I need help and advice please

Hail the reader:)
I am 82 years old and a very active person. I live in an area where shops are not within walking distance and I no longer have a vehicle.
I want to bake my owns sour dough rye bread, I would make the mock(taste similar) loaf, however I do not have a conventional oven, but in factor to me is if I can bake at 170 degrees Celsius, and possibly increase the period of the bake to substitute for the lower baking temperature?
Tank you for any advise you may have.

One of my favorite rye breads is a recipes from Allrecipes.com and it’s called “Real NY Jewish Rye Bread”. It is baked at 175 deg C (350 deg. F) and I can’t think of any reason it wouldn’t work at 5 C lower - as you said, a bit longer in the oven. The recipe uses dry yeast, but I replace it with about 1/2 C of Rye Sourdough Starter; knead it just enough to mix everything completely, then cover the bowl and let the whole thing set overnight in my kitchen The recipe calls for Demerara sugar, but if I don’t have any, I use granulated white sugar and can’t tell the difference. Hope this works for you!

1 Like

I do it all the time when baking on my outdoor grill. As the temperature is difficult to control (no thermostat) I am constantly over and undershooting the desired temperature but adjust my times as required.

1 Like

I haven’t baked on my grill in years and forgot all about it. Can’t wait to do it again. Thanks for reminding me of this. :grinning:

I want to replace dried yeast with a sourdough starter. Can anyone tell me how to adjust the ingredients to allow this please.

@Hrothgar, Here is a link to a basic sourdough bread recipe to help you get started. Here on Breadtopia.com there are numerous written recipes and video tutorials on making delicious and easy sourdough bread recipes. That’s how I got started!

Enjoy!
Leah

Hi Leah, thanks so much for the reply. I’ve made a lot of bread, almost always from dried yeast but what I want to know is how do I adjust the volumes/weights to allow for a sourdough starter instead of dried yeast. For instance, do I put in say 50ml of starter and reduce the water amount by 50ml (I’m on the other side of the pond) or do I just add the extra and to heck with it?
Does my question make sense?

@Hrothgar, your question does make sense. Unfortunately, I don’t know the answer to it. I’m a relatively newer bread baker (only been baking bread since April 2018) and I have only made bread from the recipes and techniques I’ve learned here on this site. I don’t have the extensive knowledge or experience that some of the wonderful contributors to this forum have. I’m hoping some of them will see this thread and be able to advise you. And, greetings from this side of the pond!

Leah

Hrothgar, You can replace the yeast with starter and not worry about reducing water, etc. I use anywhere from 50-100 grams of starter typically for 500-700 grams of flour. Since you are an experienced baker, you can certainly adjust flour/water if things seem off after you mix and let rest a bit. And things will go slower with starter than with yeast, but I expect you know that.

Bottom line, the use of starter in place of yeast is not a significant change in flour to water ratio. So “add the extra and to heck with it” !! :slight_smile:

3 Likes

Thanks, Liz!! I thought all that was needed was replacing the yeast with sourdough but I hesitated to reply with that suggestion just in case I was wrong. Thank you so much for your help!

Leah