Wild Yeast and Wisdom: A Journey into Sourdough Challah

Show Notes
Transcript

Can sourdough challah rise without commercial yeast? Discover the science and artistry behind this enigmatic bread as we delve into the natural fermentation process that harnesses wild yeast and bacteria from the air. We'll guide you through the fascinating steps of creating a sourdough starter, demonstrating how water and flour can yield such unique flavors and textures. You'll learn why sourdough challah has garnered such acclaim and how this traditional method stands apart from modern baking techniques.

Join us for a philosophical journey where we draw thought-provoking parallels between the natural yeast in the air and the concept of the Yetzirah from Jewish teachings. Explore how the ever-present wild yeast symbolizes life's challenges, urging us to stay humble and vigilant. Through the lens of baking sourdough challah, we reflect on the importance of self-awareness and humility. This episode is about baking and nurturing the soul, offering profound insights into the human condition. Don't miss this deeply engaging and reflective conversation!

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Transcript

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Sourdough challahs have me enamored, not because they're $18 for a loaf of bread and not because of their rather odd sweet and sour flavor or Claude Yisrael's obsession with it, but because there isn't any yeast in the sourdough challah, but yet it still gets all puffed up.

00:00:22.946 --> 00:00:33.429
There isn't any rising raising agent, it just naturally ferments and puffs up to that famous-looking sourdough challah shape.

00:00:33.429 --> 00:00:36.988
But it bothered me what does that mean?

00:00:36.988 --> 00:00:38.765
It puffs up without any yeast.

00:00:38.765 --> 00:00:39.447
How could that be Then?

00:00:39.447 --> 00:00:40.250
What's the point of yeast?

00:00:40.250 --> 00:00:45.168
And how does the sourdough challah become so puffed up?

00:00:45.168 --> 00:01:05.269
And what I discovered is that the way that you make sourdough challah is by creating this thing called starter, which is just mixing some water and some flour together and letting it sit and letting it ferment and then scooping out the goop and then coming back and putting in more flour and water and waiting a little bit more, and eventually the most amazing thing happens Without yeast.

00:01:05.450 --> 00:01:11.106
Over time, the sourdough challah rises without any yeast.

00:01:11.106 --> 00:01:12.609
Why?

00:01:12.609 --> 00:01:27.015
Because, according to science, there is natural yeast and bacteria in the air that mixes in to the dough and then actually helps the dough to begin rising.

00:01:27.015 --> 00:01:30.105
Ladies and gentlemen, you hear this there's yeast in the air.

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And surely you're aware that the se'or she'be'isa, the yeast Chazal, tell us that's the Yetzahara.

00:01:39.189 --> 00:01:52.653
Surely you're aware that the reason that we have matzah that's flat on the holiday of Pesach and not puffed up challah is because we're trying to remind ourselves about the evils that are prevalent in yeast.

00:01:52.653 --> 00:01:55.427
So we want to have a flattened matzah.

00:01:57.120 --> 00:02:02.933
But here we learn through sourdough challahs that there's natural yeast, there's natural Yetzirah in the air.

00:02:02.933 --> 00:02:05.698
It reminds us of the Gemara and Sukkah Hatzifuni, ze Yetzirah in the air.

00:02:05.698 --> 00:02:07.540
It reminds us of the Gemara and Sukkah Hatzifuni, the Yetzirah.

00:02:07.540 --> 00:02:09.266
The hidden one is the Yetzirah.

00:02:09.266 --> 00:02:17.146
He's everywhere, he's waiting in ambush, but you cannot see him and you do not know his agendas.

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For us it seems like we're going to become haughty, sour, sweet, kind of puffed up, sourdough sinners if we don't stay on the watch, on the lookout, to do our best to surmeyra, to protect against the bacteria and yeast-filled atmosphere.

00:02:39.112 --> 00:03:05.289
We should install in our hearts to be on a lookout, to do our best, to have our mechama, our war against the Yitzhara, to not ever get too haughty, to not get too caught up in ourselves, our self-centeredness, because to Eivas Hashem kol gevah alev, it is literally disgusting in Hashem's eyes anyone who is haughty and puffed up, whether it be a sourdough or a whole wheat roll.

00:03:05.289 --> 00:03:17.485
Be on the lookout to stay humble and to see the Itzahara's advances, because he lurks in the atmosphere with his yeast particles that fill up the air.

00:03:17.485 --> 00:03:30.737
Thank you,

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