7 March 2012

DANISH RYE BREAD

This is a recipe inspired by Dean Brettschneider, Global Baker whom "I co-authored three baking books. To begin you must make the sour dough starter, which can last for years if stored properly and continually attended to. Keep the sourdough in the fridge in a covered container and feed it every 10 days or so, then bring it out a day before baking and feed it twice to make it healthy and strong again for using.

Rye Sourdough Starter To get started;

• 25g strong bread flour
• 25g rye flour (coarsely ground or stone ground if possible)
• 30g natural unsweetened yoghurt
• 20g warm water
• ⅛ tsp active dried yeast

Place all the ingredients into a small bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until evenly mixed in and cover. Stand at moderate room temperature and to ferment for a minimum of 12 hours.

To feed the dough;

• 25g strong bread flour
• 25g rye flour (as above)
• 50g cold water

Using a wooden spoon, mix the bread flour, rye flour and water into the fermented starter until evenly mixed in and cover. Ferment for a further minimum of 12 hours when it will be ready to use. You will now have 200g of rye sourdough; use 100g for the recipe and keep 100g in the covered container and feed with the above amounts again as you wish to make more bread.

Once the starter is on its way, you will be ready to make the bread. This is made in two stages. The first step is to soak the grains, which must be prepared 16 – 24 hours in advance. At this point feed the sourdough ready for use. The soaked grains are then mixed thoroughly in a mixer with the dough ingredients.

Danish Rugbrod (Rye Bread)

For the soaked grains,

• 215g whole rye grains (or could be whole wheat grains or a mixture of both)
• 75g sunflower seeds, lightly toasted if desired
• 75g linseed
• 15g salt
• 340g cold water

Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix to coat with the water, cover and stand at room temperature for a minimum of 16 hours up to 24 hours.

For the dough:

• 200g strong bread flour
• 80g rye flour (coarsely ground or stone ground)
• 10g liquid malt extract or molasses
• 100g rye sourdough (as above)
• 150g water – approx 30°C
• ¼ teaspoon active dried yeast
• 75g grated carrot (optional)
• Soaked grains from above
• 50g sesame seeds (for the topping)

Place all the ingredients, except the sesame seeds into a mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix on slow speed for 10 minutes. You will need to scrape the sides of the bowl down and the dough hook to ensure an even mixture. Alternatively you can do this by hand using a large metal spoon. This will take some effort at the dough almost like a very stiff cake batter. Once the batter is mixed, spoon it into a loaf tin greased with butter and using your knuckles dipped in water, squash the batter into the corners of the tin. Smooth out with a spatula or scraper until level. If desired sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Or alternatively scrape the dough out onto a wet bench surface and roll into an oblong fat log shape, 2cm shorter than the width of your tin.

Cover the tin loosely with plastic wrap and allow the mixture to rise for approximately 2 ½ hours, but no longer as the dough will collapse due to over rising. In the last 30 - 45 minutes of the loaf rising, preheat the oven to 250°C. Remove the plastic and place the loaf into the preheated oven and immediately lower then temperature to 180°C, then quickly throw 3- 4 ice cubes into the bottom of the oven to create steam. Bake for 60 minutes or until the internal temperature is 95°C when using a temperature probe.

Remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out the loaf onto a wire cooling rack to cool, wrapped in a clean tea towel, for at least 4 hours or preferably overnight. If the loaf is not cooled correctly before cutting the internal texture will not have set correctly and the knife will ‘gum up’ with what seems like unbaked dough, making it difficult when slicing.

Makes 1 loaf (approximately 19cm long x 11cm high x 11cm wide)