Latgalian Rye/Latgaliešu Maize (Latvia) - Stanley Ginsberg - The Rye Baker

My first time trying this bake which several bakers on TFL have been posting about. Not being sure if I would like it or not since I haven’t like many of the previous 100% ryes breads I’ve baked, I decided to make a half sized loaf. I also bought a fresh bag of Anita’s organic whole rye flour to ensure that the rye I used wasn’t starting to go off and alter the flavour. The cracking appears to show a bit of under proofing, I did 50 mins of final proof but the dough was showing a good number of broken bubbles but not cracks at that point so I decided to bake it. I like the rustic appearance of the cracks and it shouldn’t affect the flavour, but may make the crumb a bit more dense, hopefully not too much.

I’ve made notes in Stanley Ginsberg’s original post with some of the things that Martadella or Lance changed.




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Rye %: 100%
Stages: Sponge, Scald, 2-Stage sponge-scald
Leaven: Rye sour culture, Instant yeast
Start to Finish: 28-32 hours
Hands-on Time: 45-50 minutes
Yield: One 3.15 lb/1.40 kg loa

Scald (Day 1, Evening):

Ingredient Grams / ½ batch Ounces Baker’s
Percentage
Wholegrain rye flour 320 / 160 11.30 100%
Hot (150°F/65°C) water 650 / 325 22.95 203%
Pale rye malt 20 / 10 0.70 6%
Caraway seed, ground 2 / 1 0.05 1%

Can use Diastatic Barley Malt instead of pale rye malt.

In the mixer bowl, mix the scald ingredients by hand into a firm porridge, cover and let stand at 150°F/65°C until it smells like apples, has a sweet taste and the consistency of pancake batter, 16-18 hours. (Original instruction)

Instead hold the scald at 65°C 150°F for 3 hours. Could also use the instant pot [keep warm normal] 148°F.

Sponge (Day 1, Evening): (Stiff levain)

Ingredient Grams / ½ batch Ounces Baker’s
Percentage
Wholegrain rye flour 50 / 25 1.75 100%
Warm (105°F/41°C) water 30 / 15 1.05 60%
Rye sour culture 20 / 10 0.70 40

Mix the sponge ingredients by hand into a stiff dough, cover and ferment at room temperature (70°F/21°C) overnight, 16-18 hours, until the sponge has visibly expanded and has a pronounced vinegar smell.

Sour-Scald 1 (Day 2, Noon)

Ingredient Grams / ½ batch Ounces Baker’s
Percentage
Sponge all 100 / 50 3.55 100%
Scald all 992 / 496 35.00 992%

Combine the sponge and scald, cover and let stand at 130°F/55°C until it has a strong smell of apple cider, 6-7 hours.

Martadella did the following: At 28-32°C 82-90°F

Drop sour into scald, dont mix, leave in a warm place for 3 hours

(I did 2 hours)

Then mix and let stand in warm place another 3 hours

(I mixed after 2 hours and removed from lukewarm oven, placed at cool room temperature overnight)

Sour-Scald 2 (Day 2, Afternoon)

Ingredient Grams / ½ batch Ounces Baker’s
Percentage
Sour-Scald 1 all 1092 / 546 38.50 100%
Instant yeast, ¼ tsp 1 / 0.5 0.05 0.01%

Add the instant yeast to Opara 1, stir to blend, cover and ferment overnight, 10-12 hours, at room temperature. In the morning, the mixture will be extremely bubbly and have a distinctive sweet-sour taste.

Martadella - dissolve the yeast in a small amount of water, then add to the sour-scald 1 1. ferment 12-13 h at 28-30°C 82-86°F

(He actually added 2g yeast and fermented 8 hours)

Final Dough (Day 3, Morning):

Ingredient Grams / ½ batch Ounces
Sponge-Scald 2 all 1093 / 546.5 38.55
Wholegrain rye flour 600 / 300 21.15
Water 100 / 50 3.55
Salt 5 / 2.5 0.20
Honey 30 / 15 1.05

Add the final dough ingredients to the Opara 2 and use the dough hook at low (KA2) speed to mix until the dough is fully blended into a firm, sticky mass that gathers around the hook, 7-8 minutes.

Turn the dough onto a well-floured work surface and used floured hands to shape it into an oblong loaf, then place it on a well-floured peel, if using a baking stone, or on a parchment-lined sheet pan.

I wet the counter and my hands to shape. Try to shape very narrow since the dough will spread as it final proofs.

Brush the loaf with water, cover it with a tea towel and proof at room temperature, brushing with water every 15 minutes, until it has expanded to about 1 ½ times its original volume and shows cracks and broken bubbles, 45-50 minutes.

I used a spray bottle to keep the dough damp.

Preheat the oven to 480°F/250°C with the baking surface in the upper third. Brush the loaf with water and bake without steam for 40-45 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 390°F/200°C and continue to bake until the loaves thump when tapped with a finger and the internal temperature is at least 200°F/93°C, about 20 minutes more.

Everyone commented that these temperatures were too high.

Start 480°F 30 mins then drop to 400°F until done another 15-30 mins or so. Apply cornstarch glaze and then return to oven until glaze sets, about 3-4 mins.

Glaze:

Ingredient Grams / ½ batch Ounces
Cornstarch or potato starch, 1 tsp 3 / 1.5 0.10
Water, 1 cup 227 / 113.5 8.00

Bring about three-fourths of the water to a boil. Dissolve the starch in the remaining 1/4 of the water water and add it to the boiling water, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens. Brush the hot glaze on the top crust and return the loaf to the oven until the glaze sets, 3-4 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let it sit for at least 24 hours before slicing.

Ideally, there wouldn’t have been any cracks in the baked crust, these are signs that I should have given the dough longer for final proof. I felt it was ready given the number of broken air bubbles on the surface, but apparently it needed more time, maybe 10 mins?

Also I think I could have given the crust another coat of the corn starch glaze after it came out of the oven the second time, just to give it a bit more shine.

My bake spread a bit more than it rose I’d say. That being said, this might be the most enjoyable 100% rye loaf that I have baked yet, the other one I enjoyed was the Danish Rugbord, but that one was most enjoyable because of the high percentage of seeds in it. There are some bitter chocolate notes in the crust, but the soft custard like crumb is the star. There are definitely apple notes there and then a gentle sweetness that belies the small amount of honey that was used. Will I become a lover of 100% rye breads, no I will not. Might I bake this one again, maybe. Anyhow it was a fun bake with some good learning points.



Benny, thanks for this recipe. I’m getting ready to try it. Can you give me details on how you used your Instant Pot for the first step? Did you put the bowl of mixed ingredients into the empty inner pot, or do you need to put water in it? I’ve never used the Keep Warm setting. Thanks!

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Good job Benny :+1:
I love your experiments with whole grains.

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Hi Arlo, I used the Keep Warm Normal setting on the instant pot which maintained a temperature of about 148°F as a water bath. So I placed enough warm after in the instant pot’s pot so that the jar with the scald would be immersed to the level of the contents of the jar, I hope that makes sense.

I hope you enjoy this interesting bread.
Benny

Thank you Altaf, you should give it a try.
Benny

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Thanks, Benny. Your instructions made perfect sense. I did the scald in the IP and am on to the next step!

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Excellent, looking forward to you bake Arlo.

Well, I think somewhere along the line things didn’t go right! I baked it this morning. It had a few cracks and several pinholes although I’m not sure it rose by 50%; probably a bit less. But it’s pretty much a pancake and a brick!

The part of the recipe I had the most trouble with was the Opara 1. If I had known, I would’ve broken up the stiff sponge in little pieces but in the end, the “pancake batter” consistency was full of “lumps” of sponge that would not disperse. I had to push it all through a sieve to get a smooth batter. While weighing out the final dough ingredients, I decided to weigh the Opara 2 and it was about 100g less than what the recipe said it should be (I scaled down the recipe to 72% of the original) so I apparently lost some during that process.

I shaped the dough as you did, on a wet counter with wet hands and it was remarkably easy to shape for a rye bread. I kept it moist during proofing. When baking I forgot that my recipe was smaller than the original so it probably got a bit overdone but I don’t think that was the problem. We’ll see how the crumb is tonight. Either way I’m sure it will taste good.

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Arlo that looks good to me. It is a challenge to get a tall 100% rye loaf without a pan. I’m excited to see your crumb.

Not really a picture-worthy crumb! Very disappointing all in all, quite gummy. I’m not sure if the sweetness I taste is from the honey or the scald process. I’d like to give this bread another chance if I can figure out what I did wrong!

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Arlo, the crumb looks fine to me, remember this is 100% rye, you aren’t going to get an open crumb. The sweetness will be from both the scald and the honey. When you did the scald did you notice how the scent changed from the beginning to end? The sweetness was noticeable.
I think to get even more rise, we’d have to shape as a really narrow tall batard and possibly support it on the sides during final proof.
Overall I’d say you did well and hopefully you enjoy the flavour of this bread.