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Recipes with active rye sourdough starter

4 recipes that use active rye sourdough starter, with photos, step-by-step instructions and cook times. The quickest, Rugbrød, takes 135 minutes. It is most often cooked with linseed, sugar beet syrup or dark golden syrup and sunflower seeds.

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Westphalian pumpernickel

Real pumpernickel comes from Westphalia, where bakers in towns like Soest once left loaves in the cooling bread oven overnight, and it is still sliced paper-thin for breakfast with butter, quark and radishes or with a sharp cheese. There is no colouring and no molasses here: the near-black colour and the malty sweetness come only from cracked rye cooked for many hours in steam at a low heat. The crumb is moist, dense and slightly sticky, and the loaf keeps for over a week wrapped in cloth. A common mistake is slicing it on the day it comes out of the tin; it needs a full day to settle or it tears into gummy crumbs. Chef's tip: wrap the tin tightly in two layers of foil and stand it in a roasting tray of hot water, because a dry loaf turns hard instead of dark and sweet.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Bauernbrot

Bauernbrot, the farmer's loaf, is the everyday bread of village bakeries from the Black Forest to Lower Saxony, carried home in a paper bag every Saturday and eaten all week for Abendbrot, the cold evening meal of bread, cheese and pickles. It mixes rye and wheat roughly half and half, so the crumb is moist and tangy but still springy, under a thick, crackled crust dusted with flour. The flavour deepens over two or three days. A common mistake is baking at too low a heat, which gives a pale, soft crust; the oven should be properly hot at the start. Chef's tip: prove the loaf upside down in a floured basket or bowl lined with a floured cloth, so the top cracks into the classic crazy-paving pattern when you tip it out.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Vollkornbrot

Vollkornbrot is the dense, seedy tin loaf of northern Germany, from Hamburg to Bremen, sliced thin and eaten for breakfast or packed for work in a lunchbox with cheese, cucumber or a smear of quark. It is almost all whole rye: cracked grains, rye meal and a mix of sunflower seeds, linseed and sesame, all soaked overnight so the bread stays moist for a week. There is no shaping and no kneading, which makes it easier than it looks. A common mistake is cutting it warm, which leaves the knife and the slices gummy. Chef's tip: let the loaf cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn it out and wrap it in a tea towel overnight; the crust softens slightly and the crumb sets evenly.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Rugbrød

In Denmark rugbrød is not a speciality but the daily bread: a dark, dense, slightly sour loaf of rye flour, cracked rye kernels and seeds, baked in a tin and sliced thin for every smørrebrød lunch. Bakeries in Aarhus and Copenhagen sell it by the brick, and many households keep a jar of rye sourdough starter in the fridge just for it. The dough is more of a thick porridge than a dough; you spoon it into the tin rather than shape it. It needs patience: a long sour, a long bake and a full day of resting before it is cut. Chef's tip: wait at least 12 hours, ideally 24, before slicing; the crumb is still setting as it cools and cut early it will be gummy.

by KrazyBadal 0 views

Goes well with active rye sourdough starter