Martadella's blog

I roasted 100g of each rye, barley and soft wheat. Final weight after roasting was 262g

First project is homemade Polish style small beer (podpiwek)

Podpiwek recipe:

80g roasted grain, coarsely ground

20g any dark barley malt, crushed 

200g sugar

20ml lemon juice

Optionally, small handful of hops and/or orange peel

10-15 untreated raisins 

¼-½ teaspoon dry yeast

1 gallon of water

Bring water to a boil, add grains, malt, sugar, lemon juice and orange peel,  boil slowly 15 min. Take of heat, add hops if desired, steep 15 minutes. Strain to a large pot, let cool to room temperature, add raisins, pitch yeast, wait until yeast activates, cover and let ferment in pot at room temperature about 1-3 days, until fermentations slows down and taste gained some nice acidic notes. At this point bottle and refrigerate until cold and carbonated.

Be careful, it can explode bottles!

It may be fermented using only raisins, but right now my kitchen is too cold. Sometimes I add bits and pieces of old rye bread (toasting them rather aggressively before) to this brew,  as well. 

Here are the spent grains. They will be used in bread

20220223_112317.jpg

Day before, afternoon:

2 cups whole grain rye flour, 1 teaspoon of rye starter from the fridge, enough water to form a ball of dough; cover and leave to ferment in a lukewarm spot 

Baking day, late morning:

All preferment,  2 cups whole wheat flour,  2 cups whole rye flour,  enough water to form very soft dough, salt to taste (around 2-2½ teaspoons), favorite seeds (flax, etc.)

Let ferment until nicely expanded 

Place in prepared pan, let fully

20220222_100520.jpg

Bake covered with another pan in descending temperature 475/425/390°F, about 1 hour 

I liked the simplicity of the recipe: https://forgottencookery.wordpress.com/2018/09/04/frisian-rye-bread/

I made my own coarse rye meal by pulsing rye grains in the blender. The result was very uneven, with a whole spectrum from almost intact grains to dusty flour. I didn't have any syrup, so I substituted honey. I soaked the mixture about 4 hours in a nice warm spot. Then I cooked overnight (probably around 10 hours) at 230°F, with a pan of hot water under the bread pans.

Texture and color are beautiful. Taste is ok, but requires some tweaking. I would like it to be more malty

20220216_084044.jpg

20220216_084117.jpg

20220216_084027.jpg

Very simple and tastes great

1644585910165.jpg

Dry:

1 cup wholegrain rye flour

1 cup semolina

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1 teaspoon ginger powder 

2 teaspoons baking powder

Pinch of salt

Wet:

⅔ cup orange juice

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon orange extract 

½ cup apple sauce 

½ cup almond butter

Add-ons:

Dried fruit (cranberries,  raisins etc.) Diced, if necessary, up to ¾ cup

Nuts, chopped, up to ¾ cup

20220210_154144.jpg

20220210_154305.jpg

Made with lots of altus,  rye starter,  leftover coffee from breakfast, coarse whole wheat flour,  sesame and sunflower

Based on recipe from The Rye Baker

20210410_075718.jpg

20210410_075618.jpg

20220205_182142.jpg

3 cups whole wheat flour (I used local flour from a feed mill; it's relatively coarse, with big flakes of bran)

3 cups all purpose flour 

3 cups of cold tap water

1 tablespoon of salt

¼ teaspoon of dry yeast 

1 teaspoon of diastatic malt

Afternoon before baking mix the ingredients  into a lumpy dough. Keep it covered at room temperature and give it a little stretch and fold now and then. No need to do it at any regular intervals. When the dough feels nice and springy and it formed a smooth ball leave it to expand a little and then refrigerate overnight

In the morning toss on the board, form a loaf, place in a basket,  let proof and then bake in preheated clay pot

20220205_103511.jpg

20220205_182235.jpg

500ml lukewarm water 

~1/4 cup homemade caramel color *

260g dark rye flour 

300g bread flour

300g all purpose flour 

9g dry yeast

5g onion powder

3g ground caraway seeds 

18g salt

30g granulated sugar

*burn 2 heaped tablespoons od granulated sugar in a small saucepan until golden brown. Remove from heat. Be careful, it's hot like lava! Let cool then add ¼ cup boiling water and wait until everything dissolves. It will look like dark beer

In the bowl of a stand mixer add water with sugar and caramel color, add yeast and let foam. Add the rest of ingredients and work 5 minutes on lowest setting using the hook attachment. Wait 10 minutes and run the mixer again for 5-7 minutes. Adjust water or flour if necessary. The dough should leave the sides and bottom of mixing bowl, but it will remain slightly tacky to touch. Form a neat ball, cover and let rise in a lukewarm spot, 45-60 minutes. 

Toss on a board, divide in 12-16 pieces, form into neat, tight balls. Cover, let rest 10 minutes. Make bagels. Cover, let rest 15-20 minutes. Meanwhile prepare a large pot of gently boiling water, add 2-3 tablespoons of sugar and 1 teaspoon of malt. When the bagels look nice and puffy, boil them, 2-4 at a time, 1-2 minutes on each side. Fish them out with a slotted spoon, cover in seeds and place on prepared pans. Bake in the oven preheated to 425°F, 20-30 minutes or until golden brown

20220203_142034.jpg

20220203_143137.jpg

Here is my quasi recipe for this bread

Stage 1, scald 

In a 6oz mason jar I scald 3 rounded tablespoons of whole rye flour with some boiling water, mix it into sticky mass, add 1 teaspoon of white rye malt, mix well, cover and let stand in a warm place for about 2-3 hours 

Stage 2, kvas (liquid preferment)

At this point the scald should be nice and sweet and of quite loose consistency.  I place it in my bread bowl that has dried leftover dough on the walls and bottom. I add about 700ml of lukewarm water and mix well. I leave it to ferment in a lukewarm spot (for example oven with the light bulb on) 

After a couple of hours there should be visible signs of fermentation:  bubbles going up, slight foaming on the surface etc. This stage should go on until the kvas tastes pleasantly acidic. It may take anywhere between 24-48 hours 

Stage 3, opara (preferment)

Now I add enough whole rye flour to obtain pancake batter consistency. I leave the bowl in a lukewarm spot until everything goes up and then falls back down. The opara should have a pleasant, acidic smell and taste. This stage could take 7-12 hours

Stage 3, dough

I add 4 teaspoons of sugar, a scant tablespoon of salt and enough whole rye flour to get a soft, but not too wet consistency. I work the dough with my fists for a couple of minutes until I'm happy with it (if you grab the dough in your hands it should be able to stay there and not flow down, it should somewhat keep its shape when you hold it) Now I smooth the ball of dough with a wet silicone spatula and let it ferment in a lukewarm  spot until expanded and shows small cracks and broken bubbles on the surface. It can take 50-90 minutes. Now I roughly divide the dough with my fingers,  form loaves in the air and place them in prepared pans. I smooth the surface with a spatula,  trying to push the dough down and shape a nice dome on the top. Cover with a moist towel and let rise until expanded and broken bubbles start to show. It goes really quickly at this point,  30-50 minutes

Baking

I make a glaze using leftover dough thinned with water and brush the loaves. I dock the surface with a chopstick. Bake in preaheated oven 10 minutes at 475°F, 20 min at 425°F and 20 at 390°F or until brown on the top and sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom.  5 minutes before the end of baking I glaze the tops again. Right after taking from the oven I spray with some water

Let cool completely before slicing