Servings:
one for me
Preparation Time:
6 hours
Ingredients

* 1 1/4 cups of water
* 1/2 cup of rye flour (Hodgson Mill Medium Ground)
* 3 cups of bread flour (King Arthur)
* 1 package of yeast (2 1/4 tsp) (SAF Active Dry Yeast)
* 2 tsp salt (preferably sea salt)

Cooking Instructions
This version uses a sponge for flavor. I find it convenient to use a bread maker to mix and prepare the sponge. Start the evening before; add

1 1/4 cups of water
1/2 cup of rye flour (Hodgson Mill Medium Ground)
1 1/2 cups of bread flour (King Arthur)
1 package of yeast (2 1/4 tsp) (SAF Active Dry Yeast)

into the bread machine.

For added variety, I sometimes replace a half cup of bread flour with spelt or whole wheat flour. Texture and taste will differ more than enough to make these experiments interesting. The brand of rye flour matters a lot, too.

Run at the basic dough setting, and come back the next day to finish…

Add

1 1/2 cups of bread flour
2 tsp salt (preferably sea salt)

to the sponge and run at basic dough setting again. For a large capacity bread machine, it’s a good idea to double-check if the kneading works out. Depending on the flours used, the dough is sometimes too wet and needs a bit more flour - so do check while the kneading is in process.

When the dough is done, remove from the pan, and punch down. The adventurous will work a 1/2 cup or so of cubed or shredded hard cheese into the dough at this point. Shape according to preference. I usually use a longish shape and let it rise covered either in a loaf pan (non-stick, spray inside with PAM) or on a peel liberally sprinkled with corn meal.

Cover and let rise until doubled in volume. I typically pre-heat the oven (sporting a pizza stone) to 450F after an hour; the dough will have risen in another half hour to an hour. Please note that the crust will bulge and tear horribly if the dough hasn’t had enough time to rise.

Slash the dough, brush with water, put onto the stone, and bake with steam for ten minutes, then drop the temperature to 375F for another 30 minutes.

As always when baking with steam, it’s a bad, bad, bad idea to have your face too close to the oven when opening the door.

Remove from loaf pan (if applicable) and let cool on a wire rack for as long as you can stand the smell of fresh bread.

Source:
Rustic European Bread, by Linda West Eckhard & Diana Collingwood Butt