Rye Chocolate Cherry Sourdough

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Can you explain the yeasted water? I’m not familiar with that term. Thank you! The bread looks awesome and you have inspired me to try with my Abruzzi Rye flour and starter as well as some sprouted freshly milled red fife bolted.

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Love sourdough buckwheat, and then dried cherries and chocolate, a combo made in heaven. One of my favorite combos is sweet cherries, chocolate and star anise, mind you, I always done this combo with sweet, but I think the star anise would work with savory. I’m going to find out, thanks.

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That looks like a tasty combo Melissa. I wonder what it would taste like making a sandwitch with a nice sharp cheese, say a Cabot cheddar, for that sweet savory cobination that works with cheese and apple pie. Glad to see you are still working with the yeast water.
Stu

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Ditto? What’s yeast water? I’m flummoxed.

Those breads look amazing…love the scoring details.

I believe it is fruits fermented in water…search this website for yeast water and you should get some hits

Yeast water is fermented fruit water. You can make it by using 1 part dried organic raisins or currants to 3 parts dechlorinated room temp water, combine in a glass jar and leave at room temp for 3 or more days, shaking and burping once a day until you see bubbles on the surface, the fruit floats and it smells like port or wine. Once that happens drain out the fruit and use in the recipe or to feed your Starter.

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Do you have a picture of the Yeast Water crumb ? I use my YW all the time to supplement my SD. I use it in several ways . I make a levain with it , I use it in place of liquid and I use it with other levains as a multiple levain. You can tell I love YW !

For those not familiar with YW There are a LOT of topics on it on The Fresh Loaf. you can search on their site to find tons of info. I find it is much easier to start a YW with apples. Get an organic Granny Smith and dice it up. Add it to a pint of filtered water. Keep it at 80 degrees F. YW must be kept warm to flourish. After started to maintain you can keep in the fridge. Will take a week approx. Shake it and then reloosen the lid to release the gasses. Don’t tighten the lid too tight. Do not add any sweetener to this let the natural sugars make the fermentation . Never toss out your YW. Keep it and take an ounce out and add another fruit to it to make different flavors. I have had mine going almost 6 yrs ! You will get a thick layer of white on the bottom of your jar. That is " mother". Never discard. Always shake before removing YW to bake with so you get some mother in it. Feed every 7-10 days. Discard ALL old fruit and start with new . Add water as needed to keep fruit covered . Fruit should always float . If it sinks take it all out and add new. Hope this helps and if you have questions please ask.

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Thank you! I did an Internet search and it’s another tool to naturally leaven bread. We drink kombucha and we second ferment that with fruit to get that carbonation level so now it makes sense! Thanks for your explanation.

This recipe looks awesome. It’s calling to me off the paper.

A question: What is the yeast water proportions?

@schragerorder @didaskalosfarm Let me know if you have additional questions as you go. Elizabeth, your flour combination plan sounds delicious.

@joyceigor and @carolinedonnelly64 Thank you for answering the questions about yeast water. Caroline, in the recipe blog, at the end of the photo gallery, you can see the yeast water bread and crumb.

Also as @amprincess noted, there is a wealth of info in these forums, specifically this thread Fermented fruit water

A lot of it is me picking the brain of @titanpilot2004
Stuart, I’m enjoying baking with yeast water still. Thank you again for all your help! These days, I either feed my water some currants that have no preservatives on them, or an apple.
I think you’re onto something with the sharp cabot cheddar. Sounds good!

@amprincess Thanks - scoring is fun on a lower hydration dough for sure.

@pastryrocks I’m glad to hear the recipe intrigues you. I’m interested in your buckwheat sourdough idea. If you don’t mind me asking - what percentage buckwheat flour vs. regular wheat do you use? (I know i have star anise in my spice collection, but I rarely use it - will have to give it a go.)

@michael4 The yeast water version of the recipe calls for:
270g water (1 cup + 2 Tbsp)
100g yeast water (scant 1/2 cup)
100g sourdough starter

This is a somewhat arbitrary ratio of regular water to yeast water. I was aiming for enough yeast water that if your sourdough starter is very dormant, the yeast water can do all the heavy lifting.

I have made plenty of breads where the only liquid and leaven is yeast water. But I have not explored how little yeast water - as the only leaven - I can get away with. Because yeast water doesn’t have the “use your starter when it doubles or triples” visual cue, you have to rely on smell and bubbling. To me this means if it’s your only leaven, you have to observe the dough and not the clock.

I’ve also observed that the more yeast water I used, the browner the crust. You may want to double check internal temperature when you bake because the look of the bread can be misleading.

I’m happy to answer any additional questions!

As always you are a wealth of great information…thanks
I have one little question though…I have not baked sourdough bread. All my loaves have been baked with just yeast. Can I still make the Chocolate cherry bread with only dry yeast? Or at the least dry yeast and yeast water?

You’re welcome!
You can do:
dry yeast (the amount you normally use)
dry yeast and yeast water (maybe 50% of what you normally use, and the 100g of yeast water)
only yeast water (I suggest reversing the ratio, 270g yeast water, 100g regular water)

There is plenty of room to improvise with the amounts above, as you can play with the bulk fermentation time.

There is some research that suggests sourdough’s acidity gets a better rise out of rye flour, but since there is 50% bread flour in this recipe, I wouldn’t think there would be much of a difference.

I’d love to hear how it goes!

For this type of Dough. What would be better, floured basket or one lined with cloth first?

I floured the basket directly in this recipe, but a well-treated basket liner should be fine too.

That said, everyone’s flour and berries have different thirst, and if you find yourself with a hopelessly sticky dough, you can use parchment paper or even lightly oiled plastic wrap.

I made this recipe recently substituting the dried cherries with candied orange peel, which oozed a lot of stickiness, so I did a plastic wrap liner.

Here are a few photos:
(You can see the imprint of the peeled off plastic wrap in the boule I’m about to score)

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Thank you. one last question. would i be able to do the initial bulk fermentation 3-4 hours and then drop it into the fridge overnight (10-12 hours) to finish up. and if so, can i bake it straight out of the fridge or let it warm up for an hour or so?

If you have a very active starter or high temp environment, then a 3-4 hour bulk fermentation may be enough. At 68F my dough needed about 9 hrs.

Then I did a 2 hour room temp final proof, but overnight in the refrigerator and then straight into the oven is a good option too. You should be prepared to assess the dough in the morning though and if it looks small still, let it sit for more time at room temp (or even more time in the fridge).

Delicious!
Thanks for sharing the recipie :purple_heart:

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I love this recipe just reading it! Sounds like heaven to me! Thank you for your efforts and time in sharing it with us! I do have a question. i have a cherry tree. I only freeze or can cherries. Can I substitute frozen cherries and if so must i lower the liquids to compensate for all the juices? Thanks so much!