What’s surprising is that yeast occurs naturally on the skins most fruits (dried or fresh), vegetables, even herbs found in the wild (like Mint) and can be easily cultivated the same way using the following procedure:
Step 1: Fill a glass jar up to a quarter to a half full with your sliced fruit, vegetable, or herb (I used apples from my apple tree). If you are using fruits (apples or grapes are both excellent to try first) or vegetables be sure that the skin is not peeled off.
Step 2: Fill the rest of the jar up with water until you are about 3/4 of the way full.
Step 3: Close the jar and leave in a warm area (in the sun or by a stove) for around 3 days or until a good amount of bubbles start forming (the bubbles indicate that the yeast is reacting with the carbohydrates in your fruit, veggie etc).
Here’s a close-up view of the finished yeast water.
Step 4: Use your yeast water in place of the water called for in your bread recipe.
Step 5: Knead your bread as usual and let it sit…
Step 6: Until it rises — just like you were using commercial yeast!
Step 7: Bake and enjoy!
