100% Seeded Rye sourdough loaf
Ever since he left germany, my father has always been a fan of german sourdough ryes, aren't we all?
The store bought Seeded Sourdough rye my father often buys is so called (nordic or norlander bread). I thought that i could mimic the taste and appearance of the said bread, i tried twice and failed.
Venturing into starter world and sourdoughs helped develop my baking skills, and Rye baking was especially successful. Credit goes to God almighty and freshloavers.
Yesterday, 16 days into mixing water, Rye flour and perparing a starter, my most successful rye loaf was born. It is inspired from "Norlander bread" which in turn is inspired from sourdough seeded german rye breads, and its my german-variation Rye bread
The loaf was 70% wet, and contained: 100% wet Sourdough Rye starter, sea salt, pre-soked whole rye berries, fennel seeds, caraways seeds, aniseed, rye flour, and mixture of presoaked seeds.
bulk proofing took 6 hours, and final shaping proofing was 65 minutes. (obviously the crust caved in in oven, indicating an overproof)
The taste? although i should wait for the recommended 24 hours to slice the loaf, i could not wait (Typically human!), and it was heavenly tastefull with a pleasent sour rye taste and delicious seeds.
Pictures follow:
Fresh Loaf out of the oven
A cross section
A Close look
I will sure duplicate this experience in the near future.
Mebake
Comments
Mebake,
Could you post your formula and process, please? I'm astonished that you were able to achieve such an open crumb with a rye bread, and even moreso considering the quantity of seeds in the bread. That's quite an accomplishment.
Congratulations on such a lovely bread. I'm sure it tastes wonderful.
Paul
Iam genuinly frustrated! I posted a long reply and previewd it, only to somehow loose it. i'll reply soon PMCcool.
Mebake
Firsly, this owes some credit to you PMCool, debra Wink, Dmsnyder and to all prominent contributers.
Secondly, some key methods i believe have led to better results.
The final mixture had 50% sourdough rye starter (90% hydration), and 50% rye flour.
The bulk fermentation was left for 6 hours.
Final formed proofing took only 1 hour, i let it 20 minutes more(i may have overproofed it)
Handling the final dough had to be gentle, due to proness of deflation or collapse.
The oven was preheated for 15 minutes to 425 F, loaf was misted, and once in , knob was turned down to 400. 25 minutes later, i covered the tin with aluminium foil, and returned it for a further 35 minutes of 325 -350.
here are my ingredients:
2 - 3 cups Rye flour
2 -3 cups sourdough rye starter (90% hydrated)
no water
2 teaspoonfull sea salt
1 cup presoaked seeds (pumkin, sunflower, flax, quinoea)
1/2 cup presoaked rye berries
teaspoonfull each of ground caraway, fennel, aniseed.
last four ingredients where mixed in before final proofing
I think that the equal amount/volume of a 90% hydrated starter with the rye flour resulted in an open crumb.
mebake
David
iam reassured David! i always admired your loaves, and was much inspired by their final looks. However, i have yet to find a way to prevent oven topmost loaf deflation!
Again much thanks.. any suggestions / critique?
Mebake
I admire your effort to create this loaf. While it is a work in progress at the moment, you have a good base from which to move forward. Like Paul, I am amazed to see such an open crumb. It looks delicious.
One question about the seeded top on this loaf. Is this the way your father remembers this Nordic loaf? I haven't seen such a nice variety of larger seeds on the top before. I'll bet they are tasty.
The spices you use sound like the mix I got from Austria from a friend. I really think the American market has yet to wake up to really good German style bread. I'm looking forward to seeing your next attempt.
Eric
I appreciate your favourable reply Eric, i learned from you people.. i read lots of posts. Intenet, seems, inspires me more than any other source!
As for the Nordic loaf, it is akin to the German Variety with lots of soaked berries and minimal crumb space, but milder in flavour as opposed the german ones.
As for the seeds, actually, i bought all the ingredients from a speciality organic shop in Dubai called: Organic Foods and Cafe, owned by a German Guy. Most items on the shelves were imported from Germany, including the seed mix. Yo can bet that no other store in the United Arab Emirates or Arabia would you be able to find matching products found in this store. The brand is: Bohlsener Muhle. I also bought Rye berries, Spelt berries, and Naked barley.
I have a Back to Basics Hand crank Mill, and occasionally do some milling for a change. In the recent Rye loaf, i milled my Rye berries (the 50% flour in the recipe), which added up to the taste.
i am in no way an Organic food purist, but i had to get my Rye berries from that Shop, as there is no way i'll get my hands on any Rye/ Spelt/ Oat/ Quinoa berries ..etc at any other store in Dubai. Eventually , i ended up with quality ingredients to match German loaves, granted i had to Pay 100% more.
Mebake
Have you done this recipe again recently? I've got a rye sourdough starter started(my first), and would love to get a loaf like this! Any further recomendations after a couple years(and many many loaves)? Thanks!
Silas
Hi Silas,
Oh .. My "successful rye bread"! Although i have appended that i'd duplicate the bread shown above, i never did :) For many reasons. One reason being that i have become accustomed to the more predictable scaled measurements ( grams), and ever since, i never looked back.
Don't let the looks deceive you, the bread had a nasty tough crust, was overproofed(overfermented), and was dry. The bread was hailed (by me) as a successful rye at the time where my baking skills were young. If you really like the looks of the bread shown above, minus the tough, very chewy crust, i'd suggest you go for a recipe in Peter reinhart's book: whole grain breads, and look for a recipe under the name german many seed bread, which i blogged about not too long ago.
Thanks for dropping by, Silas!
Khalid
Hi Khalid,
I found that recipe and will be ordering that book!
So is a biga more predictable than using starter? I have a nice healthy starter and want to find uses for it as well. :)
Thanks again!
Silas
I think the weight of the seeds on top contributed greatly to an "over-proofed look" sinking the top of the loaf, but the bottom inside crumb looks loose and not compact like one would see with an over-proofed rye.
Kahlid, you should give yourself more credit for this loaf. The second bake might be corrected using a more narrow pan and possibly a tent over the top to first trap in steam and later removed to brown.
Mini
Mebake. This is type of bread I have been craving lately. Hearty, filling, seedy.
Next week I will be trying a first go at a Danish Rye and this bake of yours gets me even more excited to try it.
Great inspiring bake :)
John
I finally was able to make this type of bread and wow! It really came out great.
I used your recipe as a start of sorts. I also converted to grams per your reccomendation as I went along. I found that either I was mis-understanding your recipe or my understanding of hydration is off because starting with these ratios I ended up with a very dry mix. I converted things around a bit and in the end I used my 100% starter/sponge and roughly equal weight in rye flour at 50% hydration which works out to an end hydration of 71.6%.
I really hope it wasn't dumb luck, this loaf is so close to what I've been looking for. I'm making a second loaf tonight to see how reproducable it is.
My big concern is that the amount of water in the seeds is variable. My first time around I soaked it for a long while and then strained it, using the volume measurements you have. Tonight I'm converting that to grams as well and trying 100% seed hydration. :) That way I won't be throwing away the nutrition that is in the water. I'm using pumpkin, sesame, and flax as well as the whole rye berries.
The loaf has a lovely sour taste and moist texture. Tight spongy crumb. The crust was tough to begin with(after 20 hour to cool/set), but then I put the loaf in sealed bag to soften the crust and it is just like a local german sourdough I've been trying to recreate, but even better it is wheat free(save 2 TBs in the starter and 35g of vital gluten). I use a pullman pan with a lid and leave it on till the last 15 minutes.
If this second loaf goes well I'll post my recipe.
Good to hear this, Silas! I'm looking forward to your successful reproduction of your Rye loaf.
Khalid
And what a marvellous open crumb for a rye! Good to see you back in action, Khalid!
Cheers!
Ross
Thanks for the reply Ross, but this is an old thread. I have not jump started my starters yet, in few weeks though, i will.
Best,
Khalid
What an idiot I am not to look at the date of the post!
Oh well - glad to hear you're not far off getting back into baking, Khalid.
Cheers!
Ross