Danish Sourdough Rye Rugbrod - Southern Ground - Jennifer Lapidus
There have been quite a few posts lately regarding various rye breads, after finally getting my hands on a barley malt syrup, I decided I would try to bake one myself. I had borrowed Southern Ground by Jennifer Lapidus and decided to try baking her Danish Rye bread since I had almost all the ingredients. Being from the south of the US she includes sorghum syrup which I understand is common there, so I subbed the barley malt in for it.
Her recipe created a lot more levain than one needs, I didn’t check the calculations ahead of time and only realized that when the levain was being weighed, I’ve adjusted the recipe so there wouldn’t be any waste with future bakes. Her recipe was also for a 8x4” pan where I have a deep 9x4x4” Pullman so I think I would want to increase the final dough weight even more than I already have in the future to get a slightly taller loaf. That being said, it would be smart to actually taste this bread before baking it again in a larger size, I haven’t had a 100% rye bread in many many years so I don’t recall if I actually like them or not.
I wondered if I had underproofed the loaf given its short stature, but I think it would have torn as it baked if it was underproofed. The final proof went much faster than the recipe estimated taking only 2h45min instead of the 4-8 hours. When I saw a few holes appears on the top crust I started the oven and put the dough into the fridge to try to slow it down to avoid overproofing. As always the crumb will be most important and I won’t slice it open until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.
Because I keep such a small amount of starter I added a first stage levain build in order to make enough levain. The ingredient weights for the 8x4” pan are from her book without adjustment other than adding the first stage. The weights for the 9x4” pan are my adjusted to fit a 9x4” pan but not yet increased to make a larger/taller loaf.
YIELD: 1 (8 X 4-INCH) PAN LOAF
First stage
10 g starter
40 g water
40 g whole rye flour
LEAVEN (8 TO 12 HOURS)
150g water
75g starter
100g whole-rye flour
SOAKER (8 TO 12 HOURS)
150g hulled pumpkin seeds
75g hulled sunflower seeds
100g cold water
DOUGH
100g warm water (about 85°F)
200g leaven
200g whole-rye flour
1½ teaspoons sorghum syrup or light molasses, I have barley malt
10g fine sea salt
soaker (above), drained
For 9x4x4” Pullman
First stage
6 g starter
24 g water
24 g whole rye flour
LEAVEN (8 TO 12 HOURS) I’ve recalculated the levain so there isn’t waste.
106g water
52g starter
71g whole-rye flour
SOAKER (8 TO 12 HOURS)
169g hulled pumpkin seeds
87g hulled sunflower seeds
113g cold water
DOUGH
113g warm water (about 85°F)
226g leaven
226g whole-rye flour
1½ teaspoons sorghum syrup or light molasses, I have barley malt
11.3g fine sea salt
soaker (above), drained
I would increase the ingredients by 50% if you wanted to fill the Pullman.
- Make the leaven: Measure the water into a small clear container with a lid, such as a widemouthed 1-quart mason jar, then add the starter. Using a spoon or your fingers, break apart the starter into the water. Add the flour and mix until fully incorporated. Cover and let stand at room temperature for at least 8 to 12 hours (it’s possible to let it go even longer, say, 14 hours), until fully developed (see image on this page).
- Make the soaker: In a container with a lid, stir together the sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and cold water. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 8 to 12 hours, then drain and set aside.
- Make the dough: Once the leaven is fully developed, measure the water into a large bowl, then add the leaven and dissolve it in the water, breaking it apart with your fingers. Add the flour, sorghum syrup, salt, and drained soaker and mix until fully incorporated, squeezing and mixing all the ingredients together vigorously to make a smooth, claylike dough.
- Final rise: Grease an 8 x 4-inch standard loaf pan with olive oil or butter (if you’re not vegan, the butter is more commonly used in this Danish bread).
- Place the dough directly in the prepared pan, using wet hands to smooth the top of the loaf. Cover with a cotton or linen kitchen towel and proof at room temperature for 4 to 8 hours, until small holes appear in the top of the loaf. (The final proof time depends on how active your leaven is and the temperature of your kitchen.)
- Bake: Preheat the oven to 450°F. Bake for 10 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 350°F and bake for another 45 minutes, or until the internal temperature reads 206°F.
- Remove from the oven and immediately transfer the bread from the pan to a cooling rack. Let cool completely, ideally for 24 hours, before slicing. If you would like a softer crust, remove the loaf from the pan and let cool for 10 minutes, then return it to the pan and let it cool completely.
7FB98A40-CB54-4B01-BCF9-29CFD61EDCB7.jpeg