Kvass is one of the main Russian summer drinks: a mug of cold kvass will save you from the heat and become an indispensable ingredient in okroshka. We learned what bread kvass is, whether it can be hoppy, and how to make kvass on breadcrumbs at home.
Kvass is one of the oldest Russian drinks, it is mentioned in such ancient written sources as "The Tale of Bygone Years," "Stoglav," "Great Church Councils," and "Domostroy." Incredibly, many types of kvass are still brewed by enthusiasts to this day, although the vast majority of ancient recipes are practically unused. If we summarize all the types of kvass mentioned in the specialized literature of the late 19th - early 20th century, we can confidently count more than a hundred different recipes. This includes the bread kvass that has come down to us, albeit in a greatly simplified and abbreviated form, and its varieties - sour shchi, honey kvasses, fruit, berry, beetroot, and even turnip kvasses.
Some recipes contain hops - this indicates that there is no clear line between kvass and beer, as, on the other hand, there are quite a few types of beer that do not contain hops. For example, in the Vologda region, they still brew a kind of kvass called drozhenik - something between kvass and beer.
Honey kvasses, or simply medy, are divided into simple and hoppy, spicy and fortified. There are also recipes that combine components of bread, berry, and honey kvasses.
There are several times more variations of fruit-berry kvass than there are fruits and berries themselves; even from one type of raw material, you can prepare completely different drinks by different methods, and you can also combine them, making apple-rowan kvass or plum-raspberry kvass. By the method of preparation, they are divided into proper kvasses, waters, effervescent drinks, hip teas, ciders... It is worth mentioning separately the waters made from birch sap - birch waters - there is certainly no more Russian drink than this!
Bread Kvass
For hundreds of years, Russians not only quenched their thirst with kvass but also cooked numerous dishes with it: okroshka, botvinya, meat in kvass, borscht, and fish soup.
Kvass is one of the most Russian products, and accordingly, dishes prepared using kvass are the most Russian.
It should be borne in mind that exclusively acidic, most often white, bread kvass without any aromatic and flavor additives is used for cooking.
Previously, it was made from malt (more often rye), flour, water, and sourdough, now it is usually based on breadcrumbs. Where can a modern urbanite get rye malt? But there are no problems with breadcrumbs: stale bread is sliced, dried in the oven, and placed in a large pot or cotton bag. There will be so many of them accumulated over the winter that you won't even know where to store them. The simplest breadcrumbs made from rye bread are best for homemade breadcrumb kvass. It's better to remove the crust from Borodinsky, Riga, or any other bread with spicy toppings. It is not worth taking products made of sweet, puff pastry, or dough with seeds and nuts for breadcrumbs - fermentation in this case can go according to an unplanned scenario, and the rainbow-colored fatty film on the surface of the kvass will not delight you. But in general, as they say in the people: "Even bad kvass is better than good water."
We most often drink dark kvass, but in fact, traditional kvass is white, and dark kvass became popular relatively recently.
Let's Make White Bread Kvass
Ingredients
- Rye flour - 300 g
- Wheat flour - 200 g
- Buckwheat flour - 100 g
- Rye or wheat breadcrumbs - 500 g
- Sugar - 100 g
- Live yeast - 10 g
- Water - 6.1 liters
Instructions
- Prepare the wort. To do this, mix all types of flour and pour a liter of hot (60 degrees) water, constantly stirring to avoid lumps.
- Cover the dough with a blanket and let it stand for a couple of hours.
- Pour the resulting dough into a wide pot or enamel pot. Cover with foil and place in a preheated oven at about 120 degrees Celsius for approximately 3 hours. Then reduce the temperature to 90 degrees and keep it for about 10 hours. As a result, the dough should become sugary - acquire a sweet taste.
- Set the starter. Pour the resulting wort into a barrel, bucket, or large pot. Add crushed breadcrumbs and sugar.
- Dissolve the yeast in 100 ml of warm water, feed them with a spoon of wheat flour, and let stand for half an hour. Add the "revived" sourdough to the starter.
- Pour in 5 liters of warm (40 degrees) water and mix. Cover with a lid and leave at room temperature for three days.
- Carefully pour off the fermented liquid into bottles or jars with tightly closing lids, without stirring up the sediment. Cork and keep at room temperature for a day, then remove to the refrigerator or cellar.
- After 2-3 days, the kvass can be drunk, but it will reach its best taste in about 10 days.