This is an extremely crusty moist centered bread and like all good sour doughs it is better two or three days after baking and keeps perfectly for a week.
Two weeks in the making…..worth the effort!
Makes 3 x 1kg loaves
This is a very dense bread with more of a pumpernickel texture….it is intensely delicious and the older it is the better it gets.
You will need, 150g organic strong flour, filtered or rain water, 100g molasses, 1kg whole grain rye, approximately 500g organic wholemeal flour, Maldon sea salt or similar
day one
200g sour dough, torn apart
50g Lauke organic flour
300g filtered or rain water
Put the sour dough and flour into the Thermo (or food processor) and blitz until very fine. Add the water and purée.
Scrape into a bucket and clean the sides of the bucket with a pastry card, cover with a clean damp tea towel that has been doubled over and loosely cover with the lid.
day two
Sieve 50g Lauke organic flour over the top of the batter, add 50g filtered or rain water and mix together. Clean the sides of the bucket with a pastry card, cover with the damp tea towel that has been doubled over and loosely cover with the lid.
Tip watch that the tea towel does not dry out in between additions to the starter. A water spray is handy.
day four – repeat day two
day six
Scatter 50g wholemeal organic flour over the top of the batter, add 50g filtered or rain water and mix together. Clean the sides of the bucket with a pastry card, cover with the damp tea towel that has been doubled over and loosely cover with the lid.
day eight
Scatter 50g wholemeal organic flour over the top of the batter, mix together 50g of molasses and 50g filtered or rain water, when combined add them to the batter and mix together. Clean the sides of the bucket with a pastry card, cover with the damp tea towel that has been doubled over and loosely cover with the lid.
day nine
Scatter 50g wholemeal organic flour over the top of the batter, mix together 50g of molasses and 50g filtered or rain water, when combined add them to the batter and mix together. Clean the sides of the bucket with a pastry card, cover with the damp tea towel that has been doubled over and loosely cover with the lid.
day ten
Scatter 50g wholemeal organic flour over the top of the batter, add 50g filtered or rain water and mix together. Clean the sides of the bucket with a pastry card, cover with the damp tea towel that has been doubled over and loosely cover with the lid.
day eleven
Weigh 500g of the rye into a Thermomix and add 100g organic wholemeal…process to flour with a very small amount of coarse grain then tip it into a bowl and repeat the process with another 500g rye grain and 100g organic wholemeal.
Weigh 400g filtered or rain water. Transfer the starter to a large plastic bowl with a tight-fitting lid. This is a very stiff dough to mix and using food service gloves lets you get right in there.
Scatter half of the rye flour and organic whole meal over the starter work in a little and then had half of the water and continue to work the dough, Weigh out 40g of Maldon and scatter it across the dough, then repeat the process with the remaining flours and water. Scrape the sides of the bowl clean and spray the sides of the bowl and the top of the sour dough with filtered or rain water. Cover with the lid and put in a cool dark place.
day twelve
Open the lid and spray with water again.
day thirteen….late in the day
Weigh out 300g organic whole meal flour and 500g filtered or rain water. Wearing food service gloves break up the dough…expect it to be very stiff and lumpy but it should crumble in your hands. When you have broken up the dough scatter half of the organic wholemeal over the top, work in a little and then add half of the water and work it in.
Make sure that you do not have large lumps and take the time to work the dough properly. Add the remaining organic wholemeal and water and mix thoroughly.
Clean the sides of the bowl, spray with water and cover with the lid again.
24 hours later
Scatter organic wholemeal on your work surface and scrape the dough out onto it. Using more flour as required knead the dough until it is smooth and slightly elastic. Divide the dough into the number of loaves you want to make, suggest that they are better larger rather than smaller…we make three and love using our wicker bread forms to mark the loves. Shape your loaves and put them onto baking sheets covered with silicon mats or baking paper.
The proving time will vary…but at an ambient 19°C it took 7 hours. It is impossible to give precise timings for bread because there are too many variables. Best advice don’t be anxious and absolutely don’t be impatient.
Pre-heat oven to 180°C fan forced
Every oven is different annotate your result for next time!!!
Spray the loaves with water (if you are a commercial baker 20% steam) and put them in the oven. Set a timer for 30 minutes, turn the loaves, spray them if you are domestic cook; turn the steam down to 5% if you are a commercial cook and turn the temperature up to 200°C for another 15 minutes.
Slide onto racks and allow to cool.
on the first day
The loaves will be very crusty and a little bit crumbly to slice…day two and three you will notice the difference.
DO NOT wrap the loaves in plastic..wrap them in a tea towel and put them in a freezer bag…freeze any excess vacced.
toppings
KISKIF…butter, goes without saying, Ortiz anchovy, shallot that has been marinated in Leonardi white balsamic black pepper, a slither of quince paste to give a whisper of sweetness.
Butter, pickled egg, rocket, basil, black pepper, a speck or two of marinated finely chopped chilli.
Butter, smoked salmon, endive, sieved organic egg yolk, fresh horseradish ….add Austrian style potato salad and you’re in dreamland.
The list of course is endless…send us your ideas and we’ll add them to the suggestions and put your name/establishment against it.