The Perfect Rectangle

I've long been yearning to bake a nice perfectly rectangular rye loaf.  Earlier this year I finally bought a pullman loaf pan, but since starting to use it, I've discovered it's not so simple as just baking a loaf in such a pan.  Thus far the rye loaves I've baked in it have stopped their rises just a little short of the rim, thus resulting in a slightly domed top.  On the other end of the spectrum, a wheat loaf blew the lid off the top.  There's nothing wrong with rounded tops, but I wanted the Nordic esthetic.  I realized it's important to get the dough volume right.  With this loaf I finally did that.  For my loaf pan (the standard length pullman I believe), it seems to be 1000g of flour/seeds and whole or chopped grains

It was a three stage affair:

1.

100g Maine Grains rye flour

100g water

35 g starter

~let sit at room temp. (60s) overnight (~10 hrs)

2. add

400g seed & multigrain mix

50g barley

200g rye flour

mix thoroughly and let sit ~4 hrs at room temp (60s)

650g water

3. add

250g rye flour

mix thoroughly, place in oiled pan, smooth top with water and dough scraper.  Let rise until nearly at top of pan.  This happened sooner than I expected (about 3 hrs) so I put it in the refrigerator to put it on hold until I was ready to bake. 

Baked at ~450 for 40 min. then 400 for another 30-40 min.  Took the lid off for the a bit toward the end to brown it up.  Let cool in turned off oven.

The close reader may notice that missing from the list of ingredients is salt. This was not my intention, but the loaf still tastes quite good, probably better than a what loaf would taste sans salt.  I guess I'll have to bake another rye loaf!