Bread-Baking Stone

As my bread tends to break open at the bottom, I asked some people for advice and the thought, I'd have better results with a "Baking-Stone". You can get them in Germany for a lot of money... and here you can get similar stones... they sell them as "Pizza-Stones".
This stones guarantee, that the heat stays solid, when the bread gets "shoot" in, so the dough gets firm before it can break open. The Pizza-Stones, so I got told, are to thin. They won't hold the heat very long... They are also too small for my two loafes that I mostly bake. The "Sauerteig-Forum" said, Fire-Bricks and Granite are the best choice: between 2 and 3 cm thick and as big as you need for your oven.
Well... I went into a tile shop and got a granite-tile. It is only 1 cm thick and 305x305mm square. BUT: it did the job:

Its only the natural stone, nothing added.
I baked yesterday with it and it worked just fine:
You put it on the lowest rack for enough "underheat". When the oven has the temperature you want, the stone STARTS to heat up for THAT temperature, so you need to keep it for at least another 30 minutes longer at... in my case... 250°C. BUT: you can turn the oven off 10 or 15 minutes before your baking time is finished: the heat of the stone will finish it.
If you have a thicker granite, you have to heat it up for a whole hour, but also can turn the oven off after 20 minutes or so. At least thats what they say. Best is always to try for yourself.
I got told, it is ok to spray cold water on the stone, when you shoot the bread in (which I did), but you shouldnt take it out and put it into cold water or expose it to other fast temperature changes. Than it might crack. Just let it cool down IN the oven, with the oven.

Rye-Wheat Mix 60/40 (Roggenmischbrot)

Today and yesterday we ate my latest one: Rye-Wheat mix (60/40). The recipe is called 2 Pfünder Roggenmischbrot 60/40 (freigeschoben) RST by Steinbacher of the Sauerteig-Forum.
Of the bread that I have baked up to now, this one tastes most like the German "everyday" bread that I liked... and missed :) .. and now don't miss anymore because I've got it! HA!
But before I give you the recipe some information about flours

In Germany ryebread is hardly ever mady of what is called here "wholemeal". German flours are divided into several "grades" of "strongness". in the case of
rye
it starts with 1.800, which would be a wholemeal than
1370, a bit lighter .... 1150, again lighter 997 815 and than, for "white" coloured rye-mix breads 610.

Wheat is the same:
starts with 2000 which would be "kibbled"
than 1700, 1200, 1050, for dark mixed breads and further "milled out":
812, 630, 550 for baking cakes, 405 for cookies and delicate baking.

The normal Aussieflour you get at the supermarkets are somewhere between 405 and 550... and as such not really a good choice for bread. And than you get wholemeal. A big jump. And as for rye flour: you only get wholemeal at most places.
In fact I only found one place where I can get rye flour between wholemeal and the really outmilled light stuff with not many nutrients in it anymore. It's online though ("Basic Ingredients") and you pay for the postage :(

Most recipes I have from Germany are baked with the  wheat and rye flours around type 1050.

The difference between wholemeal and type 1050 is recognisable in the use of water, colour, taste and baking (rising) of the bread.

So back to my Roggenmischbrot:
I thought, maybe I can get a similar result, when - for the type 1050 part in the recipe - I mix the Aussie cake-flour with the wholemeal flour.
But that resulted in a much softer, stickier dough and I used much less water than in the recipe. The dough was almost not workable... but the result tasted great! Next time I might let the breadmachine do the kneading for me.

So here the recipe:

400 g rye sourdough
220 g rye wholemeal
140 g wheat wholemeal
140 g wheat baking meal
15 g salt
280 g water
I also seasoned it with 1/2 tsp ground coriander and 1/2 tsp ground cardamon this time.

I made the sourdough like always with the 3-stage method.

Mix all ingredients, and knead for 5 minutes... than rest for 20-30 min, shape it round, rest 5-10 min for the dough to relax the tension, than form into long shape and put with "rough side" up into the banneton.
Rest until almost doubled (slightly "under-risen")
Heat oven up to 250°C
overturn bread from banneton onto hot baking sheet.
bake until wanted colour is done and than turn back to 200-180°C.
The recipe as above takes about 60 min all in all.

This is the "nicer" side of it.
Because of the very soft and sticky dough I also floured the banneton extremely well as you might see.
The bread tore open at the bottom of one side. In the German sourdough forum "der Sauerteig" they told me that this can have several reasons: to much under-risen, not enough kneading, not enough steaming, not enough under-heat in the oven.

well, in my case: I didn't steam at all this time and told you already about my kneading problems... so I think that is, what it was... I think, the big wholes in the "Krume", the crumb (???) also speak for not enough kneading.

But apart from some bigger wholes, the crumb was just nice and the bread really tasted very nice. I will make it soon again, but this time let the bread machine do the kneading for me and might not do that mixing with more cake flour than in the recipe... I also am hoping to find wheat bread flour of the right type in an Italian Foodmarket in Werribee today :)  That would be perfect. "Basic Ingredients" seem to have something similar, but I rather don't have it sent all the way from Queensland. Yes, I am a bit a "greeny" and Werribee means less polution... and cheaper price.

Marlas Spring-Sun

Marla's Frühlings-Sonne

The BEST one up to now... on the picture: the (wheat) sourdough sponge, a (wheat) pre-dough, soaked sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, lineseeds and 5-grain flakes... the rye-wheat mix for the bread and the water that is waiting to get added with some honey and oil.
As I only have got one banneton, my salad bowl had to do for the rising before baking:

And here I proudly present:

The twins :)  

And here the recipe:

Marlas Spring Sun (with wheat Sourdough 50:50)

Sourdough:
Risingtime about 16-18 hrs  30°C falling to 25°C
150 g wheat wholemeal
150 g water (about 35°C, but not warmer than 40!)
15 g wheat starter (rye is also possible, but wheat is milder for this recipe)

Predough:
Rising: about 12 hrs at 18-20°C
100 g wheat wholemeal or wholemeal-bakingmeal mix
80 g water 1 pinch yeast (0,5 g)

Soaking Part:
let soak for at least 3 hrs or over night in fridge. Don't forget to bring to room temperature, when you make the bread dough!
60 g rye malt flakes. As I could not find them anywhere I took "Oncle Toby's Oats Multigrain"
50 g sunflowerseeds
25 g line seeds
25 g sesame seeds
11 g salt
200 g water


Bread dough
Sourdough sponge
Pre Dough
Soaking part (at roomtemperature!)
65 g wheat wholemeal or mix
255 g rye wholemeal or mix
15 g malt sirup or honey
10 g Oil (I took Macademia Oil)
about 50-70 g water (lukewarm)
5 g yeast (I added about 2,5)

Knead all ingredients slowly for about 6 min.  Let dough rest for 20-30 min. It should not rise in this time, just relax. - Knead briefly, form though, moisten it lightly and roll in sesame-line-seed mix. If you want it to break up rustically on top, put it with the "Schluss" downwards into a rising-container.
Let rise for about 60 min at about 27°C. Without yeast as long as needed (might be a bit longer)
Meanwhile:
Preheat oven to 250°C,
When bread dough is slightly "under-risen",

bake, temperature gradually falling to 200°C .
Baking time all in all: about 60 min

Create durable "dry starter"

To conserve a starter and have a save backup, you can dry some of your sponge.  (before you mix it with salt or anything else than flour and water). That is very easy: just spread it very thinly onto a sheet of baking paper  and  leave it alone for a day or two until it is absolutely dry. DON'T dry it in the oven: it will get too hot and the yeast-organisms die. This is, how my "rye-dry" backup looked when it was dry:

and after breaking it into small peaces:

put that into a airtight jar at a dark, dry place and you can keep it for years.

"Marlas Bauernbrot" ("Farmers Bread")

The original recipe:  Marla's Bauernbrot (TA 170)
Monday is baking-day and so I started my next project. A friend of mine asked me for some sourdough, and I made heaps of sourdough this time.... also because I wanted to dry some for long-term-keeping. You can keep a proper dried "Full-Sour" for longer than a year in a glass jar at a dark place in the cupboard. No cooling required. But more about that later. And here my Bauernbrot:

I took the smallest possible amount of water, but should have taken more as the dough was easier to handle than I thought. After 2 hours it looked like that:

You can see, that it rose better at the left side in the picture! That is, because my heating mat is placed at the left of the "fermenting-box"...now I wonder if I should place it right unterneath the bread...
And here the finished result:

It tasted GREAT, had a wonderful crispy crust, but is a bit dry. More water for sure next time along.

And here is the recipe, that I halfed for my small loaf:

Marla's Bauernbrot 


Pre-Sponge:
110 g wheat wholemeal
100 g lukewarm water
0,5 g active dry yeast... that is about a pinch... or the tip of a knife. I didn't activate it.
12-16 hrs at about 20°C-22°C
or 2 hrs at 20-22°C and 18 hrs in the fridge.
For my loaf I choose the whole time 20-22°C
The pre-sponge enhances the taste and propertys of the bread.

Sourdough
250 g rye wholemeal
250 g water
13-50 g ASG  (Starter)
Feeding to your preference..
If you like one-stage guidances:
either 15-18 hrs at 26°C   or 33°C falling to about 23°C
I did a three stage "feeding" or "guidance"

Dough
Sourdough
Predough
300 g rye wholemeal
115 g wheat wholemeal
between 200 and 175 g lukewarm water. I took the 175 g and the dough was rather dry and easy to handle. Next time, as I mentioned above, I will take more water.
15 g salt
optional 2,5 g yeast... which I didn't use at all because the pre dough gives the dough enough power to rise well.

Mix everything together and knead about 4-6 minutes. NOT LONGER. Let go for 30 min. In this time it should not rise, just "relax". Than briefly knead, form round or long and put into banneton (well floured).
Let rise for another about 60min with yeast and without yeast accordingly longer (in my case: 2 hrs at 26°C)

Put into a 250°C hot oven until as brown as you like it (about 15-20 min) than finish at 180°C. (All in all baking time about 60 min... for half the recipe I baked it about 50 mins.

Enjoy!