The implication in most of the recipes is that you should just pour some lukewarm potato cooking water in and let it do its thing. However, it's also possible that they mean potato mashed into some of its own cooking water. This second approach makes more sense to me. It seems like repeated additions of water would just dilute it further and further.
I found one recipe that advised adding raw potato. I found another that recommended adding flour. But then other people saying that flour shouldn't be added. I've also found recipes indicating that the entire bug should be added to the dough and then a bit of the dough pinched off to make the new bug. Other recipes indicate that only a portion of the bug should be added and the remainder fed and allowed to grow and develop further. I'm taking my best guess at how to feed the bug and keep it alive. We'll see how it goes.
Rēwena Bread
Slightly adapted from Super Value
Ingredients
- 5 c. soft (cake/plain/standard) flour1
- 6 Tbsp. sugar
- 1 tsp. coarse sea salt2 (optional)
- 1-2 Tbsp. dry milk powder3 (optional)
- 500mL rēwena bug
- 350mL water
Directions
- Combine dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
- Make a well in the centre and pour in the bug and about half the water.
- Mix the flour into the liquids working from the centre outward.
- Turn out onto counter and begin kneading, working in more water as necessary. (You may not need all the water or you may need a bit more depending your flour and how hydrated your bug is.) DO NOT knead for more than 10 minutes! The dough should become supple and silky.
- Set in a covered bowl to rise for a few hours. It will probably take at least two hours and may take four or more depending on how active the bug is and how warm the room is.
- Once the dough no longer returns an indentation from a wet finger pressed ~1cm into the surface, knock it back.
- Shape into loaves, cover, and set to rise again. This rise will likely take an hour or two.
- Preheat oven to 230°C (450°F) and spritz loaves generously with water.
- If using an open-topped cooking vessel, place a pan of boiling water on the bottom rack of the oven. If using a vessel with a lid (like a Dutch oven), cover it before placing the bread in the oven.
- Bake at 230°C (450°F) until crust begins to colour. This took ~30 minutes for me. (Much longer than I'd normally expect.) Remove the water pan or uncover the cooking vessel after the first 10 minutes.
- Reduce oven temperature to 180°C (350°F) and continue baking until cooked through. This took an additional 30 minutes for my batch (which was baked as one large loaf in a Dutch oven).
Rēwena Bug
Slightly adapted from Super Value
Ingredients
- 1 medium-sized potato
- 2 c. water
- 1 tsp. sugar
- 2 c. soft (cake/plain/standard) flour
Directions
- Slice the potato and boil it in the water until tender.
- Set aside to cool until lukewarm. DO NOT drain!
- Mash the potato directly into the cooking water.
- Add the sugar and flour and continue mashing until a uniform slurry is achieved.
- Pour into a clean jar, lightly cover, and set aside at room temperature for 1-2 days.
- After a day or two it should be active enough to bake with, although the flavour won't be fully developed yet.
- Feed every day while being kept at room temperature. Seal and store in fridge if you will not be baking often.
- Feed with sugar and potato cooking water and/or mashed potato and/or flour.
1 Using soft flour for bread is highly unusual. I was extremely dubious about its use here. Remarkably, it worked quite well! The resulting bread was decidedly more cakey than a standard loaf, but it developed enough gluten structure to trap the gases produced and reasonable rise. Back
2 If you're going the route of adding the whole bug to dough and then pinching off a piece for next time, then it's probably best to omit the flour as including it could slow down your bug. Back
3 Adding a bit of milk powder can add a bit of extra flavour and improved texture if your bug is on the younger side. Back
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