Rye Sourdough Black Breads with a Hot Grain Soaker

Rye Sourdough Black Breads with a Hot Grain Soaker

I recently purchased 2 types of malted grain prepared for the purpose, primarily, of brewing; in other words gently crushed for easy mashing to extract sugar.

One of these grains is barley, the other is from rye; details as follows:

• Rauchmalz – Bavarian Smoked Malted Barley, EBC 10.   Apparently this is highly prized, it has been very lightly prepared, so its colour grade is very low down the spectrum.
• Roasted Rye Malt, EBC 800….very dark indeed.

Both of these come from Germany.

Additionally I had some Organic Rye Flakes left in the store cupboard which needed using up.

I wanted some large panned loaves to go in the freezer for a “Wine and Cheese” Night organised at Ingram Hall, nearby on 5th December.   This arrangement came out of the sales I made at the Powburn Show in August.   See:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/24576/%E2%80%9Cnine-show%E2%80%9D

I refreshed my rye sour from 80g in stock, through 3 feeds to end up with just short of 2kg to use to make these breads.   I prepared a hot soaker the night before and then added this to the sour culture to make the “sponge” demanded in the 3 stage Russian process.

I made 2 large tinned loaves, one small one, and had just a little paste left to make another really small loaf.

Recipe and formula details are shown below:

 Method:

• Refresh the Rye Sourdough over 3 refreshments beginning with stock base of 80g.
• Make the Hot Soaker 4 hours before the full sour has been built.   To do this, pour the boiling water onto all the other ingredients and stir well to mix.   Leave covered to cool to room temperature.
• Make the Sponge by combining the soaker with the full sour required.   Return the spare rye sour to stock.   Cover the Sponge and leave to ferment for 4 hours in a warm place [28°C is ideal].
• Add the remaining flours plus the salt to the Sponge and mix to form the Final Paste.
• Bulk ferment, covered for one hour.
• Prepare the tins by lining the walls neatly with silicone paper.   I made one Pullman Pan scaled at 2000g, one large panned loaf at 1200g, and one small at 600g.   I made the remainder up into a small loaf [c.397g] and baked it later.   I docked the 2 panned loaves without lids, using a wetted probe thermometer needle.
• Bake in an Electric oven at 160°C using fan assistance for convection, with steady steam supply.   The small loaf baked one hour, large loaf 1 hour 40 minutes, and the Pullman Pan took 2 hours.
• Cool the loaves thoroughly on wires.

Hot Soaker                                  Soaker to mix with sour for sponge    Active Sponge ready to mix final paste

Mixed Final Paste                                Full proof in different pans, ready to bake

The flavour of this bread is impressive.   There is obvious sourness from the Rye Sourdough, making up 30% of the flour mix.   The malty flavour is wonderful, and complex too, thanks to both the smoked malt, and the very dark roasted rye.   It lingers on the palate for ages reminding just how tasty the bread really is.   The use of the “Sponge” makes for a great combination of the sweet and sour, and the ferment was alive.   One hour in bulk, followed by 1½ hours final proof is all that was required before the breads were ready to bake off.

It is the weekly trip to Leeds first thing tomorrow, with hot/boiled water pastry and savoury short paste featuring early on, followed by a day with a Level 2 group working on production in the morning, then an afternoon’s theory class to follow.

Photographs below:

All good wishes

Andy