The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Let's build a bread - Pain au Levain de Seigle

hanseata's picture
hanseata

Let's build a bread - Pain au Levain de Seigle

Plötzblog is one of Germany's best bread baking blogs. When Lutz Geißler (author of "Brot backen") invited us to his blog event blog-experiment: "Wir bauen uns ein Brot" (Let's build a bread), I was intrigued.

Of course I wanted to attend the very first "Bread Olympics"

 

Each participant has to bake a loaf, roll or small bread with these ingredients and these amounts:

  • 450 g (90%) wheat flour Typ 550 (or bread flour)
  • 50 g (10%) whole rye flour
  • 10 g (2%) salt
  • sourdough and/or yeast
  • water

And that's it: nothing else should be added.

But there are no restrictions on how to make your bread - method, level of hydration and leaven are entirely up to you.

This challenge was hard to resist, especially since the best of all husbands was still traveling all over Vietnam, and, after sanding and re-oiling all my kitchen counter tops, I could do with some entertainment.

 

My husband indulging in imperial dreams - at Dalat Summer Palace

 

I knew at once what kind of loaf I wanted to create - a French bread, made with Forkish's minimalistic method, and baked in a Dutch oven. I'm really enthusiastic about how you can bake a fabulous bread that is "pinched instead of kneaded."

So I opened my BreadStorm program, entered the ingredients, and started to play around with hydration levels and percentages of pre-fermented flour.

 

I also had to take into account the amounts of flour in my refreshed levain - 5 g bread flour and 2 g whole rye flour - and deduct them from the total.

 

Whether my Pain au Levain de Seigle will win at the Plötziade, or not - it definitely was a winner for me. I enjoyed its aromatic taste, crackling crust and open crumb so much that it went straight into Karin's Bread Hall of Fame!

You'll find the recipe for Pain au Levain de Seigle on my blog "Brot & Bread" here.

Or, if you are a BreadStorm-User (including the free version), you can download the formula here

 

Comments

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

delightful and tasty.  Love the bold bake on the crust the best.  Now i have to send Lucy off  to check the recipe methods.  Perfect for St Paddy's Day too! Well done and happy baking Karin.

Shame some hemp seeds weren't allowed:-)

hanseata's picture
hanseata

Yes, that was my one concern about the formula - no seeds, no nuts, no nothing. And I have here all these nice hemp and chia seeds, idling on my shelf.

But, luckily, I found that some of that dark brown stuff that is "Good for You" helps washing even a seedless slice of bread down ;)

Thanks, DBM

Darwin's picture
Darwin

Yes, that is an awesome looking crust, crumb & colour.  ;)

hanseata's picture
hanseata

It is really awesome - I was very happy with the result, and will bake it again.

Karin

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Beautiful bake Karin.  Looks like a wonderful crust and crumb.

ian

hanseata's picture
hanseata

What about you (or anybody else for that matter) trying your hand in this fun contest? Lutz Geißler takes English entries, too. It's still plenty of time.

Karin

Isand66's picture
Isand66

I shall check it out and see if I can come up with something.  I may have to have my apprentices tie me down to prevent throwing in some cheese or onions :).

hanseata's picture
hanseata

My three good-for-nothing apprentices offered free paw stamping of the proofed loaf, but, alas, I had to decline. :)

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Mixing up my version as I type this.  Will bake it tomorrow and post soon after.  Thanks for inviting me to join in the fun.

hanseata's picture
hanseata

to see your bread, Ian!

 

dosco's picture
dosco

That sure looks tasty! I might have to give that a try!

Regards-
Dave

hanseata's picture
hanseata

And thank you, Dave!

Karin

Juergen Krauss's picture
Juergen Krauss

Worthy a king!

Thanks also for pointing to the Ploetziade. I have some ideas.

Juergen

hanseata's picture
hanseata

Please, do participate, I'm eager to see what you will come up with.

Karin