Light Swedish Rye

Swedish Rye

Using my new Swedish Sourdough Starter, which I feed with Rye flour, I made a Light Swedish Rye Loaf. The flavor is incredibly full bodied and tangy. I used lots of Caraway seeds. I am enjoying the Swedish starter because it is very vigorous and reliable, it always seems full of bubbles just when I need to use it. Here is the recipe which will make 2 – three pound loaves:

Light Swedish Rye

You need to start the night before baking with a preferment. In a large covered container stir together:

  • 9 oz active Swedish starter at 100% hydration
  • 32 oz  water
  • 18 oz Rye flour ( I grind my own so it is dark rye)
  • 10 oz Bread flour
  • .2 oz salt
  • 1.4 oz Caraway seeds

Allow this mixture of ferment overnight, have and edge of the lid popped open so the container isn’t sealed. Next morning pour the mixture into your mixer and add:

  • 25 oz Bread flour
  • 2 oz water with 1 oz of sea salt stirred into the water( it wont dissolve completely but thats okay)

Set your mixer on the lowest setting and process dough just until the Bread flour/water/salt  is mixed in well. Turn off your mixer and allow the dough to autolyse for 20 minutes. After autolyse, turn the mixer back on low and mix for another minute. Take out the dough from the mixer and place the dough into a folding pan or the container you used for preferment. Allow the dough to ferment for about three more hours if warm in your house (over 80 degrees) or four more hours if around 70 degrees or less room temp. During the ferment hours, turn the dough once every hour to strengthen the dough. This just means fold the dough over on itself a few times. See here for dough folding:

[youtube=http://youtube.com/watch?v=vmflTRZ6dWs]

This is the Milawa bakery showing how to fold dough. Their dough is wetter than the Swedish Rye dough, but it is the same technique. You will do this folding a total of two to three times. After the bulk fermenting time is over and your dough is ready, place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gather it into a ball. Then scale the dough into two pieces weighing about three lbs each. Shape the dough loosely into a ball shape and allow the dough to rest five minutes. After the five minutes is up, do your final shaping of the loaf into a ball or boule shape. Place upside down into a lined or floured round basket (8 inches inches in diameter). Allow the dough a final proof for about two hours or up to three hours, watching it carefully to make sure it doesn’t overproof. Then using the roasting pan method of baking which you will find in an ealier post, bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes, remove the baking lid and turn the oven down to 400 degrees, bake for 15 more minutes, turn the loaf for even browning and then bake another 15 minutes or until your bread thermometer reads around 200 – 205 degrees when thrust into the center of the loaf. Cool the bread on a rack until completely cooled. If you slice this bread while still warm, it will be gummy. It can be difficult for rye doughs to determine when they are done proofing. Rye doughs need to be baked before they are finished proofing. I often get this wrong and overproof my rye doughs, so that when they are baked, they deflate somewhat and have a denser crumb toward the bottom of the loaf. In these pictures of the Swedish Rye loaves, I acually underproofed, as you can tell by the cracked open slashes in my loaves. So I need more practice and am planning on baking more Rye breads so I get get a better feel for when rye dough is ready to bake. By the way, I bought a 50 lb bag of organic white wheat berries this month for 49.00 and a 50 lb bag of Rye berries cost me only 22.00!  So I am going to be baking more rye!

northwestsourdough

Teresa L Greenway - Sourdough bread baker, author, teacher, entrepreneur. Join my baking classes at: https://tinyurl.com/nbe3ejd

Click Here to Leave a Comment Below

Leave a Comment: