100% Rye Schwarzbrot
This is Black Bread! Hefty and flavoursome, but very light on the digestion.
Ingredients
500g Shipton organic dark rye flour
2 teaspoons salt
500g rye leaven (sourdough culture)
280 g water
2 or more teaspoons caraway seed (optional).
Method
Mix the leaven and water well and add the flour and salt.
Slowly stir this with a strong wooden spoon/mixer until well mixed .
With floured hands, roll into a cylinder shape, roll in rye flour, and place in a well-oiled tin. It should half-fill the tin. Remember to keep the seam where the roll inevitably joins, on the bottom, or the loaf will burst un-attractively.
Cover with a cotton tea-towel/cloth then place in a plastic bag and put in a warm spot. Allow 3-4 hours to ¾ fill the tin and be well-patterned showing numerous fissures and cracks which are very attractive as the dark inner dough contrasts with the surface, frosted from being rolled in rye flour.
Bake at 200°C for 1 hour. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack, then wrap in a cotton tea-towel until the next day. If the bread is cut before this, it will be dense, as this curing is traditional and necessary. 100% rye bread will keep for weeks if kept wrapped in cotton, then a plastic bag.
TIP: Schwarzbrot will be overly sour if your leaven is too old, so it's best to use the leaven when it peaks and is most active.
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