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Seeded rye bread - “Vollkornbrot”

Ingredients

280g Organic light malthouse flour (301) or Wholemeal flour
240g Organic light rye Flour - type 997 (601)
340g 5-Seed Blend (401)
20g Diastatic Malt Flour (optional)
Rolled oats (optional)
Sourdough starter
Water
20g Salt

Revive starter (12-18hrs)

  • Disperse 1tblsp sourdough starter (from the fridge) in 30 g warm water
  • Add 40g Organic Light Rye Flour

Mix well, cover with cling film and leave to stand for 12-18 hours. It should be nice and bubbly – if it isn’t just throw half of it out and top it up again.

Prepare a pre-dough and soak seeds (3-4 hours)

To the now active sourdough, add 100g warm water and mix with a further 80g Organic Light Rye Flour. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave to ferment for 3-4 hours

Pour 300g of (nearly) boiling water over 340g of the 5 Seed Blend in a bowl. Add a tablespoon of diastatic malt flour if you have it. It adds a nice flavour, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t have some. Cover this with cling film, too, and let soak for 3-4 hours.

Main dough

  • Pre-dough
  • Seed mix
  • 120g Organic Light or Dark Rye Flour
  • 280g Organic Light Malthouse Flour, or wholemeal flour
  • 20g Salt
  • 100g water – but see below

Combine and mix the above thoroughly, adjusting the amount of water so the dough is soft, but not too sticky. You should be able to shape it with only the lightest dusting of flour. Consider adding extra rye flour if needed.
Cover and leave to mature for 45 minutes

Shape’n’Bake

After maturing, shape the dough into an oblong the length of a 1lb loaf tin. Any tin is fine, but a Pullman tin is best – this amount of dough will rise and fill the tin and you end up with nice square slices just like the traditional thing.

If you like, roll the dough in some oats scattered on the work surface, place the oblong in the loaf tin. Spray or brush the top of the loaf with some water and sprinkle with oats if desired.

Leave to rise for 1¼ - 1½ hours and pre-heat the oven to 250 deg. Celsius

Don’t expect it to rise too much, but this amount of dough does fill my Pullman tin, so put the lid on if you have one.
Bake for 5-10 minutes with plenty of steam if you can, then reduce the oven temperature to 200 Celsius and bake for a further 60 minutes.

Wait and Enjoy

Leave the loaf to thoroughly cool down before cutting. Vollkornbrot is best cut into thin slices around ½ cm, but be sure to use a sharp breadknife.