The Fresh Loaf

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Rye Starter

leahweinberg's picture
leahweinberg

Rye Starter

Hello and good morning!

I'm building up a rye starter for a rye bread that I've been dying to make now for a few days. I remember reading that rye flour is denser and so the hydration of the starter should be adjusted. Is this accurate- and if so, how should I adjust it? 

Thanks! And Happy Canada Day!

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Hi, Leah.

Are you building your rye starter (sour) from scratch or converting a wheat flour-based starter to a rye sour?

What kind of rye bread are you wanting to bake? If you can post the recipe you are using, that would give us a better notion of the type of sour you should be using.

David

leahweinberg's picture
leahweinberg

Hi! Thanks so much for responding!

I'm trying to convert a wheat flour-based starter to a rye sour, and I really want to try out "Erics fave Rye" from the forum. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/5076/eric039s-fav-rye#comment-73900

I've never made rye bread before would love to try this out. 

Leah 

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Hi, Leah.

Eric is around here a lot, so he may chime in too, since you want to bake his favorite rye, but anyway ...

Eric uses a 100% hydration rye sour. This means it consists of equal weights of water and rye flour. His feeding is 1:2.75:2.75 (starter:water:flour).

So, if you are starting with a wheat starter, I would mix 100 gms of your starter with 275 gms of water and 275 gms of rye flour. Let this ripen until it is all bubbly. (Depending on how active your starter is, this could take from 4 to 12 hours.) Then, take 100 gms of this ripe sour and, again, mix it with 275 gms each of water and rye flour. Let it ripen again. (It probably will ripen faster this time.)

Now, you are ready to mix the dough and make your rye bread.

What do you do with the leftover starter from your first feeding? You could toss it, of course, but I would take 100 gms and feed it again, then refrigerate it in a jar to feed again before making your next rye bread.

Hope this answers your questions.

David

leahweinberg's picture
leahweinberg

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Hi, Leah.

So, have you sliced and eaten it yet? It looks good.

You got a bit of a blowout I see. This is usually due to how you formed the loaf and/or under-proofing. It's a common problem with rye breads. Make sure your seams are well sealed when you form the loaf and proof it to close to double in size. You are not looking for as much oven spring in ryes as you would in a wheat bread.

David

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Leah,

Sorry I'm late to the party here. Davids advice above is spot on. If you followed the recipe you had a slack dough that for me moves fast at the end. I always make a point to fold/knead enough to develop the gluten in the high gluten white flour. The temptation is to add more flour but please resist if at all possible. I get good oven spring after a reasonably short proof time.

The image at the top of the Eric's Fav Rye is from Susan from SD. That's the best I have ever seen the loaf look. These days I use an egg wash and top with seeds before baking.

Hope you enjoy this recipe.

Eric

leahweinberg's picture
leahweinberg

Its fabulous to get so much good advice! thank you!

The loaf tore a bit at the sides because I put two in at the same time and they were right next to each other at the beginnning- although its very possible that I underproofed as well. I've been trying really hard not to overproof lately as the past few loaves I made "pancaked" due to the crazy heat and humidity here. Looks like I need to work on finding the ultimate proofing time.

I have another quick q- how can i prevent the loaves from turning blackish on the top? Would an egg wash help with this?

Thanks!!

Leah