Tag: Rye Flour

Using Dried Sourdough

On a recent visit to my local Polish shop I came across packets of dried sour dough.

I had never seen these before and bought a couple to try them out.

There was a recipe printed on the back of the packet and this is what I used.

20210327_165804

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • I have noticed many Dr. Oetker products in Poland and in England.
  • I thought the company name was made up but have found this is not so.
  • Doctor August Oetker was a German chemist and was one of the people who invented baking powder.
  • He started a company in 1891 and the first product sold was Bakin, which was a measured amount of baking powder to be added to 500g of plain flour when making a cake. 
  • His family still run what is now a multi-national company.

Ingredients

  • 150g rye flour
  • 350g strong flour
  • 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar
  • 1½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 packet of dried sourdough
  • 1 tablespoon of dried yeast
  • 400ml of lukewarm water (approx)
  • *
  • 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil
  • 2 tablespoons of seeds eg – sesame, linseed, caraway
  • *
  • 1 teaspoon of sesame or caraway seed
  • 1 teaspoon of plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon of water

Method

  • In a large bowl mix the rye flour, strong flour, sugar, dried sour dough and the yeast.
  • Slowly add the water to get a soft dough that you can knead.
  • Knead dough for 10 minutes, set a timer.
  • Cover the dough – a shower cap is good – and leave in a warm place to rise.
  • This could be for an hour or more.
  • *
  • Line a long Continental style loaf tin – approx 10 by 30cm.
  • Use a single sheet and push the paper into the corners.
  • *
  • Add the oil and seeds to the risen dough and mix well in.
  • Knead to a smooth dough for 10 minutes.
  • *
  • Push the dough into the tin and smooth flat.
  • Brush the top with water, seeds and flour.
  • Cut slashes with a knife in the top.
  • Cover and leave for an hour or more to rise.
  • *
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM7 – 220°C.
  • Bake for 15 minutes.
  • Lower the temperature to GM5 – 190°C.
  • Bake for 30 minutes.
  • Leave to cool in the tin.

 

Flour in Poland

  • If you go into a Polish shop you will often find a huge assortment of flours:
  • Mąka żytnia – rye flour
  • Mąka orkiszowa – spelt flour
  • Mąka gryczana – buckwheat flour
  • Mąka ziemniaczna or mąka kartoflana or skrobia – potato flour
  • Mąka pszenna – wheat flour
  • Mąka kukurydziana – cornmeal – maize flour
  • Mąka razowa  – wholemeal flour
  • Mąka Grahama – wholewheat flour
  • Pelne ziarno – whole grain

Rye Flour – Wholemeal Wheat Flour – Wheat Flour

Some of my recipes baked with different grains

Wheat Flour

  • There is no self raising flour in Poland – Polish cooks add baking powder, which is often sold in little sachets, to flour as a rising agent.
  • *
  • Polish food regulations require the use of a numerical system expressed as typ.
  • Typ is expressed as grams of ash per 100 kg of flour.
  • Typ is calculated as the amount of ash that remains after the complete burning of the dry mass in a sample of the product at a specified temperature.
  • For example – typ 500 means that in every 100 kg of flour there is around 500g of ash.
  • The higher the typ number the higher the gluten content of the wheat.

Popular Wheat Flours

  • Mąka tortowa – this is a fine cake flour – typ 450 – excellent for buns, cakes and tort (gateaux or layer cake).
  • Mąka krupczatka – this is a coarse ground flour – typ 450- 500 – excellent for shortcrust type pastry and crumbles.
  • Mąka poznańska – typ 500 – excellent for noodles,  pierogi and a sauce thickener.
  • Mąka wrocławska –  typ 500 – excellent for pancakes and yeast cakes.
  • Mąka luksusowa –  typ 550 – excellent for yeast cakes  – similar to American all-purpose flour and English plain flour.

  • Mąka uniwersalna – typ 480 – all-purpose wheat flour

In the past in Poland to be called chleb – bread had to contain rye, either on its own  or mixed with wheat or other flours.

White bread rolls – bułeczki – would be made with mąka luksusowa –  typ 550.

Nowadays you can find the kind of flour best for English style wheat bread – a strong flour – Mąka chlebowa  – typ 750 – but I have not used any of these yet.

Some of my recipes baked with various wheat flours

I have found that using the specified flour really does make all the difference.

Poolish Rye Bread

I recently posted about a wheat bread I made using the Poolish method.

As this was such success I thought I would try out a Poolish recipe this time using rye flour.

There are lots of steps and it takes most of the day, so it is best made when you are at home with other things to do in between.

A Poolish is a pre-ferment usually combing equal parts of flour and water (by weight) with some yeast.

This recipe is adapted from Bake it Better  – Bread – edited by Linda Collister, Hodder & Stoughton, 2015.

Ingredients – Poolish

  • 250g rye flour
  • 150g strong flour
  • 15g fresh yeast (7g dried)
  • 300ml  lukewarm water
  • 1/4 teaspoon of sugar

Method – Poolish

  • Mix the yeast, water and sugar in a jug
  • Leave for about 5 minutes.
  • Make a well and pour in the yeast mixture.
  • Bring it all together to make a thick lump free mixture.
  • Cover the bowl (a shower cap is good)
  • Leave at room temperature to rise for about 4 hours.

Ingredients – Dough

  • Poolish
  • 200g rye flour
  • 100g strong flour
  • 125ml lukewarm water
  • 2 teaspoons of caraway seeds
  • ½ tablespoon of salt
  • *
  • Milk to brush loaves
  • Extra caraway seeds for sprinkling on loaves

Method – Dough

  • To the Poolish add the water and mix to make a smooth batter.
  • Mix the flours and the salt.
  • Add the flour and salt to the Poolish  and mix.
  • You will have a soft and heavy, sticky dough.
  • Leave uncovered to rest for 5 minutes.
  • *
  • Add a little water if it feels too stiff.
  • Turn out onto a lightly floured board.
  • Knead the dough for 10 minutes (set a timer).
  • *
  • Put back into a large bowl and cover (a shower cap is good).
  • Leave to rest and rise for 1 hour.
  • *
  • Knock back the dough.
  • Roll into a ball.
  • Cover and leave for 1 hour.
  • *
  • Turn out onto a lightly floured board.
  • Knead a couple of times.
  • Divide into two.
  • Shape each piece into a ball.
  • Cover loosely with a dry tea towel and leave for 10 minutes.
  • *
  • Line a baking sheet with grease proof paper.
  • Knead and fold and shape each ball into an oval.
  • Place the two pieces on the baking sheet.
  • Cover loosely and leave to prove for 1 hour.
  • *
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM7 220°C
  • Put a roasting tin at the bottom of the oven to heat up.
  • *
  • Cut 3 slashes in the top of each loaf.
  • Brush lightly with milk or water.
  • Sprinkle with caraway seeds.
  • Put the loaves in the oven.
  • Quickly pour a glass of water into the roasting tin (the steam helps to give a good crust).
  • Close the door and bake for around 10 minutes.
  • Reduce to GM6 2O0°C  and continue baking for 25 minutes
  • Leave to cool on a wire cake rack.

No Knead Sourdough Rye Bread

This recipe is taken from Tomek Lach.  He has many extremely good videos on YouTube – they are however in Polish.  His videos include ones on yeast, sourdough, bread and pizzas.

I have tried out several recipes and tips.

This recipe is so easy as there is no need to knead – you just need time and patience. It can take up to three days.

You need to have some – zakwas – sourdough starter.

To make this you put 50g of rye flour and 50ml of water into a large glass preserving jar on day 1 and stir, cover and leave for 24 hours. On days 2, 3, and 4 you repeat this. On Day 5 it is ready to use or you can keep it in the fridge – topping up once a week with a couple of spoons of flour and water.

Ingredients – Day One

  • 2-3 tablespoons of zakwas – sourdough starter.
  • 150g of rye flour
  • 150ml of water

Method – Day One

  • Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl.
  • Cover with a shower cap.
  • Leave for 12 hours minimum (overnight is good)

Ingredients – Day Two

  • The mixture from day one
  • 200g of rye flour
  • 200g of strong white flour
  • 200ml of water
  • 1 + 1/2 teaspoons of salt

Method – Day Two

  • Mix all the ingredients into a thick paste.
  • Get a large loaf tin (often called a 2lb tin).
  • Use one rectangle of grease-proof paper to line the tin.
  • Spoon all the mixture into the tin and smooth the top.
  • Cover again with the shower cap and leave for at least 5 hours – I have found that overnight is good here again.
  • Put the tin into the cold oven.
  • Put the oven on to GM7 –  220°C.
  • Bake for 50 minutes.
  • Take out and leave for at least 30 minutes before cutting into the loaf as it is still baking.

Variations

  • Adjust the types of flour – maybe use a light rye if you used a dark one before.
  • Add 2 tablespoons of seeds into the dough mixture – such as caraway, pumpkin or sunflower.
  • Add seeds to the top of the loaf.

Note

The bread keeps for several days and is good toasted or you can slice it up and freeze it.

Rye Scones

This recipe is a cross between an English scone and soda bread.

I used this recipe with spelt flour and it was a huge success.

I now tried it out with rye flour using equal amounts of rye to plain flour.

In Poland you might call these babeczki – little buns or bułeczki – little bread buns.

Ingredients

  • 125g rye flour
  • 125g plain flour
  • 1 tablespoon of baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon of salt
  • 30g of demerara or granulated sugar  & 1/2 tablespoon
  • 80g of sultanas or raisins
  • 65g butter – chilled and diced
  • 2 tablespoons of yoghurt & milk to make 125ml
  • 1 egg

Method

  • Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
  • Preheat the oven to GM7 – 220°C.
  • Mix the flours, baking powder and salt together.
  • Add the butter and mix in with the flour to make breadcrumbs.
  • Add the 30g of sugar.
  • Add the sultanas or raisins.
  • Lightly mix the egg into the yoghurt/milk mixture.
  • Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the egg mixture.
  • With a knife work the mixture together to make a damp rough ball.
  • Turn the ball of dough on the the baking sheet.
  • Form into a flattened disc around 20cm in diameter.
  • Sprinkle with the 1/2 tablespoon of sugar.
  • Deeply score the disc into eight sections.
  • Bake for 15 – 20 minutes until golden and firm.

They tastes delicious freshly baked with butter & the next day slightly warmed or toasted.

Served on Elizabethan Carnaby from the 1960s.

Variations

These were so delicious I made them again but instead of sultanas used –

  • 80g chopped dried apricots

 

 

 

 

Or

  • 80g dried cranberries

 

 

 

 

 

All versions are super!

 

Rye Bread 2

Recently I found my local Polish shop sold fresh yeast in small blocks, so I have been trying out lots of yeast buns and bread recipes.

This is one for Polish Rye Bread based on a recipe in the following book, which is easy to make and the bread is super.

 

 

Ingredients

  • 225g rye flour
  • 225g strong flour
  • 1 tablespoon of caraway seeds
  • 2 teaspoons of salt
  • 20g of fresh yeast (or 10g of dried)
  • 140ml of lukewarm milk
  • 1 teaspoon of honey
  • 140ml of lukewarm water

Method

  • In a jug mix the milk, yeast and honey.
  • In a large bowl mix the flour, caraway seeds and salt.
  • Make a well in the centre of the flour.
  • Pour the yeast mixture into the well.
  • Add the water and slowly mix the flour and liquid together until a dough forms.
  • Turn the dough into a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes (set a timer!).
  • Place the dough into a bowl and cover (a shower cap is good for this).
  • Leave until this has doubled in size (around 3 hours if warm).
  • Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and lightly knock back.
  • Shape into an oval loaf.
  • Grease a baking tray.
  • Place the loaf onto the baking tray.
  • Dust with some rye flour.
  • Cover and leave to rise until doubled in size (around 90 minutes if warm).
  • *
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM7  – 220°C
  • *
  • Use a sharp knife to make 2 long cuts in the top of the loaf.
  • Bake for 30-35 minutes.
  • Leave to cool before cutting.

 

Pierniczki

Piernik is Polish honey spice cake – pierniczki are little honey spice cakes

My Polish friend in Leeds was in Poland in November and bought some new bombki *(Christmas Tree ornaments).  These have wycinanki – Polish paper-cut designs(folk art popular since the mid 1800s) as their inspiration.

*Bombki – Glass baubles – in the past these were often blown eggs decorated with glitter. There are also many straw decorations – angels or stars.

Glass baubles originated in Germany in the 19th century  but they were soon being made in Poland with their large glass blowing industry.  Many are made in small family run workshops, some now specialise in individual and unusual designs.

She has included these and some angels in decorating a window in a chapel in Lancashire.

 

 

She also sent me a recipe for pierniczki – made with wheat and rye flour.

I tried them out – yummy – easy to make & cut out!

Ingredients

  • 100g butter
  • 100g runny honey
  • 300g plain flour
  • 100g rye flour
  • 130g icing sugar
  • 1 tablespoon of mixed spice (or 1 teaspoon each of ground cinnamon, cloves & cardamon)
  • 1 tablespoon of cocoa
  • 1 teaspoon of baking soda
  • 2 large eggs – beaten
  • Icing made with water or lemon juice to decorate

Method

  • Put the butter and honey into a small saucepan and heat gently to melt.
  • Leave to cool.
  • Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
  • Add the beaten eggs and the butter & honey mixture.
  • Mix together to make a soft dough.
  • The dough will be slightly sticky – do not add extra flour.
  •  Pre-heat the oven to GM 4 – 180°C.
  • Line baking sheets with greaseproof paper.
  • Divide the dough into four.
  • Use rye flour to flour the pastry board.
  • Roll out the dough to around 4mm thickness (no less).
  • Use cutters to cut out shapes.
  • Place them on the baking sheets with a little room between.
  • Bake for 9 -11 minutes.
  • Leave to cool on a baking rack.
  • *
  • These piernicki should be soft.
  • They are only semi-sweet.
  • You can have decorating them with icing – I just did a bit of drizzling.

 

 

Sauerkraut Rye Bread

My cousin who lives near Chicago recently sent me a recipe that has been used by her mum for Polish sauerkraut rye bread.

The recipe was from a bakery in Chicago and was printed in the Chicago Tribune on 2 March 1989.

Well of course I had to try this out!

 

The recipe is in cups, which except for liquids, I find hard to work with for consistency – so I  did some conversions into grams.

Note -The amount of sauerkraut was  3/4 of a cup – I measured out a loosely filled cup and weighed it.

This recipe makes one very large loaf – you can use it to make two loaves.

There is a large amount of flour – I mixed it by hand which was quite hard work but after the first rise it was a good dough to work with.

Ingredients

  • 880g plain flour (650g & 250g)
  • 170g rye flour
  • 40g butter
  • 1 tablespoon of salt
  • 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar
  • 1 tablespoon of dried yeast
  • 100g sauerkraut
  • 500ml warm water
  • Cornmeal or semolina for the baking tray
  • 1 egg yolk & 1 tablespoon of milk to glaze
  • 2 teaspoons of caraway for topping.

Method

  • Into a large bowl add 650g of plain flour and rye flour.
  • Rub in the butter.
  • Add the salt, sugar and yeast.
  • Chop the sauerkraut with a sharp knife into small pieces.
  • Add the sauerkraut to the flour and mix together.
  • Slowly add the water and bring the mixture together.
  • Slowly add the rest of the flour (you may not need it all) until the dough does not stick to the sides and start to gather it together into a ball.
  •  Knead the dough for around 5 minutes.

 

 

  • Cover the dough with a cloth or clingfilm.
  • Leave it to rise until it is double in size.
  • Punch the dough down and knead it again for a few minutes.
  • Allow the dough to double in size again
  • Punch the dough down again and knead it again lightly.
  • (You can divide it into two here if you want to make two loaves)
  • Put the dough onto a board and flatten it into a rectangle.
  • Shape into an oval.
  • Cover a baking tray with cornmeal or semolina.
  • Place the dough onto the baking tray.
  • Cover and let the dough rise until it is double in size.

 

  • Pre-heat the oven to GM 6  – 200°C.
  • Brush the glaze onto the loaf
  • Sprinkle with caraway seeds note – I would cover the seeds with glaze again as well next time.
  • Using a sharp knife make 4 or 5 diagonal cuts in the top of the loaf.
  • Bake for 20 minutes
  • Turn the oven down to GM4  – 180°C.
  • Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes.

 

It was delicious with a great texture!

I sliced up some of the loaf and froze it  – that worked well.

I might just add some more caraway seeds to the dough itself next time.

Scalded Rye Bread

I came across this recipe recently which I was told originates in Sweden*.

  • The recipe makes two loaves and the bread is very soft and tasty.
  • Boiling water is poured over the rye flour and it is left overnight. This must start the breakdown of some of the starch in the flour to sugars.
  • I used dried yeast when I made this.
  • The bread is baked at a lower temperature than many other breads.

Ingredients

For scalding

  • 100g dark rye flour
  • 300ml of boiling water

For  the rest

  • 650g strong white flour
  • 1 tablespoon of dried yeast
  • 250ml of water
  • 1.5 tablespoons of salt

Method

  • Put the rye flour into a bowl and pour the boiling water over it.
  • Mix this to a stiff paste.
  • Cover with a cloth and leave overnight.
  • The following morning, place the plain flour into a bowl and make a well and add the dried yeast followed by 100ml of water.
  • Cover and leave for around 15 minutes until all the yeast has dissolved.
  • Add the rest of the water (150ml), the salt and the scalded rye mixture.
  • Mix everything together well.

 

 

 

  • Now you need to knead this for around 5 minutes – this can be hard as the dough is sticky  – I do this in the bowl for some of the time and then with wet hands I hold the dough up and sort of kneaded it in the air!
  • Put the dough back into the bowl and covered with clingfilm or a cloth and leave it for around 2 hours.
  • Divide the dough into two.
  • Flour your hands and stretch each piece into a rectangle around 2cm in thickness.
  • You now need to fold the dough into a long loaf.
  • With the short side facing you, fold this up a third gently onto the dough and then taking the top third pull this down to cover the two layers of dough.
  • Get a clean tea towel,  flour this and using a cake lifter place the loaf on this and cover it with the rest of the tea towel.
  • 20181208_092916

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  • Repeat this for the other loaf.
  • Leave the loaves to rest for around 1 hour.
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM8 – 230°C.
  • Use rye flour to flour two small baking sheets.
  • Place each  loaf onto a prepared sheet and place them side by side in the oven.
  • Turn the temperature down immediately to GM4 -180°C.
  • Bake for 40 minutes.
  • Remove and leave to cool on a wire rack.

 

 

Variations

  • Add 1.5 tablespoons of caraway seeds to the dough mixture.
  • Divide the dough into 4 pieces and shape them into cobs.
  • Change the proportions to use more rye – I used 200g of dark rye & 550g of strong plain flour & an extra 100ml of boiling water for the overnight scalding & baked the loaves in long loaf tins after shaping the dough.

 

 

Tea plate is by Taylor and Kent of Longton

*Polish – Swedish Connections

The Polish King Zygmunt III Waza (1587 – 1632) was the son of King John III of Sweden and Katarzyna Jagiellonka (daughter of King Zygmunt I Stary (the old) of Poland).  He was also the King of Sweden from 1592 – 1599.

Potop – The Deluge – was a period of invasion and war with Sweden in the mid 17th Century.

Szwed – The Swede is a very common surname in Poland . One of my father’s best friends had this surname.

There are 72 ferry sailings a week from Polish Baltic ports to Sweden.

Note – this post was updated in March 2020.

 

 

Soda Breads with Rye

These are two variations of a classic wheat flour soda bread recipe.

I think the slow rise breads you get with sourdough or bakers’ yeast are better but they take time to make.

These are a quick bake if you want some bread for lunch or supper.

I use a yoghurt & whey mix as I nearly always have these in when I make yoghurt cheese, but you can adapt by using a milk & water mix or buttermilk if you have it instead of the whey.

I add caraway as I love the taste but you can experiment with other flavours using fresh or dried chopped herbs.

Version 1

Ingredients

150g rye flour

250g plain flour

1teaspoon salt

1teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon caraway seeds

150ml yoghurt

200ml whey

Method

Pre-heat the oven to GM 7 – 220°C

Flour a baking tray.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a big bowl.

Mix the yoghurt and whey together in jug or bowl.

Add the yoghurt mixture to the dry ingredients and use a wooden spoon to mix it all together.

 

 

 

 

Use your floured hands to bring it all into a soft dough ball.

Place the ball onto the floured baking tray.

Using a sharp large knife cut a cross or star on the surface.

Bake for 5mins then turn the heat down to GM 6 – 200°C and bake for 30 – 35 minutes.

The base should sound hollow when the bread is cooked .

Leave to cool on a cooling rack.

 

 

Version 2

Ingredients

100g rye flour

250g wheat flour

50g rolled oats

1teaspoon salt

1teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon caraway seeds

150ml yoghurt

200ml whey

Method

Pre-heat the oven to GM 7 – 220°C

Flour a baking tray.

Mix all the dry ingredients in a big bowl.

Mix the yoghurt and whey together in jug or bowl.

Add the yoghurt mixture to the dry ingredients and use a wooden spoon to mix it all together.

Use your floured hands to bring it all into a soft dough ball.

Place the ball onto the floured baking tray.

Using a sharp large knife cut a cross or star on the surface.

Bake for 5mins then turn the heat down to GM 6 – 200°C and bake for 30 – 35 minutes.

The base should sound hollow when the bread is cooked .

Leave to cool on a cooling rack.

 

 

 

Note

Soda bread does tend to go stale quickly but is is still delicious toasted and served with butter.

 

 

Tea plates are Las Palmas by Aynsley from the 1960s.