Kefir Sourdough Starter - Kefirovy kvasok

The first step involves preparing the Kefir-sourdough-starter. The sourdough starter is a natural leavening, used to rise the pizza base [dough]. This starter may also be used for sourdough bread making. If you wish, instead of preparing a sourdough starter, one may simply add 1 cup of ripe milk kefir or water kefir in the dough making-process in step 2 below, letting the dough base rise in the pizza pan with added topping until the base almost doubles in height, followed by baking in a hot oven. The latter process takes much less time to prepare the pizza [or bread], for we do not have to wait for the initial kefir sourdough starter to ripen, and then used as our natural leavening agent. However, if one is going to prepare pizza [or bread] on a regular basis, then it is best to go with the kefir sourdough starter method, for once the starter has initially ripened and used on a regular basis, it will prove [rise] dough in a short time, as little as one or two hours at 28°C, which is quite quick for a sourdough method.

Ingredients and Method for Kefir Sourdough Starter

1 cup Kefir; either milk-kefir or water-kefir [Kefir d'acqua].

1 cup plain wheat or spelt wholemeal or unbleached white flour.Mix ingredients together in a jar to form a smooth wet paste. Cover jar with cloth or paper napkin and leave at room temperature until dough doubles in volume. This may take one to three days depending on temperature. Stir once daily. When ready it should be bubbly with a sweet-sour yeasty aroma. Do not let it get too sour, for it will produce an over sour baked product, which some folks may not enjoy.