Apparently it is Real Bread Week. For me, that’s no different from every other week. But to celebrate I embarked, last night, on a repeat of “that dark sour bread” I first tried about a year ago. This time, the whole rye berries are, I hope, softening a bit in the Thermos. It’s a long process, and there probably won’t be too much to see for at least another 24 hours, maybe 36. Still within the week though.
Not everyone is lucky enough to work at home, with the freedom to attend to starters, leavens and dough according to their needs. Here’s an article that goes into huge detail about how to be a better weekend baker.
The one thing I’m thinking of changing in my own schedule is to add one more build after taking my starter out of the fridge. Maybe it will produce a more active leaven.
Black Pepper Rye
Dan Lepard’s Black Pepper Rye first swam into my consciousness in 2009, and I wrote about it shortly afterwards. It swam back into my consciousness a couple of days ago, and I realised I had never shared the recipe here. I’ve also adapted it a bit.
The method has an unusual twist that is actually not all that uncommon for rye breads. You boil the rye with the liquid, or pour hot liquid onto the rye, or …
Aside from multi-seeded loaves, which I love, I’m not big on adding extraneous stuff to my breads. No lemon zest, or roasted garlic, or sun-dried tomatoes. Not to say I don’t like them. Just that I don’t make them. So the February #igbreadclub challenge on Instagram — olive levain — didn’t thrill me.
https://vimeo.com/refugecollective/sfm-woodfiredbaker
Nice little film about a bakery in Australia, gleaned from the excellent Bread Magazine newsletter