In the Victorian era, yeast was sometimes made at home. The last days I tried out another Victorian yeast substitute recipe. The other Victorian yeast substitute was made with fresh hops, this homemade yeast just needs flour, sugar and water. I made two different yeast starter: one with white flour, and one with whole wheat flour
Victorian Yeast Substitute
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp white or whole wheat flour
- 1/2 tsp brown sugar
- 160 ml water
- a little salt
Directions:
Boil all ingredients for one hour; when lukewarm, bottle the homemade yeast.
After 24 hours add enough flour to make a bread dough. The yeast substitute with white flour has a strong smell of yeast, while the yeast substitute with whole wheat flour has no smell at all, neither good nor bad. Let the bread rise overnight before baking.
Both breads didn’t rise well; but both breads smelled and tasted good: mild and sweet, not at all sour like homemade sourdough. However, I wouldn’t make this Victorian yeast substitute again, I prefer homemade yeast subsitute made with honey water or homemade fruit yeast.
Boiling the mix kills the yeasts! This might do a little more if you just mix it and let it sit before adding the flour.
There is no yeast in it when you boil the mix. Wild yeast is the air and the lukewarm mix is used to capture the wild yeast.