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Virgin Barm

A fermented yeast starter made by mixing water, flour, and previous barm, then fermenting for 56 hours.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 5 ingredients
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Virgin Barm

Ingredients

Directions

Make the paste

  1. Mix 20 cups of water at 125°F with 32 cups of flour to form a stiff paste by hand.

  2. Immediately add 45 cups of boiling water, 2 pints at a time. Stir vigorously with a stick after each addition, and ensure there are no lumps.

  3. Do not add too much water.

Ferment

  1. Let the mixture sit for about 12 hours until it cools to 80°F (27°C) and becomes slightly tart.

  2. Add the store (previous barm), a handful of flour, and stir well.

  3. Allow to ferment for 56 hours. Foaming will start at the sides and gradually cover the top.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

What each ingredient does

Flour
Forms the starch and protein structure that the fermentation works through.
Previous barm
Supplies live yeast and bacteria that start the new fermentation.

The step that matters

Adding the boiling water. Adding the boiling water all at once or too fast can leave lumps or cook parts of the flour. Stirring vigorously after each addition keeps the paste smooth so the starch hydrates evenly.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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