Naturally Leavened Rye Bread

Having put so much effort into capturing, feeding, growing and loving my natural yeast friends, I will now put said 5 day starter into action producing a sourdough rye loaf. I guess all things that take a long time are worth the trouble, because in the end that extra time and effort will translate into (in the case of bread) FLAVOR. Now I have already eaten the bread that I am going to describe today and let me tell you.....it was amazing. Crazy good flavor, slightly sour crumb with a full rye flavor accented by the caraway seeds throughout. Future/Present me would like to congratulate Past Tense me for a job well done. Congratulations.

The Sweet Sounds of Rye: Irma Thomas, Sweet Soul Queen of New Orleans: The Irma Thomas Collection

Step One

Rye Sponge Starter

-1/2 Cup Rye Flour (coarse if possible)
-1 Tbs. Wheat Bran
-1/2 Cup Sourdough Starter (see previous post)
-1/2 Cold Water

Whisk together all ingredients in a bowl until well combined. You are looking for a very wet dough starter. Cover bowl with cling film and let sit in a warmish place to ferment for 4-5 hours. After fermenting, refrigerate bowl overnight.

Step Two


Firm Starter

-1 Cup Unbleached Bread Flour
-1 Quantity Rye Sponge Starter

Remove rye sponge starter from fridge and allow 1 hour to warm up. Combine bread flour and starter and form a relatively firm dough starter. Do not overwork the dough just enough to combine and make firm. Place starter back into the bowl and cover with cling film. Let ferment for 3-4 hour then refrigerate overnight.

Step Three


Dough

-1 Quantity Firm Starter
-4 Cups Unbleached Bread Flour
-1 1/4 Cup Rye Flour
-2 1/2 Tsp. Salt
-1 Tbs. Molasses
-1-2 Tbs. Caraway Seeds
-2 Cups Cold Water

Remove Starter from fridge and allow 1 hour to warm. Break firm starter into pieces and and combine thoroughly with all ingredients. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for 10 minutes. The dough should be smooth and slightly stretchy. Place the dough in a covered bowl and allow to rise at room temperature for about 3 hours. Divide the dough in to two pieces and form into loaves. Since my brother and sister-in-law were kind enough to bring me two Brotforms (linen-lined wicker baskets) from France, I was able to proof my bread in a fancier way than I normally do. This is what they looked like before proofing.

This is the longer loaf after it was turned out onto a peel and slashed for baking.

Place the formed loaves into floured baskets, cover in a plastic bag and proof at room temperature for 4 hours. Refrigerate overnight.

Day Four


Baking


Remove the loaves from fridge 1 hour before baking. Preheat oven to 475 F and place an empty baking pan on the shelf under your pizza stone. Turn out dough from basket onto a floured baking peel. Slide dough onto pizza stone and pour 1 cup warm water into baking pan. Bake loaf for 5 minutes and then turn down oven to 450 F. and bake a further 25-35 minutes until dark brown and hollow sounding when thwacked. Remove from oven, cover with a towel and let cool on a rack

The crumb on this bread was very special.

Perfect sized air pockets and super delicious.