How to make a Rye Mother
Making a Rye Mother
Introduction
To set a Rye Mother down, start a week before you need the bread. Once up and running your mother will improve with age, as we all do, and will always be there ready to use. If you look after her and want to bake bread every day then she will need feeding with enough flour and water each day at least 12 hours before you need to start making bread.
If you bake once a week then feed her as soon as you have produced your last loaf, cover and put her into the fridge. Unfed she will last a month, but should be removed and fed at least 12 hours before re-use, using warm water to get her going again.
A nice thick creamy consistency just thicker than a Yorkshire pudding batter should keep a nice balance between flavour and baking performance – for those of a scientific bias, the pH should be between 3.5 and 4.
Making your Rye Mother
Place 50g of medium rye into a medium sized mixing bowl and add 75g of hot water. Beat to a creamy batter, cover with a plastic bag to keep the moisture in and stand in a warm part of the kitchen but not directly onto a radiator or above the cooker. She will be happiest at 18 to 22°C if possible and leave her for 24 hours without disturbance.
Next day add another 25g of rye flour and 35 to 40g of hot water, mix and set aside as before.
Repeat this process for the next five days. By then your mother will be active and time she will be active and you will feel the gas bubbles between your fingers.
On the 6th day you will have about 500g of mother in the bowl and it is now that you need to decide what breads to make and how often. It may be advisable to split the mother in two and freeze one half as a backup. The yeasts will recover even after freezing - give it one good feed of 75g of flour plus 100g of hot water, stand at room temperature for at least 12 hours then she will be ready to bake with or restart your main mother.
As ever, there are as many many different interpretations of a rye sour as there are ideas on producing and keeping a mother. Keep it simple. Once you understand the basics then experiment with some of the more complicated formula's you will read in the recipe books.
Added by: tom