Saturday Morning Bread with Spelt and Rye

This is the perfect bread for a lazy Saturday morning. The idea is that you get a little bit done on the Friday, and then on Saturday morning there is minimal effort required, and a very good bread is your reward!

 

This recipe is adapted from 'Bröd för en lördag' (Bread for a Saturday) from the wonderful Pain de Martin. Pain de Martin is perhaps my favourite blog. Written by Martin Johansson - a very modest Swede with a fondness for experimenting with bread. Many of his recipes involve sourdough. Almost all I know about bread and baking is gleaned from Martin's posts. When I first came across his site I had read a lot about sourdough and had a few attempts - some of them successful, others less so. His way of baking demystified the whole 'sourdough' thing, and helped me to begin to bake the kinds of bread I actually wanted to eat.

Unfortunately for me, Martin decided to stop blogging in June of this year, but the site remains as a brilliant resource for those who are interested in bread and can read Swedish.

If you only like light and airy white bread, then don't bother to read on. If, however, you like scandinavian style bread, full of character and flavour, we could be very good friends.....

As usual with adapted recipes I'll give you my ingredients and my description, but I do want to stress that I wouldn't have even been able to dream of adapting a recipe like this without all the tips and advice gained from reading Martin's posts over the past three years!

For the sourdough purists - the original recipe used a bit of fresh yeast in addition to the sourdough starter, as a 'spike' (thanks Zeb Bakes), but I have substituted for fast action yeast with great results.

Saturday Morning Bread with Spelt and Rye - breakfast rolls

Saturday Morning Bread

Recipe adapted from Pain de Martin

Makes 16 rolls, or 8 rolls and one large loaf. 

The recipe is given in three stages, as if you are going to start the process on Friday morning and finish on Saturday morning. Of course, you can start and finish anytime as long as you stick roughly to the timings between stages. 

Friday morning (less than 10 minutes of work):
75 g rye sourdough starter
150 g warm water
90 g rye flour

Stir all the ingredients together in a large bowl, and then leave to stand at room temperature for around 10 hours. You can cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap or with a clean dish towel.

Friday evening (15 minutes of work):
The mixture that has been standing overnight
7 g fast action dried yeast (one packet)
660 g water
400 g wholegrain spelt flour
400 g wholemeal/wholewheat flour
100 g rye flour
30 g salt

Place everything except the salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the dough hook, mix on a low setting for 8 minutes (I used settings 1 and 2 on my Kitchenaid). Let it rest for 5 minutes.

Add the salt and mix for a further 3 minutes at a higher speed (setting 3 or 4 on my Kitchenaid). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean, damp dish towel, and put it in the fridge overnight.

Saturday morning (10 minutes of work followed by 60 minutes rising time and then baking):
Turn out the dough onto a well floured worktop. One of these is very useful. Cut the dough into two equal pieces. Take the first piece and - with well floured hands - stretch it out into a rough rectangle, about 30 cm by 10 cm. Fold it in half along its length so you have a folded 'sausage' of dough 30 cm long. Cut it into 8 roughly equal pieces and place them onto a flat board or rimless baking sheet lined with a well floured piece of baking paper. Place a clean dish towel over the top. If you want 16 rolls, repeat this with the second piece of dough.

If you want to make a large loaf, and, like me, you don't have fancy proving baskets, then place a very well floured dish towel in an ordinary colander. Then pick up the second piece of dough and place it carefully inside. You don't have to shape the dough in any way - rustic is the name of the game. Cover it with another dish towel. There are some photos of the colander method in this post that might help you see what I mean.

Leave the bread to rise for at least 60 minutes. After 30 minutes, turn on the oven at 250°C/480F.  Place a sturdy baking sheet or a baking stone on the middle shelf, and another baking sheet in the base of the oven.

When the 60 minutes is up, it's time to bake the rolls you made with the first piece of dough. You can then eat them for breakfast while the other rolls or the larger loaf bakes. Slide them purposefully off the flat board and onto the hot baking sheet or baking stone.

Once the rolls are in the oven, throw a few ice cubes carefully into the tray at the base of the oven, and then shut the door straight away.

The rolls should be ready after about 15 minutes. A thermometer* is useful here - they are cooked when they reach 94°C inside.

If you have another set of rolls to bake - follow the same method for the rest. If you have made a loaf, turn it carefully out onto a well floured flat board or rimless baking sheet, and then purposefully slide it onto the baking stone or baking sheet in the oven. Again, place a few ice cubes on the lower baking tray to generate a bit of steam. The loaf should take around 25 minutes to bake, but you can open the oven door after the first 10 minutes to let out the steam. Again, the bread should reach 94°C inside*. It will have gained more colour than the rolls because it has been in the oven longer.

Enjoy your breakfast!

*If you don't have a suitable thermometer you could just stick a skewer into the middle of the loaf - if it comes out tacky, the loaf needs longer.

And by the way - if enjoyed this recipe you might want to follow me on twitter.... @breadmilkblog

Saturday Morning Bread with Spelt and Rye - large loaf