Blog posts

Feb. 4, 2022. 84th bake.

This is my 4th bake based on Denisa's 100% rye recipe.
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/67054/100-whole-grain-rye-sourdough-bread

3rd submission to the Rye Community bake.
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/69775/community-bake-rye-bread

2nd time with home-milled rye flour.

Previous bakes in this series:

As a New Yorker, I tend to give the side-eye to distant takes on my heritage -- but I have to say this is better than the original. Nice but not overpowering sour flavor. Just enough caraway seeds (sorry, Benny, this is a Big Apple bread -- but you're free to make a Toronto version with different seeds.) Great aroma. Fantastic texture. Crumb that won't drip mustard. Crunchy but not rock hard crust.

It had been a while since I used my SD starter as a standalone leavening agent since I adopted a biga preferment approach for my baguette making. Anyhow, I gave it a run to see where my SD starter stand strength wise, and I have to say I was disappointed even though it did okay but no match for a biga with instant yeast. 

This is a bread from Stanley Ginsberg's The Rye Baker.  It caught my eye as I was casting about for something to use for the current rye bread Community bake. 

It is about as simple as a rye bread can be.  There are no multi-stage levain builds, no scalds, no soakers, no seeds, and no spices.  The only components are rye flour, potato, water, and salt.  My sole departure from the formula was to use whole rye flour, rather than medium rye flour.

There are lots of different ways to make chapatis; this is how I do it.

Here's my equipment:

I'm lucky enough to own a vintage Indian chakla, but of course any smooth flat rolling board will do

and a belan/rolling pin

A tawa for cooking the chapatis

Scorched Crust Sour Rye - Gersterbrot (Germany)

The Rye Baker by Stanley Ginsberg

My latest bake - this bread has a nice light rye taste to it due to the amount of white rye in the recipe.

500ml lukewarm water 

~1/4 cup homemade caramel color *

260g dark rye flour 

300g bread flour

300g all purpose flour 

9g dry yeast

5g onion powder

3g ground caraway seeds 

18g salt

30g granulated sugar

*burn 2 heaped tablespoons od granulated sugar in a small saucepan until golden brown. Remove from heat. Be careful, it's hot like lava! Let cool then add ¼ cup boiling water and wait until everything dissolves. It will look like dark beer

I've wanted to try the tourte de seigle pur (100% rye bread) from l'Ecole international de boulangerie's video tutorial for a while.

The learning continues.  Thanks to receiving a cornucopia of suggestions on my previous bake of the Bouabsa Pullman I moved forth and applied some of those changes, further upgrading my nascent Pullman pan skills.