ml.
For kvass, for three liters of water:
• 100 gr. rye malt (fermented);
• 100 grams of home-made rye sourdough;
• 100 gr. granulated sugar.
Cooking method:
1. To prepare a yeast-free yeast, take a clean liter jar. Pour into it two full tablespoons of rye flour, pour two tablespoons of chilled boiled water and mix thoroughly. Cover the jar tightly and leave it warm for a day. The ideal temperature is from +25 to +40 degrees.
2. The next day, pour another two tablespoons of flour into the jar and pour the same amount of water. Stir everything again and leave, wrapped up, for another day.
3. Repeat this procedure at least five more times. On the seventh day, rye yeast-free sourdough will be ready. Such leaven is used not only for making kvass, you can also bake rye bread on it.
4. Set aside the amount of leaven required by the recipe, and add two more tablespoons of flour and water to the remaining. Stir and clean on the lowest shelf of the refrigerator, tightly closing the reusable lid.
5. In a clean, two-liter, or larger can, mix fermented malt with granulated sugar. Pour in one liter of boiling water, stir vigorously and leave, wrapped in a bath towel, for six hours.
6. Pour the malt along with the sediment into a three-liter bottle. Add two liters of cool boiled water and keep warm for a day.
7. Then filter the finished rye kvass through the layers of gauze and cool well.
Malt-free yeast bread kvass
Ingredients:
• two tables. tablespoons of rye fermented malt;
• 40 gr. granulated sugar;
• 80 gr. dried wheat bread (crackers).
Cooking method:
1. Put dried bread in a clean three-liter bottle. Add a large spoonful of sugar, all the malt and fill the jar to the neck with filtered drinking water.
2. Tie the neck with clean gauze and place the bowl in a deep plate so that the “escaped” kvass has a lot to do. Put the bottle in heat.
3. After 3-4 days, when most of the crackers sink to the bottom, you need to pour two liters of kvass from the can. It will be convenient to do this if you place twice the folded gauze on the neck and close the jar with a lid with holes.
4. Pour the filtered kvass into a bottle with a screw cap. Add a tablespoon of granulated sugar. Close the cork or lid and shake vigorously so that the sugar dissolves well. After that, place the container in the refrigerator for an hour to cool the drink.
5. The leaven remaining in the bank will be useful for preparing new kvass more than once.
Kvass on rye breadcrumbs and raisins
Ingredients:
• rye homemade crackers - 100 gr.;
• a full glass of sugar;
• half a glass of light raisins.
Cooking method:
1. Put the crackers on a baking sheet, and fry them well in a hot oven until dark brown. Do not burn, otherwise the drink will take an unpleasant taste and smell.
2. Fry the crackers in a clean, enameled container. Add the well-washed raisins, fill everything with hot water (3 liters) and remove, loosely wrapped, in heat.
3. When the wet bread begins to move freely in the container and most of it rises from the bottom up, strain the liquid through cheesecloth and pour into a clean three-liter jar. After that, clean for two days in the heat. The remaining sourdough is suitable for reuse.
4. Cool the finished kvass.
Oat, yeast-free kvass
Ingredients:
• two full glasses of unpeeled oats;
• five tablespoons of sugar;
• a small handful of dark raisins.
Cooking method:
1. Soak the oats for two minutes in warm water. Then transfer it to a sieve and rinse well under the pressure of cold water.
2. Transfer the oats into a clean glass bottle of 3 liters. Add all the sugar, washed and slightly mashed raisins and pour boiled water (cold) to the neck. Very important: do not stir sugar in water, it must dissolve itself during fermentation.
3. Tie the neck of the bottle with gauze and place the container on the windowsill for four days.
4. After that, through the cheesecloth, which is tied to the neck of the can, strain the kvass and transfer it to a container suitable for storage.
5. In the oats, add five tablespoons of sugar, 2-4 raisins and put back on the windowsill. A new portion is fermented faster, the drink will be ready after a couple of days.
6. Oat starter culture can be used not just many times, but even more than one month.
Fast beetroot yeast-free kvass
Ingredients:
• a small slice of stale rye bread (preferably a crust);
• granulated sugar - 100 g .;
• one large beet.
Cooking method:
1. Pour sugar into a three-liter glass jar. Dip the beets, chopped into small strips, and the rye bread, which has solidified.
2. Pour in cold filtered water and, covering it with gauze, put it on a window sill or other warm place for three days.
3. After this, strain the kvass, and place in the refrigerator to cool.
Berry yeast-free kvass - "Refreshing Strawberry"
Ingredients:
• a pound of fresh ripe strawberries;
• two tables. tablespoons of liquid light honey;
• four tablespoons of sugar;
• half a teaspoon of dry citric acid.
Cooking method:
1. Sort strawberries from rotten berries. Remove the remaining sepals and rinse well in a colander under the pressure of warm water.
2. Pour two liters of water into the pan and set it on a high fire to boil. Dip strawberries in boiling water. After the liquid boils again, remove it from the heat and let the berry broth brew for about forty minutes.
3. Drain the broth, and dilute the sugar, lemon and honey in it. Pour into bottles, half to a centimeter short of the neck. Put ten raisins in each and, closing it tightly, put it in the refrigerator for ten days to mature.
4. For faster ripening, leave the berry kvass warm for 2 days, then place in the refrigerator for the same period.
Kvass without yeast - cooking tips and tricks
• When frying crackers, make sure that they are burnt, otherwise the kvass will not just be bitter, it will have an unpleasant smell of rancid product.
• Do not cover cans with kvass removed for fermentation with tight lids - the product must breathe. If you are afraid that midges will fly into it and litter will get in, simply tie the neck of the container with clean gauze.
• Often kvass, which lays in banks, is poured over the edge. Therefore, be sure to put the jars in the deep plates in which it will be collected.
