Homemade kvass is made only from natural products. Such a drink is not only useful, but also perfectly quenches thirst. In addition, homemade kvass can be drunk even to those who watch their weight, because there are no components in its composition that stimulate the appetite.
Home brew - the basic principles of cooking
Classic kvass is made from rye bread, or with the addition of brown bread croutons. In addition, for the preparation of the drink using yeast or yeast. To make the drink fragrant and diversify the taste, many housewives add raisins, fresh berries, mint, lemon juice and ripe apples, medicinal herbs and honey.
If you are preparing a brew using concentrate, then when choosing it, pay attention to its composition. Do not use the product with dyes, preservatives, etc.
Do not cook kvass on tap water. Use for preparation filtered, bottled, spring or boiled. Only in this case, the drink will not have extraneous taste and smell.
Capacity for making kvass should be glass or enamelled. Aluminum or plastic will not work.
Yeast is better to take fresh. If you failed to buy them, you can use dry ones.
Bread must be rye or black. Great "Borodino" or black bread with cumin. From it prepare croutons. For this, a loaf is cut into chunks of medium thickness and then crushed into small pieces. Bread spread on a baking sheet and sent to dry in the oven. It should be remembered that the color of the drink depends on the degree of bread roasting.
To get a tasty drink, it is very important to maintain the correct temperature during cooking. Kvass is kept warm to start the fermentation process.
In the room where there will be dishes with kvass, there should be no drafts. The finished drink is placed in the fridge. Shelf life home kvass is not more than two days. Then the drink loses its beneficial properties. Sourdough yeast or malt. The latter can be prepared by yourself. To do this, take grains of rye, barley, oats or wheat. Wash them thoroughly in warm water. Then the grain is placed in a clay container or oak barrel. Grain is poured with barely warm water so that it covers them. Leave until grains germinate. The water is changed daily so that it does not bloom. As soon as the sprouts reach two centimeters, the grains are removed from the dish and dried in a warm place. Then grind in a coffee grinder. The finished powder is poured into bags made of cloth and stored in a cool place.
Ready malt is poured with hot water and left for three hours. Then add sugar. The yeast is dissolved in warm water and this mixture is introduced into the leaven. All is well mixed. After a day the drink will be ready. Kvass is poured, and the remaining leaven is used to prepare a new batch of drink. They take about half of the old sourdough, add to it fried bread and sugar. Add the raisins and pour all over with water.
To make kvass wort, pour two cups of rye flour into a glass liter container. Two spoons of sugar are added to this and mixed. Gradually pour in warm water, and mix until the dough turns out like on pancakes. Ten raisins are added to it and the leaven is placed in heat, covered with a cloth. In about three days, the leaven will be ready. Be sure to remove the raisins from it.
Homemade kvass is filtered through cheesecloth and poured into glass bottles. Store in the refrigerator.
Recipe 1. Home-made kvass: a step-by-step recipe for cooking with yeast
Ingredients
black bread - 300 g;
cane sugar - 70 g;
spring or bottled water - three liters;
35 g fresh or 25 g dry yeast.
Method of preparation
1. Take half a loaf of black bread. Put it on a cutting board and cut into slices of medium thickness. Then cut them into oblong pieces. Now cook bread crackers. This can be done in the oven or in the pan. In the first case, place the slices of bread in a single layer on a baking sheet and place in a preheated oven. Dry to light ruddy. In the second case, put the bread in a dry frying pan and fry, stirring constantly. Cool ready crackers. 2. Take a glass liter jar, wash it thoroughly and wipe dry. Put the crackers in the jar, filling it in half. Fill all with boiling water. Crackers will be sodden and will increase in volume, therefore fill the jar with this fact in mind. Leave for five minutes. As a result, you should get a gruel of bread, the consistency of thick sour cream.
3. Into the resulting slurry, pour in the granulated sugar and stir everything until it is completely dissolved. Take a piece of cheesecloth, fold it in three layers and cover the container with the bread. Leave the container to cool at room temperature.
4. In the barely warm mixture, add fresh or dry yeast. Mix well, cover with gauze and leave to ferment. After two days, the leaven will be ready. Now it can be used to make kvass.
5. Take a three-liter glass jar. Wash and dry thoroughly. Put on the bottom of three or four handfuls of ruddy crackers.
6. Make pure syrup from pure water and sugar. To do this, dissolve sugar in hot water. Fill the crackers with warm syrup, filling the jar approximately 3/4 of the volume. Fill the rest of the tank with the starter. Cover the jar with a thick cloth and leave in a dark warm place. After three days, strain the drink through cheesecloth. Pour it into glass bottles, close the lids tightly and send in the refrigerator. The thick can be used to prepare the next portion of the drink.
Recipe 2. Home-made kvass: a step-by-step recipe for making a yeast-free drink
Ingredients
wheat-rye or rye bread;
raisins - 25 g;
bottled or spring water;
cane sugar - 75 g.
Method of preparation
1. Place half of the loaf of bread on a cutting board, and cut it into not too thin slices. Put the bread on a baking sheet and put in a preheated oven. Make sure that the crackers are not burnt, otherwise the drink will turn out to be bitter.
2. Wash and dry the three-liter jar. Put in it ready crackers and fill them with two liters of boiling water. To prevent the pot from breaking, place a knife blade under it. 3. Make a syrup from sugar, dissolving it in a little water. Pour the syrup into the jar and mix. Cover with gauze, folding it several times, and leave to cool until warm.
4. In the barely warm mixture, add the raisins. Never rinse it. Unwashed raisins will significantly speed up the fermentation process. Cover the bottle with a thick cloth and place in a warm, darkened place. The duration of fermentation can be from eight hours to days. It all depends on the quality of water, raisins and bread. The first signs of fermentation are the appearance on the surface of the foam, a sour aroma or hiss.
5. After three days after the start of fermentation, strain through the gauze folded in five layers.
6. If you want to get a carbonated drink, pour it into plastic bottles, leaving some space, and leave to warm for another five hours. When the bottles become “hard”, put them in the fridge so that the fermentation process stops and the taste stabilizes.
Recipe 3. Home-made kvass with honey and horseradish: a step-by-step recipe
Ingredients
filtered or bottled water - four liters;
fresh yeast - 25 g;
rye crackers - 800 g;
natural honey - 100 g;
raisins - 50 g;
granulated sugar - half a kilo;
horseradish - 100 g
Method of preparation
1. Preparation of kvass begin with the preparation of crackers. Cut rye bread on a cutting board in small pieces. We lay them on a dry baking sheet and send it to the oven, which must first be turned on at 200 degrees. The croutons should be reddened, but not burnt so that the drink does not turn out bitter. Take out the crackers from the oven and cool.
2. Wash the glass container thoroughly and dry it. Put ready rye crackers in a dry glass container. In a kettle, boil water and pour the crackers with boiling water. Cover the container with gauze and leave for three hours to cool completely.
3. Strain the finished kvass wort. In the resulting liquid, add the yeast, mix and leave for five to six hours in the heat. Cover the container neck with a thin cloth or gauze. 4. Horseradish clean, wash and cut into small pieces. After the allotted time, add horseradish and honey to the liquid. Thoroughly mix the contents of the container and insist drink warm for a couple of hours.
5. Wash and dry glass bottles. Kvass filter and pour on a clean glass container. In each add a few highlights. Tightly close the lids and send in the refrigerator.
Home-made kvass - tips and tricks
- To make kvass, take only bottled, filtered or spring water.
- Cook the rusks without spices and butter.
- Do not use purchased rusks with different tastes for kvass.
- Do not wash the raisins. Yeast fungi remain on its surface, which significantly accelerates the fermentation process.
- Do not cook kvass in aluminum cookware.
