Dark bread with a light sour taste. It will carry you into the warmest childhood memories when you regretted that the loaf has only 2 ends. A piece of this bread and butter, sprinkled with salt, takes me to my childhood and my father’s stories about grandpa’s horse that came to their house every day to get a daily treat from little dad: a slice of black bread with butter and salt. Grandpa used to work in the cavalry, they had a big house and the horse was going up to my father’s room on the first floor. It’s a pity, but I can’t remember the name of my grandfather’s horse. Can I eat another piece of rye bread to recall it?
Dark bread with a light sour taste. It will carry you into the warmest childhood memories when you regretted that the loaf has only 2 ends. A piece of this bread and butter, sprinkled with salt, takes me to my childhood and my father’s stories about grandpa’s horse that came to their house every day to get a daily treat from little dad: a slice of black bread with butter and salt. Grandpa used to work in the cavalry, they had a big house and the horse was going up to my father’s room on the first floor. It’s a pity, but I can’t remember the name of my grandfather’s horse. Can I eat another piece of rye bread to recall it?- Prep time: 25 minutes + 2 hours 30 minutes for proofing
- Cooking time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Serves: approx 850 g loaf
- Difficulty: easy
- Course: baking
- Cookware: tin loaf 25×11 cm, spatula, food processor KitchenAid
- Cuisine: European
Ingredients
- 300 g “ripe” rye sourdough starter at 100% hydratation
- 300 g white rye flour
- 260 g water
- 10 g salt
- 2 tbsp seeds / oatmeal for topping
- butter for greasing the form
Cooking method
Step 1
The starter is “ripe” if it has grown at room temperature and settled. Mix the starter, water, flour, salt and the bowl of the food processor. Knead the dough for about 15 minutes or with your hands until everything is well combined and the dough has a very thick creamy texture. Despite low gluten content, kneading of rye dough makes more open crumb pattern.
Step 2
Grease a baking form. Gently transfer the dough with wet hands into the form. Smooth the surface of the dough with a spatula. Sprinkle the dough with oatmeal or seeds.
Step 3
Cover the form with cling film and put it to a warm place with a temperature around 25-27 ° C. The proofing will take around 2 hours 30 minutes. The bread is ready for baking if it has grown by about two times and small holes appeared on its surface.
Step 4
Preheat the oven to 250 ° C. Lightly sprinkle the bread with water. Transfer it to the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 210 ° C and bake for another 30 minutes. Sprinkle the bread with water again and leave it for another 10 minutes. Let the baked bread to cool in a form for a moment and then transfer it to a rack.
My tips and tricks:
Be patient: rye bread cannot be cut and eaten hot. It develops the full taste and flavor only after some time, from 24 up to 36 hours. The baker Mykola Nevrev taught me this. Well, if it’s too long for you, then cook it in the evening and eat for a breakfast with some very fine quality butter.
- 300 g "ripe" rye sourdough starter at 100% hydratation
- 300 g whole grain rye flour
- 260 g water
- 10 g salt
- 2 tbsp seeds / oatmeal for topping
- butter for greasing the form
- The starter is "ripe" if it has grown at room temperature and settled. Mix the starter, water, flour, salt and the bowl of the food processor. Knead the dough for about 15 minutes or with your hands until everything is well combined and the dough has a very thick creamy texture. Despite low gluten content, kneading of rye dough makes more open crumb pattern.
- Grease a baking form. Gently transfer the dough with wet hands into the form. Smooth the surface of the dough with a spatula. Sprinkle the dough with oatmeal or seeds.
- Cover the form with cling film and put it to a warm place with a temperature around 25-27 ° C. The proofing will take around 2 hours 30 minutes. The bread is ready for baking if it has grown by about two times and small holes appeared on its surface.
- Preheat the oven to 250 ° C. Lightly sprinkle the bread with water. Transfer it to the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 210 ° C and bake for another 30 minutes. Sprinkle the bread with water again and leave it for another 10 minutes. Let the baked bread to cool in a form for a moment and then transfer it to a rack.