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Solstice Challenge - maybe

leslieruf's picture
leslieruf

Solstice Challenge - maybe

My planned Solstice bake has not eventuated, it may still in a few days time.  Still this bake started on 20th, and finished today.  My very first 100% Rye bread - Madelaine Jude's Danish Rugbrod.  Here in NZ,  it is the winter solstice so maybe it is fitting.

20th June

9 am - 20 g Rye starter + 20 g water + 20 g rye flour leave on bench

8 pm Add 60 g water + 60 g rye flour and leave overnight

21st June 

8 am Add 60 g water + 60 g rye flour and leave on bench.  Cover 125 g whole rye berrieswith boiling water and leave to soak.

11:15 am Mill 65 g chocolate malted grain (I think it is probably barley, it should have been rye but that is all I could get) on the coarsest setting on my Mockmill.  It had a few chunks but milled quite fine and quite easily. 

Add 55 g boiling water to 62 g choc malted grain + 63 g kibbled rye, cover and leave.  It was like a very thick paste but almost crumbly.  Smelt like dark dark coffee.

7 pm Cook the soaking grains for about 12 minutes until tender but had to add a little water. Cover and leave.

Mix the final levain - Add 80 g water and 80 g rye flour and leave on bench overnight.

22nd June

9 am Mix together 150 g rye flour + 400 g levain + 15 g malt extract + the rye berries/kibbled malted grain mix (about 175 g).  This was such hard work, no way was it wet enough.  Double check recipe.  No additional water.  I decided to keep adding water until it became as author said  "stiff dropping consistency" - this took about an additional 140 g. By this time I am exhausted!! really really difficult to mix by hand - all I wanted to do was have a lie down!!

Here is dough just before I put it in the pan.

No salt?? double checked but no salt, ok.  Transfer to metal bread form, smooth top with wet spatula

and leave to double. It took 4 hours even though kitchen was probably at about 20 - 21 deg C.

Covered and tented bread form with foil and baked for 30 minutes at 220 deg C and 30 minutes at 180 deg C.  Internal temperature was only 170 deg F so I put it back for  another 30 minutes but uncovered. Internal temperature now 208 deg F so all good.

I will follow instructions and wrap bread and leave it for 2 days before slicing.  This was on my husband's wish list as he had spent some time in Denmark as a young man and wanted me to replicate the bread.  Time will tell if this is a true replication to the Danish bread he remembers.

It was quite a different bake for me, will post crumb once we cut it.

Leslie

 

 

 

 

Comments

sayersbrock's picture
sayersbrock

What a journey it was to create this bread!

You certainly got a taste of what it was like to make bread in true peasant style. Using only rye requires a lot of hard work and I hope it turned out great. 

I'm sure you appreciate wheat more after making this loaf. Maybe you should give yourself a break for your next bake and make a wonderfully chewy, gluten-filled wheat loaf! 

leslieruf's picture
leslieruf

the write up kept saying careful with water or it will be too wet! I found it the opposite so I am wondering if there was an ommission - 150 g water to match the rye,  but all in all I am happy so far ?

and yes wheat breads will feel easy after that!  

thank you

Leslie

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Move over Roquefort and Parmesan there is a new King in town!  Very nice.....more later.  Winter Solstice is a winner

leslieruf's picture
leslieruf

your solstice bake looks interesting, I will read it shortly.  always fun to see what eventuates with these challenges

Leslie

Ru007's picture
Ru007

Its just so hearty. Your take on it looks great. Even if it isn't exactly the same as your husband remembers i'm sure it'll still be delicious, and probably a new favorite! 

Can't wait to see the inside

Happy baking Leslie

Ru

leslieruf's picture
leslieruf

but I suppose you have to expect that.  It is going to be hard not to cut it today... tomorrow is the day for the re elation, lol....

thanks Ru I wonder what it will taste like

happy baking

Leslie

DesigningWoman's picture
DesigningWoman

That's A LOT  of work! It looks yummy though, Hubby should already be very happy, pre-tasting. This is a labor of love.

Enjoy it, both of you!

Carole

leslieruf's picture
leslieruf

but I am making him wait.. lol, I feel a bit mean but...

thanks Carole happy baking

Leslie

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

it isn't poisonous.....but it always is:-)

Elsie_iu's picture
Elsie_iu

but waiting for it to mature for 2 days is the real challenge:) A well-made 100% rye is worth the wait though.

I'm not a huge fan for the texture of rye bread but yours is so alluring. I wonder how it is going to taste with the absence of salt. Very excited to see the crumb. Nice bake! 

 

nmygarden's picture
nmygarden

I've made an all rye loaf just once - looked a lot like a mud pie, but I just followed the guidelines, and tried to keep the faith, and it worked out (I think). It rose a bit, cracked as promised, None went to waste, and it tasted good, even if the texture was new to me. I need to try it again.

Looking forward to hearing how well you like this one!

Cathy

Isand66's picture
Isand66

The outside looks perfect so hopefully the inside will match.  I have not made one of these in a while since they are not my favorites, but I know it can be super flavorful.

Regards,
Ian

PalwithnoovenP's picture
PalwithnoovenP

The outside looks promising. I bet it will be flavorful and hearty.

leslieruf's picture
leslieruf

 

closeup

Well, I gotta say I am happy with appearance BUT not with the flavour!!!! it is extremely bitter and it overrides all other flavours.   I assume it is the chocolate malted kibbled grain (that actually was more like flour when milled) as that dark dark coffee smell/flavour is there.  Maybe I should have just cooked the grain along with the whole rye berries.  We feel also it needs some salt, recipe had none. Maybe a higher proportion of malt extract would have helped.  The recipe also didn’t add any additional water with the rye flour and as I said above I had to add about 140 g water which makes sense when you look at ingredients. 

Still I have learnt a lot.  Hubby says the bread he ate as a young man didn’t have the whole rye berries like this.  We started off trying it just with butter, but in the end slathered it with honey just to get it eaten.  we will slice and freeze and eat it little by little, but Can any one suggest a better recipe for me to try? I would like it to be resonably authenic if possible.  The web had so many, I think I chose the wrong one. 

Leslie

 

DesigningWoman's picture
DesigningWoman

because it looks absolutely great: dark, dense, rich. I think your solution of looking for things to pair with it is the right one. What if you tried it with smoked or marinated fish? That might balance the flavors nicely and add salt…

Still, it was a beautiful try. Hubby should be very happy.

Enjoy it -- as best you can.

Carole

leslieruf's picture
leslieruf

we will - you learn such a lot when things don’t go quite right.  Talking to Dan today and he reckons it was the amount of chocolate malted grain, so perhaps less of it along with more malt it would have been better. oh well...

Leslie

Ru007's picture
Ru007

I let out a little happy squeal when I saw the crumb, but I wish it tasted as good as it looks :( Anyway, I hope you find a recipe you like! I've never made this type of bread, I've only tasted it, so I can't really help you there. 

Ru

leslieruf's picture
leslieruf

Dabrownman has given me lots of links as you can see, so I will try again.

thanks Ru

Leslie

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Too bad it tastes off.  Sad really.  We have made so many great rye breads over the years but this one was the best tasting and Lucy's King of Rye Breads .  It is one of the most complex breads that Lucy has devised but if I can follow her recipe so can you!  It has every trick in the book and then some.....

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/45211/another-westphalian-rye-100-whole-grain-half-sprouted-101-hydration

Here is an easier ne that is 100% rye

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/44668/100-rye-rye-berry-scald-walnuts-sunflower-pepitas-and-aromatic-seeds

This one is really good too

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/43019/really-dark-old-school-sprouted-pumpernickel-%E2%80%93-memory-barbra

Here is another one Lucy loved

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/49153/lucy-bakes-her-new-favorite-sourdough-rye

An easy one where you can drop the YW and doubelethe SD levain

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/29801/100-whole-grain-rye-rye-sprouts-%E2%80%93-yw-sd-combo-starter

Another easy one where you can drop the YW and double the SD levain

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/35866/minis-100-hydration-rye-walnut-and-seed-bread-soaker-dopplebock

This might have been my first one based on Phil's very easy

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/27493/pips-vollkornbrot-nearly-100-rye-tiny-bit-spelt

More recent one

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/45485/100-wg-rye-wheat-sprouted-ywsd-w-walnuts-prunes-cranberries-sunflower

leslieruf's picture
leslieruf

but I will and I will try again soon. thanks dabrownman,, I appreciate your input ?

happy baking

Leslie ?

leslieruf's picture
leslieruf

Yesterday had some with a thick layer of avocado with my pumpkin soup. Interesting that the sweetness from the soup balanced it a bit.   today's version had avocado and proscuitto sandwich!  These seemed to mask the deep bitterness so we are slowly eating our way through the loaf.

Leslie