Vollkorn without tears
Dick Adams
Procedure for 1 day sour "Vollkorn" rye pan bread "without tears".
Take 2 cups coarse rye flour (or combination rye with minor
amounts of cracked grains, up to 1/3 of the total) and put it into
a bowl with capacity of about two quarts.
Add 1 fluid ounce of molasses (the darker the better).
Take 2 cups water, and add it gradually, to make a slurry. Water
should be added only until there is a hint of a clear layer on top
of the slurry.
Inoculate the slurry with about one fluid ounce of frothing
(white) sourdough starter (to be on the safe side, notwithstanding
that coarse rye flour is usually self souring) and mix until the
color is uniform.
Over several hours, check to see that there is enough liquid so
that there is a hint of a clear layer on top. Add more water as
needed. Chances are that the two cups will be more than enough.
Sits overnight at room temperature.
16 to 24 hours later (likely longer if the sourdough starter was
omitted) the slurry should be bubbling and foaming. When that
activity commences to subside (and when the slurry is quite sour
to taste), add about a teaspoon of salt, and enough rye flour to
make "thick mud". It should be possible to mix this with a
electric hand beater. Mix or whip for several minutes. I do not
expect that this mixture is kneaded effectively by this treatment,
but some air is whipped in, which may improve the rise.
Spoon it into a loaf pan. Smooth and decorate the top with the
back of a fork. Good to use a Teflon coated, or greased, pan.
Let it rise to double, and bake it for an hour at 375 degrees.
(The rise can be quite rapid.) I have made it in a toaster oven
because it is too small to justify heating up the gas oven. The
recipe is appropriate for a person who has a toaster oven only.
This bread may legitimately be called pumpernickel. It can be
sliced very thin, and will keep for days. You can sweeten it
further, put semidry or glaced fruit, other stuff, in it and call
it fruitcake.
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DickA (who has a mental block towards recipes)
But, for recipe fanciers, here is your shopping list (note that
the only quantities to be measured are the salt and the first two
cups of flour, and that the other quantities given below may be
excessive.)
2 cups water (approximately)
5 cups rye flour, or mixed whole grain flour (excess)
1 teaspoon full of salt to taste
1/8 cup active sourdough batter approximately
1/8 cup molasses to taste
Optional raisins, nuts, seeds, sugar, honey, rum, semidry fruit
Loaf pan (5 x 9 inches at top x 2-1/2 inches deep OK)
Optional electric hand beater
Oops, almost forgot:
Large enough bowl (2 quart OK)
Double this recipe can conveniently be mixed in the Kitchen Aid
mixer (use the flat beater), cooked in two loaf pans.
Beth
Dick Adams wrote:
>
> Procedure for 1 day sour "Vollkorn" rye pan bread "without tears".
Why Dick, how did you know that I was starting to look into baking with
rye flours and sourdough?
Thanks so much for the recipe.
Beth
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