The traditional recipe for white okroshka kvass includes a simple set of ingredients, including rye flour, water and sugar. For the first time, a starter is prepared, which is then diluted with warm water, fermented and filtered. But there are also simpler recipes.
Today I will tell you how to make bread kvass at home from rye crackers, with a minimum amount of sugar, using dry yeast. I will cook it in a 3-liter jar - in my opinion, the most convenient container for ripening kvass. A step-by-step recipe with photos and detailed descriptions will help you easily cope with the task. In less than two days you will get a great drink, invigorating and effervescent, which is perfect for seasoning homemade okroshka.
Total time: 2 days / Cooking time: 15 minutes / Yield: 1.5 l
Ingredients
- rye bread - 250 g
- warm boiled water - 2-2.5 l
- sugar - 4 tbsp. l.
- raisins - 1 tbsp. l.
- dry yeast - 1/2 tsp.
Preparation
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I cut the rye bread into medium-sized cubes, 2x2 cm. You will need 250-300 grams of bread, which is about 1/4 of a loaf. It needs to be dried in the oven for a special aroma and so that it does not immediately turn sour in water.
I spread the bread cubes in an even layer on a baking sheet and dry them in the oven. The temperature should not be too high, about 120-130 degrees. During the drying process, I turn it over several times, the result should be crispy crackers, but not too overcooked or burnt. If you overdo it, the kvass will become bitter.
I put the rosy crackers into a 3-liter jar. They should fill it about 1/4 full or a little more. I fill it with hot boiled water (80 degrees) - up to the hangers of the jar. I leave it until it cools.
After 3-4 hours, when the liquid reaches room temperature, add sugar, raisins and a little dry yeast. I cover it with a lid and lightly turn the jar in the air so that the yeast dissolves (alternatively, you can dilute it separately in a small amount of warm water). I cover it with gauze and leave it like that for 24 hours. Kvass should ferment in a warm place. Depending on the ambient temperature, the ripening time can vary significantly and reach from 1 to 3 days if it is hot or, conversely, cool.
In ripened kvass, the crackers will rise to the neck of the jar, bubble and play, and foam will appear, which indicates the readiness of the drink. This means it’s time to strain the liquid from the crumb. I squeeze the soggy bread through cheesecloth, strain the drink into a clean container - glass or food-grade plastic bottles with lids are suitable.
I pour the liquid into prepared bottles (I got a little more than 1.5 liters), screw the lids on tightly and put them in the refrigerator to steep for 8-10 hours. And don’t rush to throw away the bread crumb. It can be used as a starter for the next batch of kvass - to do this, I return it to the jar and fill it with warm, but not hot, boiled water with sugar and repeat the process, but without adding yeast.
Bread kvass is completely ready for use. In the cold, the fermentation process stops, a small natural sediment falls to the bottom of the bottle, which is due to the use of natural raw materials. All that remains is to chop the vegetables and season the soup with a portion of the chilled drink. Bon appetit!
On a note
You can season the okroshka with cold kvass or prepare an emulsion from mashed yolk, kvass and sour cream - it will turn out even tastier!
Kvass is an original Slavic drink. From Arkhangelsk to the shores of the Adriatic, from the Urals to the Oder River, people drink alovina, kiselitsa, parovets, kisel, zhur. Behind all these names lies kvass. In the old days, the drink had a degree, and what a degree! Kvass was served at weddings and feasts. In many Slavic languages this is reflected in colloquial speech. For example, the Russian argonym “kvasit” means “to drink strong alcohol.” This drink is prepared from malt and flour (or rye bread). Sometimes honey, fragrant herbs, berries and fruits are added to kvass. And how many types of this drink are there! Kvass is white, dark (or classic), beet, berry, honey, milk. The drink can serve as the basis for preparing cold summer soups. Okroshka will be tasty if you use white kvass for it. It differs from its classic brother not only in color, but also in its light refreshing taste with a slight sourness. Read about how to prepare white kvass in this article.
Benefit
This drink not only perfectly tones and refreshes. And its pleasant taste is not its only good quality. White kvass is rich in vitamins, especially group B. If you drink this drink regularly, you will have healthy skin, shiny and thick hair, and strong nails. White kvass also improves intestinal microflora. It contains amino acids and trace elements. You can experiment with kvass by adding berry and fruit juices, honey and herbal infusions to it.
White kvass: old Russian recipe
In our climatic conditions, the main grain has always been rye. Its grains were sprouted, mixed with flour, poured with boiling water and simmered for a long time in a Russian oven. Then they were left to cool and kept warm for several days. But how to prepare white kvass at home, that is, in an ordinary modern kitchen where there is no Russian stove? If you cannot get sourdough (one tablespoon), it is permissible to replace it with rye bread crusts and raisins. Grape berries contain a lot of wine yeast. Fifty grams of raisins will start the fermentation process. But first, let’s dilute 300 g of rye flour with three liters of boiling water. You need to pour while stirring so that lumps of dough do not form. Add one hundred grams of honey to this mass. If desired, we will enrich the bouquet of the future drink with currant or mint leaves. You can add a little grated horseradish, but again this is optional. When the mixture has cooled to 35 degrees, add the sourdough starter (or raisin bread crusts). Stir, cover and leave in a warm place for a day and a half. Kvass is considered ready when abundant foam appears on the surface. Then we filter the drink, bottle it, and put it in the refrigerator. Do not pour out the cloudy sediment. It can be used as a starter for a new portion of the drink.
Intoxicating white kvass made from flour
As we remember, in the old days this drink was alcoholic. It was also called “cooked”. We will grow the starter for him ourselves. Pour warm water over the rye flour and leave it warm for five days. During this time, a colony of yeast bacteria will develop, and it will be possible to make white kvass. The recipe for a “brewed” drink involves pouring cold water over rye flour and gradually heating it. So, we stick to the same proportions. For 300 g of flour - three liters of water. Place the pan on low heat and bring to a boil, then immediately turn off the gas. Stir with a wooden spatula until completely homogeneous. You can even lightly whisk the mixture. To prevent the flour from producing lumps, you can add three tablespoons of sugar to it. When the mixture, which resembles batter or sour cream, has cooled, add a spoonful of sourdough and place a crust of dry rye bread on top. After two or three days spent in the warmth, the drink will ferment. Let's wait until the end of the stormy period, then strain through cheesecloth. This kvass can reach a strength of up to 9°.
Recipe with added malt
This component is nothing more than sprouted wheat grains. With malt, homemade white kvass will ferment faster and will be more effervescent and foamy. In addition, wheat neutralizes bitterness, makes the taste of the drink softer, and the color lighter. It is better to use natural rye sourdough in the preparation. Let's take a loaf of Borodino bread and cut off the crust. Cut the crumb into cubes. Place on a baking sheet and dry in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for about half an hour. Pour one hundred grams of crackers into a bottle. Add three soup spoons of malt. Fill with three liters of boiling water. Wrap the bottle well and leave until it cools completely. Take the starter (one hundred grams) at the peak of its activity. Let's dilute it in a small amount of the cooled mixture, then pour it into the bottle. Add one hundred grams of sugar, stir and place under a water seal for a day at room temperature. Then we strain and bottle it. The drink is consumed chilled. This kvass has a degree. So drinking it before driving a car is not recommended.
With wheat crackers and yeast
There are many ways to make white kvass ferment. In this recipe, yeast acts as such a catalyst. It is better to prepare white crackers yourself. The store-bought product contains many preservatives that will ruin all the work. Grind the crackers to crumbs using a blender or rolling pin. Boil a liter of purified water for about two minutes. Place the crumbs from the crackers in an enamel pan. Pour boiling water over it, cover and let stand for three hours. During this time, you need to mix the contents several times. Dissolve ten grams of yeast in a small amount of warm water and leave in a warm place for an hour. Then we combine it with the infusion of crackers. Add 50 g of sugar. Stir and leave in a warm place for ten hours. During this time, foam should appear. Put a slice of lemon and six raisins into the prepared bottles. Filter the kvass through cheesecloth. We cork the bottles and put them in the refrigerator.
White kvass for okroshka
The base for cold soup should have a distinct sourness. Therefore, white okroshechny kvass is prepared in a slightly different way. Traditionally it is made from barley and rye malt. Three types of flour are also used. These are wheat, buckwheat and rye. Yeast is used to start the fermentation process. And mint is added as a flavoring. How to make traditional kvass for okroshka? Knead the dough from the indicated types of flour and boiling water. Then dilute it with plenty of warm water. Add malt, yeast and mint infusion. After two days in a warm place, the soup base can be strained and used.
Simplified recipe for kvass for okroshka
Yeast, malt, several types of flour... Is it possible to do without all these complex components? Can! And only Borodino bread will replace them all. After all, it is baked using all of the listed products. Therefore, it is an ideal raw material for preparing white rye kvass at home. First, brew a bunch of mint in a glass. After some time, strain off the herbal infusion. Cut half a loaf of bread into cubes and put it in a three-liter jar with 50 grams of raisins. Pour in warm mint infusion. Pour in two liters of bottled purified water. Cover the jar and put it in a warm place for a day. After this, the kvass can be strained. If it is not used immediately for preparing okroshka, it should be stored in dark bottles and in a horizontal position.
White kvass can be flavored not only with mint. Currant leaves, lemon, and lime are also added to it. For a sweeter taste, add honey and molasses to the drink. Very interesting drinks are made from a mixture of white kvass with various fruit and berry juices. You can buy sourdough starter. To do this, you need to purchase a drink at the market. It's a little cloudy. This grounds is the leaven. You can work with her. But to prevent the bacteria from withering away, do not forget to feed them with sugar.
The most delicious okroshka is made with homemade kvass. Although it is quite possible to replace it with store-bought, but not very sweet. How to prepare okroshka with kvass and how to make kvass itself will be discussed in this article.
How to prepare homemade kvass for okroshka
For kvass prepare:
- black bread without cumin - 1 loaf;
- water – 5 l;
- granulated sugar – 300 g;
- light-colored raisins – 2 handfuls.
Cut the bread into slices and dry in the oven. Place the crackers in a large saucepan and add two cups of water. Add 250 g of sugar to this. Stir the mixture and let it brew for 2-3 hours. While the crackers are soaking, bring the remaining water to a boil and cool it to 40-42 degrees. Pour this water over the soaked breadcrumbs and add all the raisins. Cover the pan with gauze and place it in a warm place (20-25 degrees). If you do everything correctly, then after 2-3 days you will have a foamy, sweet liquid with a faint sour taste in the pan. Now strain the kvass through several layers of gauze and add the remaining 50 g of sugar to it. Pour the kvass into bottles, add a couple of raisins and tightly close the bottles with lids or corks. Keep the bottles warm for no more than 8 hours, and then put them on the refrigerator shelf or in a cold basement. When the kvass has cooled, you can cook okroshka with it.
How to cook okroshka with kvass
The cooking technology is quite simple:
- Boil 6 potatoes directly in their skins. When the vegetables have cooled, peel them and cut them into small cubes.
- Boil 4 eggs and after cooling, chop them too. Set aside 1 boiled yolk - it will be needed for dressing.
- Cut 4 fresh cucumbers into cubes. If you like okroshka with radishes, then take 100 g of it and chop it into cubes.
- Cut 300 g of boiled veal or chicken into cubes. You can replace meat or chicken with premium boiled sausage.
- Mix the prepared products in a large saucepan and pour cold kvass over them.
- Make a gas station. For it, grind a small bunch of green onions and a generous handful of coarse salt in a mortar until it becomes mushy. Add the reserved egg yolk and 2 teaspoons of prepared mustard to this. Stir everything until smooth and mix with 200 g of sour cream.
- Place the dressing in a saucepan with okroshka. Stir again and add salt to taste. If the kvass turns out sour, add a pinch of salt.
- Cool the okroshka in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours and pour it into deep plates. Sprinkle with fresh dill and green onions.
In the old days, peasants were not very spoiled for food, and sometimes the main food for them was bread and a fermented drink on breadcrumbs. They used it to prepare stews, for which they made a special sour drink, and since then a recipe has come down to us on how to make white okroshka kvass at home. For everyone's favorite summer soup, as a rule, a light kvass product is used, but many still prefer dark varieties.
It is reasonable to start preparing okroshka kvass, like any other, from the very beginning, namely with sourdough. It is thanks to this mass that the fermentation activity of the composition is activated, and therefore it deserves to be proudly called the base, because without something, and without a starter, you cannot make kvass. Moreover, the taste and benefits of our foamy drink depend on the quality of this “activator”.
Village okroshka kvass
Ingredients
- Rye flour - 1 cup + -
- - 1 tbsp. l. + -
- — 5 g + -
- — 1 l + -
- Sourdough – 0.5 l + -
- - 1/2 cup + -
- Rye flour - 0.5 kg + -
- — 8 l + -
- Mint – 10 leaves + -
Preparation
Since we intend to prepare historical bread kvass for okroshka at home, we will select the appropriate, so to speak, grandfather’s recipe. This drink is distinguished by its naturalness, bready aroma and sour taste.
- First, let's mix the starter. To do this, pour 0.5 liters of boiling water into the flour and mix with a whisk so that there are no lumps. The consistency should be close to pancake dough. Let the liquid cool to 35-30 o C and add sugar and yeast. If the mass is too thick, you can add slightly warm water. Now we give the yeast time to “come to life”, and as soon as you see that the starter starts to bubble, pour in a liter of warm water and leave the grounds to ferment for 24 hours.
- The next day, the resulting semi-kvass should be drained, and we will use the remaining sediment, also known as leaven, to prepare kvass.
- We should warm up the thicket a little by placing the vessel in warm water, then add sugar, stir and leave to activate.
- Mix rye flour with boiling water and mix with a whisk, avoiding lumps. Next, dilute the resulting mass with the main volume of water (37 o C) and then pour in the starter and add mint leaves. Leave the kvass in a warm place for two days.
- When the drink is ready, it will need to be filtered, bottled and refrigerated. We use the remaining “cake” again to prepare kvass.
This recipe for bread kvass for okroshka can be adjusted. For example, if you prefer a darker and richer drink, then add more rye flour. Also, if you don’t like very strong kvass, then you don’t have to keep it for 48 hours - 1 day will be enough.
Wheat white kvass
In order to prepare homemade kvass for okroshka according to the following recipe, we will need both crackers and fresh bread. For those who like experimenting, there is a great opportunity to enrich the taste with molasses or buckwheat honey, as well as spices such as cinnamon or cardamom.
Products per 8 liters of water
- Wheat crackers – 900g;
- Rye bread – 250 g;
- Rye flour – 100g;
- Granulated sugar - 100 g;
- Baker's yeast - 30 g;
Preparation
- You can take either ready-made crackers or cook them yourself in the oven, then pour boiling water (8 liters) over them and leave to sour for 4 hours.
- We need to knead yeast dough from rye flour and crumbled bread pulp, but we do not take all the yeast, but only half a teaspoon.
- When the dough rises, we need to shape it into flat cakes and fry them in a frying pan without oil. We break the finished products into 4 parts and throw them into the wheat crackers that are soggy in the water.
- Add sugar and yeast there, but make sure that the temperature of the grounds does not exceed 37 degrees. After mixing everything, cover the jug with a lid and leave the kvass to ferment for 12 hours.
After the allotted time, the drink should be passed through a sieve and used for preparing cold vegetable soups, turi and okroshka, and also as an independent drink.
Borodino kvass
Homemade okroshka kvass, despite its low calorie content (27 kcal/100g), is a rather energy-intensive product, since it is based entirely on carbohydrates. By consuming it daily, you will be full of vitality all day long, so include okroshka in your diet, because it is incredibly tasty and healthy. Now we’ll tell you how to make kvass for okroshka.
Ingredients
- Water - 2 l;
- Rye bread – ½ loaf;
- Raisins - 50 g;
- Mint - 1 bunch;
Preparation
- Contrary to the established opinion, we will start making fermentation not with sourdough, as usual, but with preparing a mint infusion, for which we pour 250 ml of boiling water over the mint mixture and let it brew for half an hour.
- While the mint tea is preparing, we start cutting the bread into cubes, after which we put them in a 3-liter jar.
- We need to carefully sort and rinse the raisins, and after drying we send them to the bread in a jar.
- We drain the mint infusion through cheesecloth and pour it into a glass container, into which we also pour 2 liters of purified water.
- We close the jar with a lid, put it in a warm place for 24 hours, and the next day we enjoy the sour drink. If you wish, you can add sugar or honey, but as a seasoning for summer soup, this unsweetened kvass is simply amazing.
Despite the fact that summer has already sunk into oblivion for the next 9 months, the interest in okroshka among the Russian people does not fade, so okroshka kvass will always come in handy both as a soup dressing and as a lemonade substitute at a noisy feast.
In the summer, in the heat, the issue of soft drinks is very relevant. Despite the huge assortment of numerous store-bought sodas, traditional Russian kvass is still in demand.
We enjoy drinking kvass from a barrel, and industrial bottled kvass is also popular. But homemade kvass - bread kvass, which our grandmothers, and often our parents, prepared, unfortunately, we no longer prepare as often as we could.
Preparing homemade kvass for okroshka is not much more difficult than ordinary everyday tea. We won't have to spend much more effort. But it will take more time. But kvass will ripen without our intervention. We will only need to perform simple manipulations at the right moment, and delicious homemade kvass will be ready.
Interestingly, you can not only drink bread kvass, but also eat it. Based on it, they make an excellent, also very popular summer dish - okroshka. What is it good for?
Firstly, this is a cold dish and it is prepared without cooking or frying, which is very important in the heat.
Secondly, in the summer there are a lot of fresh vegetables and herbs that can be used for okroshka. And finally, okroshka is tasty and healthy.
How to prepare homemade kvass for okroshka, recipe (step by step with photo):
5) Strain into bottles, add a few raisins and leave in the refrigerator for 6 hours. After this, it can be used for okroshka. If necessary, you can add more sugar. Try making homemade kvass for okroshka, the recipe will help you.
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