Daring Bakers Challenge 2011-Sour dough

December 2011 Daring Bakers Challenge was hosted by Jessica from My recipe project. 
Challenge was to make our own sour dough and let nature do the work. 
Jessica provided us with three different recipes and I chose to make Russian rye bread. I never before tried to make bread using sour dough. I must say that it isn t all that hard. You don t have much work with it, it just takes some time and patience and the result is more than satisfying. The thing I liked the most about this challenge is that everyone decided to name their sour dough. I decided to name mine Zoran. For all of my readers who live in Croatia I guess you know my reasons. The explanation for the rest of the world; here in Croatia, where I live, We had elections at the beginning of this month. Name of our new prime minister is... yeah you guessed it, it is Zoran. I know it sounds like black humor but it is really popular name in Croatia this days.


RECIPE:

RYE STARTER DAY 1:

Ingredients:

25 g rye flour
60 ml water

Directions:

In a Tupperware or plastic container, mix the flour and water into a paste.Set the lid on top gently, cover with a plastic bag, to prevent messes in case it grows more than expected!
Set somewhere warm (around 30°C if possible). I sometimes put mine on a windowsill near a radiator, but even if it’s not that warm, you’ll still get a starter going – it might just take longer. It should be a very sloppy, runny dough, which will bubble and grow as it ferments. 

RYE STARTER DAY 2:

Ingredients:

25 g rye flour
60 ml  water 

110 ml starter from Day 1

Directions:

Stir the flour and water into the mixture from Day 1, cover, and return to its warm place.

RYE STARTER DAY 3:

Ingredients:

25 g rye flour
60 ml  water
220 ml  starter from Day 2

Directions:

Stir the flour and water into the mixture from Day 2, cover, and return to its warm place. If you notice it has a grey liquid on top, just stir this back in and continue as normal.

RYE STARTER DAY 4:

 

Ingredients:

25 g rye flour
60 ml water
330 ml  starter from Day 3

Directions:

Stir the flour and water into the mixture from Day 3, cover, and return to its warm place. At this point it should be bubbling and smell yeasty. If not, repeat this process for a further day or so until it is!

PRODUCTION SOUR DOUGH:

Ingredients:

50 g rye leaven (starter)
150 g rye flour
300 ml water

Directions:

Mix everything into a sloppy dough. Cover and set aside for 12-24 hours, until bubbling. Set aside the remaining starter for further loaves.

FINAL DOUGH:

Ingredients:

480 ml production sourdough (this should leave some ½ cup to become your next loaf of bread

330 g rye flour
5 g sea salt
200 ml water

Directions:

 Mix all the ingredients together to form a soft dough. With wet hands, scoop the dough up and put it in a well-greased loaf tin.Put the tin inside a large plastic bag, blow it up, and seal it. This should make a good little dome for your bread to proof inside. Set aside somewhere room temperature to warm.The dough should be ready to bake with in anywhere between 2-8 hours, depending on how warm it is. I proof mine by a sunny window in about 4 hours. If the dough was halfway up the tin when you started, it will be ready when it reaches the top (i.e. almost doubles in size).Preheat the oven to very hot 240°C. For a large loaf, bake for 50-60 minutes, reducing the temperature to moderately 200°C after about 10-15 minutes. If baking in small loaf tins, bake for 35-45 minutes, reducing the temperature after 10 minutes. If you are unsure about whether it is done, give it a few minutes longer – it is a very wet dough, so the extra time won’t hurt.Leave to cool on a cooling rack, and rest the loaf for a day before eating it.

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