As the holiday season rapidly approaches I decided to squeeze in what’s likely to be my last ‘real’ rye bake of the year before concentrating on the light and sweet Christmas goodies.

Andy’s fascinating and instructive posts on Borodinsky, Auerman Formulas and other high rye breads have kept me fascinated and entertained while perched in a bus to and fro from work. At first I found the list of ingredients overwhelming and that was before even fully digesting the multi-stage processes … I was going to have to be present and pay attention, plus top it off with a little planning. This was even more apparent with the amount of time needed to translate this formula to the blog …

I settled upon Andy’s Borodinsky – The Auerman Formula [or thereabouts anyway] but tweaked it slightly … um … quite a bit - sorry Andy :)

Altus and coriander (I love to chew on the altus crusts)

The dark ryes I have baked up until now have been a one stage process with a rye sour built and fermented before being added to the final ingredients. This formula is a tad more involved and uses a three stage process. A rye sour is built and fermented. With the sour fermenting, a scald of boiling water, flour, and other ingredients is produced. The sour and scald are then combined into a sponge which is fermented further until it is mixed with the remaining ingredients for the final shaping, proving and baking.

I deviated/strayed from Andy’s formula in a few ways. Firstly I have altus which I planned on adding to both the sour build and scald. Instead of the red malt asked for in the formula I used roasted rye malt that I had produced earlier in the week. It is richly coloured flour with a bright sweet roasted flavour and was bound to add some flavour to the finished loaf.

I kept the overall hydration level the same, but altered the hydration of the sour and scald builds to allow for a small amount of water to autolyse the wheat flour used in the final paste. This is a tip I received from minioven that allows the gluten in the wheat flour to develop before being mixed into the final paste. Finally, I sifted the final addition of rye and wheat flour.

Roasted Rye Malt

Scald and sponge

Further abroad Borodinsky

Method

1. 4:00pm day before, prepare the rye sour.
2. 10:00pm day before, prepare the scald. Grind coriander seeds and combine with remaining dry ingredients. Measure the molasses into a saucepan cover with boiling water and bring to a rolling boil. Quickly stir in the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon and remove from heat and cool. Weigh scald and add further boiling water if necessary to account for evaporation.
3. 9:00am following day, combine and mix the sour and scald and ferment a further four hours.
4. 12:00pm combine sifted wheat and final water together and mix thoroughly with wooden spoon or whisk and allow to autolyse for one hour.
5. 1:00pm add autolyse dough, remaining portion of sifted rye flour to the sponge and form the final paste.
6. Shape and place into greased tins (mine were 8 x 4 x 4 Pullman) seam side down.
7. I proved these for one hour before docking and placing into oven with lids on for 15 minutes at 270°C  then a further hour at 210°C

The final paste felt drier than the dark ryes I have baked recently – perhaps the molasses or malt flour? It was still a paste but felt it lot easier to handle. I as a little worried that the rye flour was absorbing too much water which may be a sign of excessive starch damage …

As seems to be the case with the rye breads I bake using freshly milled flours the final proof was exceptionally quick. I am hesitant to take my eyes from these breads during their final rise … the first sign of readiness and its straight into the oven … I don’t even debate myself anymore.

When pulled from the oven the bread felt soft and springy to the touch … the crust a dark brown with red hues. After cooling they were wrapped in a tea towel before storage in a plastic bag for a day … with me looking on longingly – all the time fingers crossed. I still lack confidence in my rye baking …

Finally I could slice – it was a cinch with a crust that was soft and smooth. The crumb was still moist but that will decrease over the coming days. A slice could be folded in half without breaking … did I mention it was soft?

The flavour is bright and I can pick the brightness of the coriander and tartness of the molasses. On the first day the molasses seemed stronger but by the next it had equalled out to rich round flavour. Most of all I am struck by the gentle mouth feel. It does not feel like a heavy rye bread and I look forward to the flavour developing throughout the week.

I also started playing with a rye crsipbread based on the formula in Dan Lepard’s Handmade Loaf. I omitted the commercial yeast and added some flavours inspired by his sweet rye formula – honey, ground cardomann seed, aniseed, and lemon zest. They are crunchy on the edges with a chew towards the centre. I love this combination of flavours …

All the best and best holiday wishes,
Phil

Rye Stories: Daisy_A

I love rye bread and I'm not alone. When faced with a continental buffet my dh will make a bee line for the pumpernickel. As far as rye in mixed grain breads go I always feel there's room for a little more. So it's odd that it's taken me so long to try a 100% rye. I've been working my way towards it but had heard rumours that it might be troublesome. I was worried that it might implode or explode, either crack all over like 'a wedding cake left out in the rain' (as the poet W.H. Auden so famously described his own face), or fall in on itself like the ground over a hidden stream. 

Over the last few weeks, however, I have tried 3 100% rye formulae, the Borodinsky and seeded ryes from Andrew Whitley's Bread Matters and Mini Oven's favourite 100% rye (Bread Matters pp. 168-171, pp. 167-168; Mini Oven here). In the end, given that my rye starter is much more stable and strong than my wheat starters, these ryes have probably given me less trouble than the average sourdough. 

I did not adapt the formulae substantially so what follows are a few notes on method and taste. Bakers wanting to look into the Melmerby Borodinsky outside of Whitley's text might follow up on Andy/ananda's post here about the different Village Bakery versions, including an 85% rye. Andy's post includes a formula. There is a great discussion of Mini's formula on her original thread and in other TFL posts. 

The first 100% rye I baked was the Borodinsky from Bread Matters. When I made this I was running down my stock of Dove's Farm rye to try Bacheldre Mill but could not immediately source the latter. I had to make multiple calculations in order to keep my stock rye going and put together the formula without running out of flour and was congratulating myself on stretching my pea brain maths to the limit when I blanked out and went over on the water. Well that taught me to bake at the end of a long day…

The loaf came out a lovely golden brown but I thought I would have to spend the night on the couch waiting for it to bake out. After cooling the top sagged ever so slightly, like a cotton clothesline, due to the slight overhydration,  but the taste was superb. 

The second Borodinsky was made to share at an art and bread tasting event. Happily every crumb was eaten but I was so preoccupied with getting it to the venue without a hiccup that I forgot to take shots of it. So the elegant still life below is courtesy of event photographer Julian Hughes - thanks Julian.

© Julian Hughes, 2010

The second time I made this bread and after reading up on ways to manage rye, I added 40g extra water and 40g extra rye to the sour after 12 hours.  This was in part to add sweetness to the final bread and in part to allow the high hydration (1.6.3.), sour to mature for another 12 hours without becoming too acidic.

After the first Borodinsky I was able to swap to Bacheldre Mill. This is a much stronger flour than the Dove's Farm and I've found it suits the high hydration of Whitley's formula well. Crust and crumb have baked out well in all loaves made with the Mill flour. I find the crust tends to have a grainy finish due to the high bran content but I like that look, particularly as the crust also tends to be very golden. The flour has a beautiful, nutty flavour.

The next bread I attempted was the seeded rye from Bread Matters. I did make some adjustments to this.  I used 100% sunflower seeds instead of sunflower and pumpkin. This was largely due to availability. I hope to be able to dry seeds from the autumn squashes to use in bread but had none at hand when I made this. Having struggled to keep the coriander seeds on the Borodinsky rye while turning it upside down regularly to check internal temperature I also felt creating a sunflower seed coating for the seeded rye, as Whitley suggests, was beyond my skills. I omitted it but think it would actually be a nice touch. 

I also added a teaspoon of organic blackstrap molasses because I had just bought some at the whole food coop and wanted to play with it. I though this might soften the edge of quite a sour rye but given the sour notes of blackstrap itself it probably made it taste even sourer!  I have used malt syrup or honey since.

The second time I made this bread I also included a second build of 80g of flour to the sour after 12 hours to allow it to go the full 24 hours without becoming too acidic. I then reduced the flour in the final batter by the corresponding amount. The flavour was amazing, similar to that of an aged Manchego cheese. 

My slightly adapted version of Andrew's formula was:

Rye sour

160g of rye sour at 1.6.3 (fermented 12 hours then 80g more flour added)

Final batter

All rye sour   240g

Rye flour     160g

Sea salt           5g

Molasses          5g

Sunflower seeds 100g

Water 140g

Total 650g

Mini Oven's favourite rye. What can I say? It is a super-delicious formula. When I first joined TFL I used to gaze on Mini's post in wonderment. Even though Mini describes the process extremely clearly I couldn't imagine myself attempting the bread. Having and reread read posts on rye from Mini and other TFLers, including Andy, Hans Joakim, Karin, Nico, Khalid and Larry, among others, I finally felt I could attempt it and it went fine! Thanks all for your postings - they were very helpful! Sorry if I've missed any other 'ryesperts' - you were helpful as well!

I started with a small loaf, working the formula up from 60g of starter and added 2 tablespoons (5g) of mixed seeds, with an emphasis on caraway. Based on Mini's (1:3.5:4.16), formula this gave me a nice round 210g cold water, 250g flour to the 60g starter, for a final loaf of around 570g. I also added altus for the first time in any recipe - 20g of mixed grain sourdough with I dessert spoon of warm water and I tsp of honey. I mashed this into a paste in a pestle and mortar then folded it into the final batter. This formula yielded a loaf that was beautifully golden, with a gorgeous aroma, which was sweeter than those from Bread Matters. I will definitely do a larger loaf next time. We managed to wait 24 hours to try it but it was gone in just over a day! Thanks Mini, it was gorgeous! 

© Daisy_A 2010 I love to share bread stories and read other bakers' posts about bread. If you republish this page for 'fair use' please acknowledge authorship and provide a link to the original URL. Please note, however, I do not support the unauthorized and unattributed publishing of my text and images on for-profit websites..

Here's a recent translation I made of Auerman's Borodinsky recipe, in case it's of use or interest to anyone. You can find the original at https://www.slashtmp.iu.edu/public/download.php?FILE=feldstei/95081siBxp8

Auerman's Borodinsky Recipe
For a loaf weighing between .5 and 1 kg:

Ingredients
Rye flour (95% extraction)--------80
Wheat flour (85% extraction)------15
Red rye malt---------------------- 5
Salt------------------------------ 1
Yeast----------------------------- 0.1
Sugar----------------------------- 6
Syrup----------------------------- 4
Vegetable oil--------------------- 0.05
Coriander------------------------- 0.5
Potato flour---------------------- 0.2
Total----------------------------111.85

3-Stage Process: Scald-Sponge-Dough

1. Scald
Rye flour--------------25 kg
Malt------------------- 5
Coriander-------------- 0.5
Water---------------65-68 liters
Preparation of scald: mix malt and coriander into 7-8 liters of cold water, add flour, mix and pour in 55-60 liters of boiling water, mixing constantly. In 2-2.5 hours mix the scald again for several minutes and cool to 35 C.

2. Sponge:
Scald--------------------All
Sour-------------------  15-17 kg
Yeast--------------------    0.1 kg
Thoroughly mix the sour into the cooled scald and then let it ferment
for around 4 hours. Note: older, mature dough is used as the sour. Or the following mixture can be made:

Mature dough------------------ 5 kg
Rye flour--------------------- 5 kg
Water------------------------5-7 kg
This sour should ferment for around 5 hours at 27-29 C.
(Translator's note: the sour has a hydration of 100-140.)

3. Dough
Sponge------------------------All
Salt-------------------------  1 kg
Sugar------------------------  6 kg
Syrup------------------------  4 kg
Rye flour (95 extraction)-----55 kg
Wheat flour (85 extraction)---15 kg

Dough temperature should be 30 C and after 10-30 minutes it can be formed into loaves. Loaves are elongated and smoothed with wet hands, then placed on boards that have been sprinkled with flour and left to stand for 15-20 minutes.

After standing and before going into the oven, the loaves are coated with a wheat flour and water mixture and sprinkled with coriander. The loaves are first put in a 320-350 C. oven for 4-6 minutes and are finished up at 240-250 C. The surface is made shiny by coating with a starch mixture.

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Aside from the use of a tiny amount of yeast, which I just omit, two things bother me about this recipe:

1. One quarter of the flour is put into the scald (zavarka). Others (e.g. Royter) only use 16% or less. What is optimal?

2. After forming the loaves, they are put into the oven after only 20 minutes. That sounds like too short a time.

Ron