Borodinsky Rye from The Rye Baker
I've finally gotten around to baking from The Rye Baker. I made red rye malt powder, so the Borodinsky Rye, which he describes as the national bread of Russia, was in my sights. I loved the process of making the scald sponge, which (here) means making a hot soaker of coarse (freshly milled of course) rye with ground coriander and red rye malt, and then fermenting it for 3-4 hourse with the overnight sponge the next morning before mixing the final dough. The final dough includes some molasses, the salt, more medium rye flour, some bread flour, and more red rye malt.
The resulting bread is as tasty as any bread I've ever eaten. It's complex, at once gently sour and mildly sweet, and the crumb is soft like a typical high percentage rye with a rye sourdough preferment.
The overnight sponge:
The overnight sponge and the scald mixed ("scald-sponge"):
The final dough:
The final shape, with wet hands, sprayed with water:
The risen loaf:
Comments
Well worth the time invested when they come out looking like that!
I salute you for making red malt powder – I never got around to it. I keep using malt syrup instead with good results, I think. Sometimes I replace the coriander with German spice mix (fennel, anise, coriander and caraway) to keep it interesting. I tried so many Borodinsky formulas before (they all claim to be the real deal, of course) before finally settling on this one. This is one of my go-to recipes from the Rye Baker, next to the Polish milk rye.
Interesting. With all your experience, it speaks volumes about about Stanley's prowess that this recipe is your favorite.
The red rye malt is very easy. You can either sprout (to chitting stage only) and dry it yourself (with a dehydrator or by air drying under a lamp or some other way), or just buy malted rye at a brewing store. Either way, you can just toast the malted rye in a pan, cool it, and grind it in a spice grinder. That said, I'm curious to know what flavor and color it has actually contributed, as I don't know how to taste for it yet. It reminds me of using chocolate or black malt in beer brewing (a former obsession). Perhaps there's a pleasant bitterness I haven't picked up on yet.
That's what I would like to know! What exactly is the contribution of red malt, and am I missing out by not using it? I hope someone can chime in and explain. I actually grew up in a rye-bread country but was strictly a bread eater at the time :). I'm going to have to finally make some malt and do a side-by-side comparison...
Yes, please do. It turns out that I am wrong about just being able to sprout your own grain for use as malted rye for red rye malt. It's a complex process that achieves results you would be hard pressed to get at home. Find a brewing store and buy malted rye from them. Mine was very inexpensive. See below:
http://www.beetsandbones.com/russian-red-rye-malt-solod/
Red Rye Malt is non diastatic so I believe it's used for colour and not for enzymatic activity. Quite difficult to find so I opted for crystal rye malt, the next best thing, from a brewery site.
True. The article I link to has a good explanation and a good recipe. It's doable if you have the tools to control temp and a way to dry the grain. I've been needing an excuse to get the 2nd gen Brod & Taylor proofer. And for people who like fermentation, it's an intriguing project. See dabrownman's posts on his adventures, too. E.g.:
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/49036/and-you-wonder-why-its-called-red-rye-malt
When I have the means of temperature control :) Something I really wish to get one day is a proofer. It's a constant battle when you live in a damp and dreary place.
I've seen Dabrownman's excellent blog on the subject and one day I'll produce some red rye malt like that but until conditions are right i will have to buy it.
A lovely Borodinsky Loaf and a nice write up. It is a nice bread to make. Bon Appetit.
I have the first Brod & Taylor, and it's indispensable. I doubt I would have gotten this deep into baking without it. The new one is marketed as a proofer and slow cooker, and goes from 70 - 195 F, well within the range you need to red rye malt.
https://brodandtaylor.com/folding-proofer-and-slow-cooker/
Which usually means I eventually end up buying it. My next treat to myself.
I'm just admiring that crumb shot. Perfect Borodinsky.
You are too kind. It's so tasty. I'm looking forward to making it again and pushing the fermentation a bit to see if I can get a bit more open crumb. It's not particularly dense, but I used the minimums called for in the recipe.
loves it! Very well done and happy baking. I do make my own rye malt though but you don't just chit it. If you dry it when chitted you are making sprouted rye. Malting is sprouted for 5 days or so and begins to ferment a bit before you dry it. It is easier to get from the brew store for sure:-)Sprouted grains are diastatic since they are died at temps lower than 105 F but Malt is dried at much higher temps and is no diastatic. Here is a post that links to the other ones here on TFL about malting. Don[t forget about pumpernickel since you have the malt! I like it even more than Borodinsky by a wide margin...and Lucy is crazy about it and even DaPumperizes white SD bread for heaven's sake
And You Wonder Why It's Called Red Rye Malt?
Your Bordinsy is perfect!
Thanks! And thanks for the clarification. Now that I have seen the process, it clearly goes well beyond chitting. Are you saying that the malted rye available at a brewing store likely is the fermented variety? Which pumpernickel recipe do you favor?
What is your view on the issue of preventing infection from undesirable bacteria? Since the grain is being lacto fermented for days, would you not expect that it needs, e.g., a water barrier, as with beer or pickles?
house it that they stock barley or wheat mats - not rye malts. I make beer for red rye malt but few if any in the world do such a thing since it imparts color and flavor only and you can get that with dark shades of barley or wheat malts.
The difference between my real red rye malt and the malt that Russians make is that their huge pile of malt is 3' deep and mine is only 4 " deep. Since fermenting really starts strong with rye grain at less than 3 days, their pile get much warmer than mine does. Warmth makes the fermenting process proceed much faster, with much better flavor, but I can compensate by doing my malts over a heating pad that keeps it at 145 F after day 2. I will put my malt up against any Russian and it will at least be as good..... without any Commie, Marxist or Socialist tendencies to influence the week minded!
The only pumpernickel I am allowed to make by Lucy is a traditional old school one popularized by Perter Reinhart where you start by making a new rye starter from scratch over 4 days and a finished loaf of bread in days. Here are a couple of my favorite Pumpernickels
Old School Dark Sprouted Pumpernickel Sourdough – 2 ways
Boule and Pumpernickel for Plotziade 2
Really Dark Old School Sprouted Pumpernickel – In memory of Barbra
Happy Pumpernickel baking Filomatic
Thanks dab. I got malted rye from the brew store, but they knew little about it, and there was only one to choose from.
I've been eating the Borodinsky every day for lunch with butter, salami, cheese, and tomato, and it seems to get better each day. People are amazed by this bread. Looking forward to checking out these pumpernickels.
from red or white malt for that matter. Red is heated up to way hot enough to kill anything in it and the white is baked till it hits 205 F on the inside of any loaf which also kills everything.
I’m not talking about pathogens, but about simply undesirable bacterial infection. When a beer gets infected it won’t hurt you but it will make the beer taste bad. I understand that’s different because you’re inoculating beer with specific yeast. But a Russian woman told me that’s how it’s done with red rye malt.
https://www.home-brew-hopshop.co.uk/rye-malt/crystal-rye-malt-p-729.html
Treated myself to a bag and it's going to last a long time. Keep it in the fridge and when I need some I grind up enough in the coffee grinder. I believe it's the next best thing to Red Rye Malt.
It'll have to do till I get a proofer.
You had a very good bake! Just Look at that Crumb shot! :)
First off, I love "The Rye Baker" -- I think it's an incredible book and I've been baking my way through it. I'm on my second GOST Borodinsky, and it's likely my favorite of his recipes so far. I ordered rye malt from his store (nybakers.com), and took his advice to toast it to the red stage. (I have been grinding it first, and then toasting the powder, rather than toasting the whole rye first. The first time I toasted it my husband came into the kitchen and said "what is that wonderful smell?")
My experience is that the red malt gives a great flavor to the mix -- something along the lines of coffee+caramel or honey.
I'm looking forward to making the big Riga Rye in that same chapter, which also has red rye malt.