Rye Starter Food

RYE SOURDOUGH STARTER

Steps:

• Day 1: To begin your starter, mix 50g flour with 50g tepid water in a jar or, better still, a plastic container. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, covered with a tea towel, at room temperature for 24 hrs.
• Day 2: Mix 25g flour with 25g tepid water and stir into yesterday's mixture. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, covered with a tea towel, at room temperature for 24 hrs.
• Day 3: Today you might see a few small bubbles forming and the mixture should smell grassy and a little acidic. Mix 25g flour with 25g tepid water and stir into yesterday's mixture. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, covered with a tea towel, at room temperature for 24 hrs.
• Day 4: More bubbles should have appeared today and the mixture should smell of yeasty beer. Mix 25g flour with 25g tepid water and stir into yesterday's mixture. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, covered with a tea towel, at room temperature for 24 hrs.
• Day 5: Fermentation should have set in now and the mixture might be ready to use. If a teaspoon of the starter floats in warm water, it's ready. If not, mix 25g flour with 25g tepid water and stir into yesterday's mixture. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave covered, with a tea towel, at room temperature for 24 hrs.
• Day 6: The mix should be really bubbly and be giving off a strong smell of alcohol. Test in the same way as yesterday. If it's not ready, continue mixing 25g flour with 25g tepid water into the mixture daily until it becomes active.If your jar is becoming full, spoon half the mix out of the jar and continue.You now have rye starter, which is a malty flavoured base to sourdough bread. Keep it in the fridge (it will stay dormant) and 12 hrs before you want to use it, spoon half of it off and feed it with 100g flour and 100g water. Leave it at room temperature and it should become active again. The longer the starter has been dormant, the more times it will need to be refreshed - the process of pouring off half the starter and replacing it with new flour and water - to reactivate.Use the starter to make rye sourdough bread.

RYE STARTER

Steps:

• In a small bowl, mix together 1/2 cup rye flour with 1/4 cup water to make a thick paste. Cover with a damp cloth, and set aside at room temperature for 24 hours.
• Stir well, and discard 1/2 of the rye flour paste. Stir 1/2 cup rye flour and 1/4 cup water into the remainder. Cover with a damp cloth, and set aside at room temperature for 24 hours. Repeat for day three.
• Some activity should now be noticeable: the starter should be bubbly. Stir well. Measure starter, and transfer to a 1 quart glass jar. Stir in amounts of water and bread flour equal to the amount of starter. Add more water until the starter resembles a thick but pourable batter. Set aside for 24 hours.
• Starter should be very active with lots of bubbles in the batter. Stir well. Measure, and return 1 cup starter to the jar. Begin feeding regularly, every 4 to 6 hours, doubling the starter each time. For instance, if you have 1 cup starter, add 1 cup bread flour and 1 cup water.

RYE SOURDOUGH STARTER AND BREAD

Steps:

• Starter:.
• Day 1: In a 1 quart jar with a lid mix 100 g rye flour with 100 ml lukewarm water. Stir well to completely mix. Don't mind if it seems not to be enough water and the dough is sticky. Just mix well to have a homogenous dough.
• Close the lid of the jar loosely and let stand for 24 hours at room temperature, maybe not in the coolest room of the house --.
• Day 2: Stir the starter well, close the lid again and let stand for another 24 hours.
• Day 3: Stir in 100 g finely ground whole rye flour and 100 ml lukewarm water, cover again and let stand for another 24 hours.
• Open the jar and check the smell: DON'T stick your nose into the jar! I did that with my first attempt and nearly burnt off my mucosa with the cloud of acetic acid that evaporated from the vinegar starter I produced -- So, open the jar and carefully check the smell. If it doesn't sting but smell pleasantly sour, proceed. The colour of the starter should be greyish brown.
• Bread:.
• Place the flour in a large bowl, make a well and fill the sourdough starter into the well. Hold back about 2 tablespoons of the starter, put it into a glass jar, tightly close the lid and keep the jar in the refridgerator. It will not rise while in the fridge nor produce gas, so don't be afraid of tightening the lid.
• Mix the starter with some of the flour, then add the salt and water and knead for about 15 minutes. The dough is very heavy, so most machines give in and collaps. I always kneaded by hand on a floured surface until the dough was smooth.
• Form a ball and dust with flour, cover and let rest for 2 hours.
• On a dusted surface, knead lightly, form an oval loaf, cover and let rest for another hour.
• Preheat oven to 250 degrees Celsius (220 fan assisted).
• Place bread on a baking tray layered with nonstick parchment paper, prick bread with a fork in a regular pattern all over and brush with water.
• Place an ovenproof bowl with hot water on the bottom of the oven, then slip the baking tray into the oven and bake for 15 minutes.
• After 15 minutes reduce heat to 200 degrees Celsius (180 fan assisted), continue baking for 30 minutes.
• Put off the oven after 30 minutes, but don't open yet. Let the bread rest.
• for another 15 minutes in the hot oven.
• Take it out and knock at the bottom of the bread. It should sound hollow.
• Let completely cool on a wire rack.
• You need not keep the bread in the fridge.
• If you use the starter for the first time, it works better if you add some yeast to the bread dough because the fresh starter is not very strong.
• The starter which you hold back will be strong enough without adding yeast if you feed it again for 3 days like described above.

RYE SOURDOUGH BREAD

Steps:

• Day 1: To begin your starter, mix 50g of the flour with 50g tepid water in a jar or, better still, a plastic container. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, covered with a tea towel, at room temperature for 24 hrs.
• Days 2, 3, 4 & 5 : Mix 25g flour with 25g tepid water and stir into yesterday's mixture. Make sure all the flour is incorporated and leave, covered with a tea towel, at room temperature for 24 hrs.
• Day 6: The mix should be really bubbly and giving off a strong smell of alcohol. A teaspoonful of the starter should float in warm water if ready. If not, continue adding 25g flour and 25g tepid water into the mixture daily until it becomes active.If your jar is becoming full, spoon half the mix out of the jar and continue. You now have rye starter, which is a malty flavoured base to sourdough bread. Keep it in the fridge (it will stay dormant) and 12 hrs before you want to use it, spoon half of it off and feed it with 100g flour and 100g water. Leave, covered, at room temperature.
• Tip 100g of the starter into a bowl and add 400g of tepid water. Whisk or rub the two together with your hands, don't worry if there are a few lumps. Add the flour and bring together (with a spatula or your hand) into a thick, sticky dough, making sure all the flour is mixed in, including any dry bits on the sides of the bowl. Cover with a damp tea towel and leave at room temperature for 2 hrs.
• Work the salt into the dough then leave, covered, for another 2 hrs.
• Heavily butter a 900g loaf tin. Dust the work surface with more rye flour, then scrape all the dough out. Mould the dough into a block roughly the same size as the tin and sit it in the tin. Press the dough down so it fills it completely and scatter the top generously with more flour. Leave the loaf out, uncovered, for 2 hrs until it's risen by about a quarter and gone craggy on the top, or leave it in the fridge, uncovered, overnight. This will give it an even deeper flavour.
• Heat the oven to 230/210C fan/gas 8 with a shelf in the middle of the oven and a shelf below with a roasting tray on it. Put the loaf on the middle tray and carefully pour a small glass of water into the roasting tray. Cook for 50-55 mins until hollow sounding when tapped. (The middle of the loaf will read 98C on a digital thermometer when ready.) Remove the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack for at least 4 hrs. Will keep for 3-4 days in an airtight container.