PKD Recipes

Will Need
½ C. brown rice flour
½ C. room temperature filtered water
4 C. brown rice flour
large bowl (approx gallon-size) with lid

Day 1

In a medium to large bowl, combine ½ cup rice flour with ½ cup water and stir until all the lumps are gone. The mixture will be very thin and soupy. Lightly cover the bowl with a lid, leaving it cracked so that air can flow freely.

Feed the starter ½ cup flour with enough water to mix thoroughly (¼-½ cup). At each feeding, stir well, oxygenating the mixtures and allow it to sit. The starter may or may not go through a bubbly stage and if it does, it may not be very noticeable. The starter may smell foul around days 2-4, very much like rotten eggs. The smell is not an indication of contamination, rather the natural smell of wild yeast combining with brown rice flour. The smell should subside and become pleasant by day 6-7.

The starter will go through a bubbly and frothy stage and eventually subside. The starter will smell like yeast and/or wine, but the smell will be pleasant. If the starter begins to smell sour or rancid, it has been contaminated and should be thrown away.

Day 2
There are some large bubbles, some small bubbles visible through the side of the bowl. This is wild yeast. The surface will resemble cracked clay.
There may or may not have visible bubbles on the surface of the starter.
Day 3
The wild yeast is multiplying at an exponential rate.
There are more of the larger bubbles and even more of the smaller bubbles.
Again, the surface will look like cracked clay and there may or may not have visible bubbles on the surface of the starter. You will notice that as you stir, the starter will lack the stringy, spongey feel that traditional sourdough has. This is normal. The starter may begin to have an odor. Keep feeding the starter.

Days 4-7
The bubbles begin to become equal in size and evenly distributed throughout the starter. Odors should subside and the starter should smell like sweet yeast by day 7.
Approximately 2-3 hours after feeding, the starter should reach its peak and create a dome on top.
MAINTENANCE MODE
The frequency of feedings is determined by how much starter you need and how often you plan to use it.
At a minimum, the starter can be kept in the refrigerator and fed once a week merely to sustain life of the captured wild yeast.
You can continue to feed it daily as you have been, and in another seven days there will be enough starter for another batch of bread.
You can also feed starter as little as one tablespoon of flour and water for every two cups of starter – enough to continue daily growth but not produce a large quantity of starter. (One quart of starter would be fed with two tablespoons).
However frequent or infrequent you decide to feed your starter, the yeast thrives best when it’s fed regularly and consistently. Choose your time frame and quantity and stick with it as best as you can.
METHOD: Prepping the refrigerated starter for baking
Yeast grows incredibly slow at refrigeration temperatures, which is why you can get away with feeding it only once a week. In order for the yeast to successfully leaven a batch of bread, it must be “revived” so to say. The steps are below; along with an example to help you better understand the time frame involved.
Three and a half days before you plan to bake bread, remove the starter from the fridge and allow to come to room temperature. (i.e.Monday night)
Once the starter is at room temperature, feed with equal parts flour and water. (i.e., Tuesday morning)
Feed the starter two more times that day, around lunch and again before bed. (i.e., Wednesday)
On the morning of day three, feed the starter again. If the starter domes after 2-3 hours, you are ready to bake bread. If the starter does not dome, continue feeding three times daily until there is foam and liquid. (i.e., Thursday morning)
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ANOTHER GLUTEN FREE BROWN RICE STARTER (CHEF)
This is a Brown rice chef from the web. I have not tried this recipe but have posted it for our gluten free friends.

A knowledgeable gluten free sourdough baker suggested to feed the chef every 8 hours and use a fermented drink called Water Kefir add it directly to the chef on the first day. Water Kefir is a culture that is used to make a dairy free drink much like lemon soda. I purchased my grains and made the water kefir using water, tupelo honey, raisins and lemon. It fermented in less than 48 hours and I put a few tablespoons of it into brown rice flour and water. I built the chef gradually feeding it every 8 hours until I had the amount I needed. I was happy to see activity beginning shortly after 48 hours. Each subsequent feeding created increasing activity with large and small bubbles and hissing sounds when I stirred it down. This very live chef easily leavened the bread recipe without the use of eggs, commercial yeast, baking soda, or baking powder which was of prime importance to me being allergic to eggs and sensitive to the other ingredients.

I call this chef Boosted Brown Rice Chef because I have boosted its activity with Water Kefir. I find I can get a dependable chef every time when I use water kefir as a booster.

Rudolph Steiner on Bread
If you do not want to add flour and water for 4 days to make a CHEF then if you are lucky enough to live in Germany, this honey based yeast creates a lactic acid ferment that is also permissible. Sekowa Special Backferment is available on this translated page.

Rudolph Steiner on Bread baking.
“Honey and salt stand at opposite poles . . .and create a dynamic field. Salt and honey take their place and the bread rises under the influences of tension between them. The bread rose steadily around 6 am, whereas yeast bread rose at midnight.” I also freshly grind my flour from grains.
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WATER KEFIR RECIPE
You will need water kefir grains
Nearly fill a wide mouth quart jar with water.
Add 2 tablespoons tupelo honey, stirring to dissolve
Add 20 raisins
Add a slice of lemon or lime
Add the contents of your bottle of water kefir grains into the quart jar.
Cover with a paper towel or cloth and secure with a rubber band.
When raisins float to the top, scoop them and the lemon slice out and discard.
Ferment the water kefir for 6 more hours on the counter with the paper towel.
Then store in fridge and use as needed.
When you have used the liquid down to about an inch in the jar start a new batch in a new jar and pour the water kefir grains plus the liquid their in right into the new jar, cover and ferment.

Water Kefir is a good tonic that strengthens the digestive system. Try drinking small sips before meals. 2 tablespoons is enough for a bread chef. Water kefir gets fizzy with time. It’s a tonic with probiotics and enzymes.