Bread #1

This is the recipe of the first bread I ever made. It's a 80/20 rye/wheat bread with rye sourdough with a wheat poolish. I bought a recipe book during my Christmas visit in Germany about 3 years ago and when I came back I tried out this recipe. I had never done anything like it before and had no equipment except a mixer. Instead of a banneton I used woven basket I had around and that didn't work all that well but good enough. Also, I didn't want to buy too many ingredients before I knew if I wanted to continue baking bread, so I used only whole grain rye flour, which works too. Texture and taste were so close to what I knew from when I lived back in Germany that I continued baking my own bread for the last 3 years and hardly ever buy a bread in the store. Very easy to make for a sourdough bread and only a few ingredients needed.

Sourdough

• 260g (9 1/8 oz) whole grain rye flour
• 260ml (8 3/4 oz) water
• 26g (1 oz)  rye sourdough starter

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until smooth. Cover with lid or plastic wrap and let prove for 14-16 hours at room temperature.

Poolish

• 135g (4 3/4 oz)all purpose wheat flour
• 135ml (4 1/2 oz) water
• 1.5g fresh wet yeast (or 1/4 tsp of Active Dry Yeast)

Dissolve the yeast in water, mix all ingredients in a bowl and stir until smooth. Cover with lid or plastic wrap and let prove for 14-16 hours at room temperature also.

Main Dough

• Sourdough
• Poolish
• 220g (7 3/4 oz) light rye flour
• 50g (1 3/4 oz) whole grain rye flour
• 13g (1/2 oz) salt
• 10g (3/8 oz) fresh wet yeast or 1 1/2 tsp of Active Dry Yeast, 3/4 tsp of sugar and 40ml (1 3/8 oz) of water, mixed and let stand for 10 minutes
• 70ml (2 3/8 oz) water
• 1 tsp of diastatic malt powder (optional, helps the yeast rise)
• 1 tsp of rye malt powder (optional, for coloring)

Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix it up with a spatula. Then knead it with a dough hook on low speed for 7 minutes. Let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

On a well floured surface quickly knead by hand and form into ball shape. Place in a floured banneton with seam down. Cover with plastic plastic wrap and let prove at 32°C (90 °F) for 1 hour. At room temperature let prove for 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 250°C (485 °F).

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and turn dough over onto it. Transfer onto 2nd rack from the bottom and spray water onto the oven walls. Bake for 15 minutes, then briefly open the oven door to let out excess steam and reduce temperature to 180°C (355 °F). Bake for another 40 minutes.

Let cool on a cooling rack.

Original recipe (German language) on ketex.de.