I've been told there's a general panic about the shortage for flour in the grocery stores. But I must ask: have you met lentils?
I hate to be one of these awful bores who believes the stuff they say, yet here we are, I guess: yeast is technology, flour is culture.
I hate to be one of these awful bores who believes the stuff they say, yet here we are, I guess: yeast is technology, flour is culture.
Gram flour/besan comes from the mighty Bengal Gram aka chana dal (in a pinch, chickpea flour works too). It's one of the cornerstones of Indian food. It's also plenty available in your local Indian store. Buy a big bag, soak some when you're feeling lonely and grind it up!
Extracting yeast is easy, and lovely: this is the technology--these are the things that people have been working with forever.
The part where it becomes uncertain is where it mixes with culture: what will this mix of lentil flour and fig yeast do?
It'll do the same thing I grew up on: it'll ferment. And ferment...
....and ferment
Until you have a regular lentil-based culture that you can use to bake.
