BAKERY RAYMOND BLANC’s SEASONS
Sourdough
bread with rye
Recipe by Dan Degustibus
The starter dough
Sourdough bread is not an ‘instant’ bread.
It needs some preparation. Germans are
very particular about rye breads. Only loaves
with over 95% rye qualify to being called a
rye bread. Any other are mixed grain breads,
to cut a long story short. The loaf this recipe
produces is about 50 per cent rye. It is easier
to work with because a 100 per cent rye is
quite difficult to handle and feels like wrestling
with porridge when mixing.
For the starter dough (prepare
2 days in advance)
“Bread in France is much more than the baguette. The last
50g rye flour mix
person who made the mistake of underestimating the need
50ml warm water, about 35°C
for bread in France lost her head. Discretion being the better
Let it stand, covered with cling film and a tea
towel in a not too cool spot for two days.
part of valor I will remain tight lipped on the subject, except
to say that it needs to accompany every dish, course and
Mix it with
75g rye flour
meal and everything in between.” — Raymond Blanc
75ml warm water
Let it stand, covered with cling film and a tea
(“De gustibus non est disputandum” – there’s no slows the process down and, by slowing down, towel in a not too cool spot for two days.
disputing flavour), and it’s not always practicable improves the flavour.
to wait for the twenty-four hours (or longer) The third T, texture, comes down to the critical To finish
for the sourdough to rise or prove. So, the measurement of all the ingredients. Measuring 100g rye flour
recommendation is to add a small amount of the ingredients is essential for consistently good 100ml warm water
dried yeast but, with caution, as we don’t want results—no room here for a handful of this and Let it stand once more, covered with cling
the dough to prove too quickly because the full a pinch of that (well, perhaps if you ever achieve film and a tea towel in a not too cool spot for
flavour won’t develop. And here the temperature a master baker’s level of expertise, you can). As two days. It should smell sour, pleasantly, not
governs the proving process — not always in that our tutor points out, knowing how the dough vinegary.
cosy warm airing cupboard you’ve read about, should ‘feel’ is something only experience will
sometimes dough even goes into the fridge! This teach you. And so we begin to knead our dough You may aid your sourdough by adding 50g live
yoghurt in the first mix. You now have 450g of
sourdough and may want to keep 100g of it as
a starter. Store it in the fridge and feed it every
two days or so. Bring it to room temperature
before using it.
Grateful thanks to Henry Pelham
(who attended the course) for providing
the images on pages 6 and 8.
with all the professional action we can muster
— “scrape out the bowl,” comments Dan, “that’s
the baker’s profit!”
Then, with dough proved, gently degassed or
“knocked back”, shaped and left to prove a final
time on the worktop surface, we simply upturn
70 RAYMOND BLANC’s SEASONS www.raymondblanc.com
RBS10_CookeryS 65-68.vp.kj.indd 70 1/12/08 9:19:57 am
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