"Local Breads" - Polish Cottage Rye (Wiejski chelba)

This is the very last recipe in "Local Bread" which means I have made all the breads in the book - not bad considering the book is 327 pages long!  My intention was to blog about each bread, but some of the Italian breads I didn't particularly love (mostly because they were yeasted, and I'm really only interested in making sourdough bread), and consequently didn't write up, as the website I was initially using to post all my endeavours was really for sourdough bread only.  So maybe I might go back through and find the ones I didn't like and convert them to sourdough and see how they turn out.

So this polish rye.  I have just checked through my notebook, and it would seem I didn't make any notes whilst making this bread, and since I never seem to have enough time on the weekend I make the bread to write about it, and I made this one back in August, I can't remember a great deal!  Hopeless!

I've just turned the page in the book and have found I made my notes on the recipe page!  Doh!

STARTER:
This bread uses 380g of rye sourdough starter, which is a lot more than most breads use (generally about 150-200g starter for a couple of loaves), and Mr Leader does mention in his preamble to the recipe that he has included a 'build' step to increase the amount of rye sourdough, but unless I'm even more stupid than I've already made out above, I can't for the life of me find it in his recipe!  That notwithstanding, my notes indicate that I fed my fridge starter (about 60g) by adding 200g water and 200g fine rye flour to start this loaf off (at 3pm Saturday afternoon).  Enough for the recipe and some to put back in the fridge for next time.

Rye starter ready to roll!

DOUGH:
Sunday morning, I then used my nice bubbly rye starter (he is always SO very happy after being fed, bubbly, smelling wonderful, eager for business!) to make the bread:

380g starter after overnight feeding (put the remainder back in the fridge)
325g tepid water
500g bread flour
10g salt

Given the intro to this loaf said it was the darkest, most rustic of Polish rye breads, I was exceedingly surprised the dough did not contain any rye flour!  But follow the recipe I did.

I kneaded the dough using my Kitchen Aid on speed #4 for about 12mins.  I did stop and scrape down the hook a couple of times as it was a pretty sticky dough.  I also kept a careful eye on the machine as had just had my floor repaired from when it bounced off and broke a couple of my floor boards!  The KA was just fine, nothing broken, but the wooden floor clearly couldn't handle the beast falling on to it!

At 8.30am the dough was put in an oiled bowl and left to ferment at RT but in order to make my bread work around my day, I put the dough in the fridge at 10.30am so I could go out for a few hours.  At 3.00pm I removed it from the fridge, and let warm up at RT for another couple of hours.

SHAPING:
This is a very soft dough, light, springy and delicate - maybe because of the amount of rye starter used? 

I preshaped into one big round let rest for 15mins, then did my final shaping and placed it into my banetton, put the banetton inside a plastic bag and left at RT to proof.  And there my notes stop!  So I have no idea how long I let it proof for!?  I would imagine it was 1.5-2hrs, or until it had increased in size by at least 1.5times.  My rye starter has plenty of oompff, so sometimes it takes a little less time than this.  but if the dough was still relatively cool after its ferment in the fridge, it might have taken a little longer.

Dough proofed, ready to slash and bake

BAKING:
I have a clay tile in my oven, and my oven is very special needs and slow to heat up, so an hour before I'm ready to bake I turned the oven to 230°C to heat up.  This allows enough time for the stone to fully heat up.

I covered my bakers peel with a sheet of baking paper, placed this over the banetton and gently inverted the banetton to tip out the dough.  I slashed the loaf 5 times in a rough start pattern, and then slid it into the oven, along with a handful of ice cubes and baked for 50 mins until nice and golden brown (with a turn around at half time).

Baked loaf

 

Crumb shots

This was nice bread,  nothing startling, but nice.  I still think I prefer the Zitny chelba for flavour, despite the large amount of rye starter in this.  Maybe I would try swapping out some of the bread flour for rye in the dough to see how much that alters the taste.  Would definitely make again and will send to YeastSpotting!

Happiness is making bread!!
K.

 

 

 

"Local Breads" - Dark Silesian Rye (Chelba)

Despite it's name, this bread isn't all that dark or rye-y!  It definitely has more rye flour in it than the light version preceding it, but still . . .

STARTER:
100% rye starter fed as follows - 50g rye starter + 100g rye flour + 100g water, mixed together and left to ferment at RT for at least 12 hours.

Note: The rye flour used for this bread is all fine grade.

DOUGH:
My scales were on the blink when I went to make this bread, so sadly I had to make all my measurements but the cup, which was less than ideal, but worked out just fine.  It made me pay attention to how the dough felt, which was a good thing.

I used all but about 1/4c of my rye starter (200g), added in 1.5c (300g) tepid water and then mushed my starter into the water.  2.25c (350g) bread flour, 1c (150g) rye flour and 2 tsp salt.  Combined this altogether and let autolyse for about 1/2hr, then did my usual 10 kneads 3 times over 1/2-3/4hr (on an oiled bench).  It then fermented in an oiled bowl for 2.25hrs at RT.

SHAPING:
I was supposed to shape it into a round, but instead used my long banneton, as had decided to cut it in half and give it to a couple of my staff at work.  So shaped into a round first, then let rest, the shaped into a long baton and placed in my banneton that had been lightly coated with rye flour.  The banneton was them put inside a plastic bag and popped in the fridge (as I had plans for the early evening and wouldn't be home in time to bake it had I left it at RT).

Shaped and ready to proof

BAKING:
So the loaf proofed in the fridge for about3.5hrs then at RT for another hour before baking at 210C for 50mins.  As per the light Silesian rye, I was supposed to scatter this with caraway seeds prior to baking, then brush with water after baking, but I did neither of these.  I did however slash the loaf 5x horizontally prior to baking.

 

 Baked loaf

 

 

Crumb

 

I didn't get to taste this loaf as gave both halves away, but  both staff members did comment on how nice it was.  Who knows . . . . maybe they were just being polite?!  To be honest, I'm sure it was a perfectly nice loaf, maybe I'll make it again another day to try myself.





"Local Breads" - Light Silesian Rye (Chelba)

Now we're on to the final couple of loaves in Daniel Leader's book "Local Breads" and we're in Poland.  This loaf is traditionally scattered with caraway seeds, but the friends I was baking it for don't like them, so I left them out.  The recipe called for white rye flour, and the closest thing I could find is a very fine ground rye flour.  It is very light and mild in flavour, so I thought it would do the trick nicely.

STARTER:
Using 50g of the rye starter in my fridge I fed it with 100g of fine rye flour and 100g of water and let it ferment at RT for 24 hours.  The recipe calls for 200g of starter, but only gave you instructions to make 200g = nothing left for next time, so I upped the quantities to create an extra 50g for a rainy day!

DOUGH:
200g starter + 300g water + 500g bread flour + 10g salt (+ 5g instant yeast which I left out).  All of this mixed together (I always put in starter first, then mush it in with the water, flour on top, then salt last) until it formed a shaggy dough.  I let this sit for about 1/2hr to autolyse, then kneaded for about 10secs every 15mins 3 times (on oiled bench and put in an oiled bowl covered with a plastic bag in between).  It fermented in the bowl for another 2 hours with a fold after 1hr.

SHAPING:
The dough was divided into 2 equal portions and shaped into rounds then rolled into a sort of blunt ended bullet about 6 inches long with rounded ends.  These proofed in my "couche" in the fridge for a while, then on an ice pack in the back of the car (I was away for the weekend and visiting friends on the way to another friend for dinner, and didn't want to bake it until I got there!) and was finally baked about 4 hours later!

I was very nervous they were going to be over-proofed, but the looked just fine when I uncovered them - phew!

BAKING:
My friend had preheated her oven for me to 200C (no baking stone, but there was a heavy metal tray in the oven in its stead), and the loaves were baked for only about 30mins, although I would have needed 40mins in my oven.  Oh, I also slashed them with about 5 parallel cuts straight across the loaves.


Chelba baked

Theoretically prior to baking the loaves should have been brushed with water and sprinkled with caraway seeds - not this time for me though.  And also brushed again with water after baking to give a shiny crust . . . . yep you guessed it, I didn't do this either!

Allegedly they can be stored for about 5 days in a paper bag at RT, but these were eaten for dinner that very same evening! :)

As you would expect with a white loaf using rye starter, the flavour was very mild, and I have to say, I preferred the taste of the very similar Zitny Chelba I made the other weekend.

Chelba crumb

 

Just couldn't stop!

Well after making this recipe (Zitny chleba) last weekend, I have since made twice more during the week, but with a twist!  I decided it would be nice with some grains added to it - sort of like the volkornbrot but not quite.

So I soaked 125g of rolled rye and kibbled rye (about 1/2 of each) in 175g of boiling water - the first time I soaked overnight, the second time for about an hour only.

The test of the recipe was the same more or less, adding in the soaker when I made the dough, and reduced the water in the dough to about 3/4-1c (scales not working).  Both "grain" versions had 2 retardation steps (in the fridge) to work around me doing my real day job.

Both times the dough was refrigerated all day after kneading for the bulk ferment, and then again after shaping for the proof.  I did let the dough warm up for a hours at RT prior to shaping both times.  Once again I slashed in a circle around the shoulder of the loaves, and the oven spring was fabulous!

I didn't get any photos of the crumb of either batch as I gave the first to some friends and took the second lot to work for a shared lunch and they got scoffed before I even thought about it!  VERY tasty, moist crumb, nutty flavour, crusty . . .

. . . . could just about be my new favourite bread!

"Local Breads" - Whole Rye Berry Loaf (Volkornbrot)

I'm not entirely convinced I got the right "rye berries" for this recipe as they didn't become all that soft after soaking, but make the bread I did.

This is the second to last recipe in the Germany section of Daniel Leaders book "Local Breads" that I am working my way through.  I think Mr Leader left out part of the recipe as he mentioned in his preamble that he had included a refreshment step or "build" to make sufficient rye starter for the dough, but in fact he had not.  So I just made double the amount of rye sourdough preferment that he suggested in the recipe.

STARTER & BERRIES:
Starter - this is 1.5 times the amount mentioned in the book - 50g starter + 170g water + 225g fine rye flour - left to sit at room temperature for 16hrs.

Rye starter bubbling away after 16hrs

Soaked berries - 125g whole rye berries + 175g boiling water - placed in a bowl and also let sit for 16hhrs at room temp.  They didn't swell up that much and didn't soften, which makes me think they weren't quite the right think.  Or alternatively I guess, they could have been old and past their best?

Soaked rye berries

DOUGH:
Take out 50g of starter to keep for next time and then add the remaining starter (400g) into a mixing bowl along with 50g of water, your soaked rye berries, 200g fine rye flour and 10g salt.  I then mixed all of this on my stand mixer (#2 speed) for 2 minutes -it was supposed to form a thick, batter-like dough but wasn't quite battery so I added a touch more water until I was happy with the consistency.

 

I covered the bowl of dough with a plastic bag and let ferment at room temp for about 1.5hrs. It was lightly spongy and had only slightly risen.

 

I oiled a loaf pan (a fairly big one) and coated the oil with rye flour then scraped the dough into the pan with a spatula (yes it is the consistency of peanut butter!) and smoothed it over.  The loaf pan was popped inside a plastic bag and left at RT for just over 1hr to proof.

 

 

BAKING:

The oven was set at 160°C about 15 minutes prior to the loaf going in with a rack in the centre of the oven.  The loaf had formed a slight dome prior to going in the oven and was baked with steam for nearly 2 hours.  It had come away from the sides of the tin and didn't leave any wet dough on a skewer when poked.

 

 

I let the bread cool overnight before slicing it - this is recommended for high percentage rye breads.

 

 

The rye berries were a bit firm for my liking, almost a bit dry, but the bread had a really nice flavour.  As mentioned earlier in this post I don't know if the berries weren't right for the recipe or what, but next time I make this bread I think I'll use rye flakes (like coarse rolled oats) instead.

"Local Breads" - Spiced Rye Rolls (Vingchter)

A rainy day is a good day to make bread (although actually any day is a good day if I have to be completely honest!), because I don't feel guilty about spending the time indoors!  And the day I made these was especially awful!  I don't even think the dog got a walk.

The view outside!

These Vingchter are an Austrian roll seasoned with the alluring combination of ground fennel and cumin, that smell completely divine whilst proofing and especially during baking!  They aren't shaped but are left to fall into individual irregular rolls.  It is a wonderfully soft dark dough, but is sticky and wet to start so is best mixed by machine.

STARTER:
I fed my rye starter 15hrs prior to making my dough - 50g starter + 100g water + 75g rye flour - and let sit at room temperature fermenting.  Room temperature during this time was probably <18°C as  made them at the beginning of May.

Rye starter ready to roll

DOUGH:
I made this dough using my stand mixer as recommended.  380g water + 100g starter + 1/2tsp yeast + 380g rye flour + 120g high gluten bread flour + 10g salt + 1/4tsp each of toasted and ground cumin and fennel seeds. 

 

The dough was kneaded in machine using dough hook on low (#2) for about 10mins, then was left to sit for 10mins, then mixed on medium (#3) for another 10mins.  You should be able to see some strands of gluten at this time even though the dough will still be sticky and won't clear the sides of the bowl.

 

 

The dough was then fermented for about 2 1/2hrs at room temperature in an oiled bowl.  After this time it was much less sticky and had almost doubled in volume.

SHAPING:
I covered 2 baking sheets with baking paper and dusted them with some rye flour.  With oiled hands I scooped out palm-sized portions of dough (about 100g or so each) and let them "plop" onto the baking paper in free-form shapes with some breathing room between each.  The "plops" were sprinkled with rye flour and covered in plastic to proof.

BAKING:
After about 50mins the rolls had spread and looked nice and pillowy so into the oven they went (I had heated the oven to 230°C prior) with a rack near the top and one in the middle (no  baking stone) + 5 ice cubes for steam.  After about 10mins I switched the trays around and rotated them (I have a hot spot back left corner!), and baked them for a further 25mins.

I managed to wait until they were cool enough to handle before I ate one, and it was a wondrous thing!  Not only was the smell of them cooking enough to bring the neighbours out, but the taste was splendidly spiced and unctuous - just with a dribble of butter.  I have since eaten with cheeses, jams, marmalade, for lunch with soup, for breakfast, and for no reason at all!  They froze really well and were great popped in the microwave to heat up slightly!  YUM!