Adventures with Rye Part 5: Sourdough Rye Bread

This is my most recent rye bread, made with the addition of my newly revived sourdough. I recently decided to make the switch from liquid starter to stiff, the upsides of the change being, less smelly, gross liquid to deal with, and being able to track fermentation more easily. (However, I do foresee needing to switch back and forth being a bit annoying. But Ill cross that bridge when I get there.) The recipe comes from The Bread Bible (Rose's, of course) and I've been meaning to make this sourdough version ever since I made the regular rye. I got too lazy to follow her directions so I just fed my starter as usual, let it ferment, and then measured out the amount called for, with no issues. The rest of the process was pretty smooth sailing- kneading dough, fermentation, a stretch and fold here and there, and regular baking. No surprises here. The dough kneaded beautifully and turned out to be silky smooth. I wasn't in the mood to wait for the dough to finish its fermentation so I just baked it and was rewarded with nice oven spring and a beautiful crumb anyway. Although the sourdough flavor wasn't readily apparent, it was just barely detectable. Of course the bread was so yummy and full of caraway goodness. The texture was nice and soft and the crumb was creamy and open. I baked with steam, but I think I need to figure out a more effective steaming technique to use in my toaster oven. Although the crust was superb, I would like the look to be a bit more..... artisan-al, I suppose. Next time. Check out this week's Yeastspotting for more yeasty goodness! Have a good weekend!

Sourdough Rye Bread

adapted a bit from The Bread Bible

360 grams ripe stiff sourdough starter

230 grams all purpose or bread flour

95 grams whole rye flour

232 grams water, at room temperature

14 grams caraway seeds

10.5 grams salt

Tear the sourdough starter into four pieces and place in a mixing bowl. Add the water. Stir to dissolve the starter as much as possible.Add the remaining dry ingredients but taking care to reserve a few tablespoons of flour for kneading.

Mix the dough and give it a rest for about ten minutes. Knead the dough until it is smooth and silky, tacky but not sticky. Use the reserved flour to help you knead, if necessary.

Set it aside in a clean bowl to rise for one hour.

Remove the dough from the bowl and give it two stretches and folds. Return to the bowl and let it rise one hour more.

Shape the dough into a round and place it on a sheet of parchment. Place the parchment on a baking sheet.

Allow the dough to proof for a few hours. Towards the end of proofing time, preheat the oven to 450 and prepare the oven for steam. Slash the bread decoratively.

Bake the loaf with steam for five minutes. Turn the temperature down to 400 and continue baking for fifteen minutes. Open the oven door and place the loaf directly on the baking stone. Bake for an additional thirty five minutes until a thermometer inserted registers 190 degrees. Remove from the oven and let cool on a rack.

Slice and enjoy....