Very famous ballerina Maya Plisetskaya once said “People didn’t invent anything better than bread and butter”. I am sure this is the bread she meant
Tag: sourdough
Legendary Rye Bread (Borodinsky)
First thing first: you will absolutely need this product – fermented rye malt. It is this powder that adds that sweet & sour almost umami flavor that distinguishes this bread from any other. I couldn’t find it on Amazon, but it is available on Etsy and ebay from several vendors. The delivery can be long (2-3 weeks), it may come from Kazakhstan or some other distant place.
Here is the picture:
The rest of the ingredients are all wildly available:
For Leaven(for the night):
- starter from the fridge – 70gr
- room temperature water – 70 gr
- rye flour – 70gr
For Brewing (for the night):
- Rye flour – 80 gr
- fermented malted rye – 25 gr
- ground coriander – 6 gr (1 1/2 tsp)
- boiling water – 250 gr
For Initial Dough:
- all leaven
- all brewing
- rye flour – 170 gr
- room temperature water – 50 gr
- yeast – 0.5 gr (optional)
For Final Dough:
- Molasses – 20 gr
- Room temperature water – 80 gr
- Sugar – 30 gr
- Salt – 10 gr
- Rye flour – 100 gr
- Whole wheat flour – 75 gr
- Coriander seeds (whole and/or crushed)
Directions:
The bread is done in 4 main stages:
- 1st stage – leaven:
- Mix your starter with room temperature water, the add rye flour, cover and leave overnight on the counter
- 2nd stage – brewing:
- Mix well brewing dry ingredients
- Add boiling water, mix well so everything is incorporated
- Place in 60° C or 140° F oven ( or on some heating pad) for 2 hours. Leave it in the oven after turning it off overnight
- 3rd stage – initial dough:
- In a big bowl combine leaven, brewing , flour and water. Add yeast if you want the dough to rise faster, I skip it.
- Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm place (28° C or 82° F) for an 3-4 hours
- 4th stage – final dough:
- mix well water, molasses, salt, sugar till salt and sugar dissolve
- Add your wet ingredients to the dough
- Add both types of flour and mix the dough well with spoon or wooden spatula
- Cover with plastic and let it raise for another hour
- Prepare the baking form by covering it with the parchment paper
- Using wet hands extract the dough from the bowl, shape it a little and place into the baking form.
- Press the dough into all corners of the form with your wet hands
- Sprinkle with coriander seeds and press them a little
- Leave it to raise for an 1-2 hours
- You can bake it after raising or put in the fridge overnight.
- Preheat your oven to 250°C or 500° F
- Bake for 10 min then reduce temperature to 200° C or 450° F and bake for another 55-60 min
Sourdough Bread with Seeds
At least 12 hours prior to kneading the dough mix:
For the leaven:
- 10 gr (1 tbsp) of cold starter
- 70 ml (1/3 cup) room temperature water
- 70 gr ( 0.5 cup) flour
Makes about 120 gr of leaven
Seeds mixture (you can use any combination if you don’t have these particular seeds):
- 300 ml room temperature water
- 1 tbsp sunflower seeds
- 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
- 1 tbsp flaxseeds
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
For the dough:
- Water with seeds mixture
- White bread flour – 400 gr
- Wholewheat flour – 100 gr
- Salt – 10 gr
- Cold water – 25 ml
Directions:
- If your starter lives in the fridge you will need about 12 hours to activate it by combining 10 grams of the cold starter, 70 ml room temperature water and 70 gr of flour in a glass container, just so you can mark the level and watch it rise. Cover your container and leave it on the counter (temperature should be about 70 °F)
- After 12 hours (could be up to 16 hours) it should at least double in size.
- Pour your water with the seeds into a big bowl (you can use stand mixer bowl)
- Add your activate starter (leaven) to the water, it should flow. If it doesn’t – don’t proceed!
- Add white bread flour and wholewheat flour and mix to combine. If you use stand mixer use the low (2 out of 10) speed, mix till all the ingredients combined (about a min and a half on a low speed), or 2 min using your hands.
- Cover the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap and let it sit for almost an hour.
- After an hour add salt + 25 ml of cold water and knead for about 8-10 minutes by hand or 5 min using stand mixer on speed 4 out of 10.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let to rest and proof for 40 min, the temperature should be above 72°F or 22 °C.
- After 40 minutes start folding the dough. You can use coil folding or envelope folding.
- Repeat folding 4 times, maybe 5, leaving the dough to proof for 40 minutes in between. Each time it will feel more stringy and pleasant to touch.
- After 4 or 5 foldings, load the dough on the floured working surface and shape the bread, it can be done with the same folding and rolling it. Place into a container or bowl flat side down covered with the kitchen towel dusted with flour (rice flour is a good option). Put the container into the fridge for 12-16 hours for the cold fermentation.
- Place cast iron pan (or dutch oven) into your oven, preheat your oven with the pan inside for 30 minutes to 450°F.
- Take your bread out of the fridge, place onto a parchment paper. Cut your formed bread on an angle so that it has room to rise. I sprinkle the bread with some bread deep spice mixture (it’s salt with red pepper flakes and herbs).
- When your oven is preheated – using gloves!!! take the pan out and place the parchment paper with the bread on it inside, cover the lid and quickly place the pan into the oven. Let it bake for 20-25 minutes with the lid on, then remove the lid and bake for another 20-25 minutes.
- Using gloves!!!! take the pan out of the oven, transfer the bread onto a cooling rack.
Enjoy the view!
