Schnaitsee Rye
This bread is based on a recipe simply titled Roggenbrot (rye bread) from a cookbook called "Was kocht ma Guats in Schnaitsee". I can't come up with an English translation for this phrase that has quite the same ring to it as the original Bavarian, but the gist is, "Good things we’re cooking in Schnaitsee." The entire book is handwritten, accompanied by sketched artwork and favorite food-related sayings of the various recipe authors.
The highlight of the too short bread chapter is this rye. Based on how the recipe is written it's pretty clear that the author has made this bread many, many times. The details that are missing are the same one's I might leave out if I was to write up one of my regular breads. Even with a few blanks to fill in I felt I was in good hands. The recipe features a two stage sourdough build, a bake at receding temperatures, and a reminder to have a bowl of water handy during kneading. I like where this baker is coming from.
With a lot of help from Mom, I got the recipe translated into a formula. The first problem was the hydration. It came out at 51%. I checked the math again and again, but that’s how it came out. I had to assume that something was lost in translation so I bumped it up to 70%.
Next was the problem of sheer size – about 5.2 kg divided into two loaves. I scaled it down to a single, still really large, loaf of around 2.3 kg.
I made two changes to suit my taste: I left out the yeast, and substituted freshly ground coriander for the packaged breadspice called for in the original.
Otherwise, the formula that follows is as close as I could get to the original.
The result is a flavorful loaf with a sturdy crust and soft, fragrant crumb. Very nice!
Marcus