Baking ryebread with sour dough

The following recipe is for three large breads. Ingredients that are underlined are critically important whereas the rest you can use at your own discretion. All quantities are approximate measures. The actual mixing of the dough and putting into trays takes less than two hours. But in between the dough needs to raise for several hours and the baking takes about 2.5-3 hours. Therefore I usually schedule a weekend and do large quantities which I then freeze.

Instructions:

Stage 1

(say in the morning)

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In a large bowl mix sour dough, youghurt and ale with a whisk. Make sure there are no clumps left of the sour dough. Then add rye grains, linseeds and sunflower seeds and water and whisk it into a brownish soup. Then mix wholemeal and white flour into the bowl. You should still be able to use the whisk at this stage. Mix the rye flour into the dough with a big wooden spoon. Don't be shy to work yourself into a sweat and getting blisters in your palms.

 

 
  • Sourdough from last time you baked (around 2-300gr)
  • 0.1-0.2 litre plain youghurt
  • 1 pint of ale
  • 2-3 spoonfull salt
  • 1 kg ryegrain
  • 0.2 kg sunflower seed
  • 0.2 kg linseed
  • 0.4 kg strong wholemeal flour
  • 0.4 kg strong white flour
  • 1-1.5 kg rye flour
  • 1 litre luke warm water
The dough should now have the consistency of a thick porridge. Better err on the side of too wet than too dry. Otherwise the rye grains won't be able to swell up properly during raising and will then remain undigestable and break your teeth. Add more rye flour or water to achieve the right consistency. Don't even think about kneading the dough with your hands as it would then easily find it's way up under your armpits. Cover the bowl with a lid and let the dough raise in a warm place (like an airing cupboard) for 8-12 hours.

Stage 2

(say late evening)

Unlike yeast dough a sour dough doesn't raise quickly. It will take several hours before there's noticable change in volume. Once that happens, say after 9 hours, mix the syrup into the ale. Heat the ale a little bit if necessary to mix it properly. Then mix the liquid into the bowl with the dough. Mix for a few minutes to achieve a gooey texture. Now mix in the rye flour as to achieve a very thick porridge solid enough that your wodden spoon won't tip over when stabbed into the dough.
  • 1 pint of ale
  • 4 spoonfull syrup
  • 1 kg rye flour
  • water
  • vegetable oil
This is when you put aside a clump of your dough that will serve as sour dough batch for when you bake again in a few weeks.

Grease up three large baking tins with vegetable oil. Cover the bottoms of the tins with baking foil to make life easier for getting the breads out after baking. Put the dough in the tins so they are a bit more than half filled. Even out the doughs in the tins. Grease the surfaces with oil to preserve their humidity and sprinkle some sesame seed on it for decoration. Cover the tins with alu foil and put them into the warm place for the dough to raise another 15-20 hours.
  • light vegetable oil
  • sesame seeds
  • baking foil
  • alu foil

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Stage 3

(say early evening the next day)

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The dough should now have raised in the trays and be ready for baking. Bake the breads at 180º C for 2.5-3 hours. The breads are ready once the surfaces are not moist and you can stick a knife through the breads without any dough sticking. You may have to remove the alu foils the last 20 minutes to achieve this. Loosen the hot breads from the tins by running a knife along the sides of the breads between the tins and the breads. Then very carefully take them out and place them on a grid iron so they can cool down and steam off. While they are still hot they are fragile and disintegrate easily so be careful not to break them. Cover them with a cotton cloth for some hours until they are cold after which time they should be ready for eating or cutting into smaller pieces. Put the breads in sealed plastic bags to retain their moisture. Optionally freeze them straight away if you don't plan on eating them within a fortnight.

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Sour dough batch

To cultivate the sour doug batch you got from your bread making leave it in a partly closed jar in your kitchen for 2-3 days. Stir it vigorously every 12-15 hours or so. It should continue to raise. You may want to add a little water to make sure it's not too dry. After 48 hours mix a level spoon of salt into it and put it in the coolest spot in your fridge ready for next time you bake. It should be usable for several weeks hibernating like that. Not to worry if it gets covered with a thin layer of fungus. Just scrape it off before using.

If you haven't got a sour dough batch you can boot strap one from buttermilk, youghurt, flour and a little bit of yeast. Just treat it as above and it should be ready for your baking after two to three days.

There's a lot of experimenting in doing all this and it does take some experience to bake breads with sour dough so don't despair if your first breads don't come out as expected.