I just wanted to show you what all your incredible advice has helped me produce. After 3 failed attempts, I have finally managed to bake up a 100% Rye Sourdough loaf that has a wonderful chewy crust, and an airy, bubbly interior. I've uploaded two photos into the gallery, one of which is below.
The recipe was given to me by a good friend at work (I'm blown away by the number of people at work who really do bake their bread), but essentially is a subtle variation on Reinhart's 100% Rye loaf in BBA.
Thanks to all of you for your help!
David
Oh, that's really nice! And the crumb looks lovely. Now, you can have fun doing the million other recipes that can be found here. It'll keep you busy a good length of time.
Jane
That's about as nice as I have seen for 100%. Very nice indeed!
What did you use for flours in this mix?
Eric
Just curious.... What was your "subtle variation"?
Thanks for all the kind words - very much appreciated. It's been a tough run, lots of flour used up in practice for the first good loaf, but it was certainly worth it.
Just to follow up on the comments:
- ehanner (Eric): I used a flour simply titled '100% Rye Flour', sourced by the 5kg bag from a local store (http://www.margandmarees.com.au/). That was it, as I've only just found a source for rye meal (as specified in Mr. Reinhart's recipe), and it's not been delivered yet.
- apprentice: the subtle variation was to move all the water to the recipe starter, rather than adding some in at the start, and some in as part of the 'final dough'. Essentially, the final dough was the starter with the flour, sea salt and caraway seeds mixed in. The recipe starter was therefore much more batter-ey than dough-ey.
I also left the mixture for much longer to ferment, as I'm still concerned that my house and attempts at proofing boxes are just too cold. My friend leaves the recipe starter to ferment for 24 hours, then the final dough to ferment for 12 hours (Mr. Reinhart specifies much shorter times). The first ferment was collapsing at the 24 hour mark, so I'll shorten that for next time.
Oh, and no kneeding from this loaf onward. I reread 'Crust and Crumb' and found a short aside that kneeding rye results in a gluey interior, and it's absolutely correct. On my friends advice, I folded the loaf to the length of the bread pan, and that was it.
One variation I'm going to make next time is to ditch the caraway seeds. Even a tablespoon and a half was enough to practically nuke the rye flavor once the loaf cooled down. While it was still a bit warm, the rye held it's own, but the smell and taste of the loaf changes greatly with caraway, and I'm uncertain whether I like it. I was thinking that I might try another herb, or maybe mixed herbs in a future loaf.