Sourdough with Rye and Corn

This recipe was another one inspired by Dan Lepard. His 'Mill Loaf' recipe, with wheat and rye, sounded nice but I thought I'd try it with a some maize flour as well for a little extra sweetness. The result was, I thought, really good, although I still have to get the right method for proving the loaves long enough without them losing their shape.

The recipe I used was:

400g white wheat sourdough leaven
450g water, with 1tbsp malt syrup (malt extract) dissolved in
500g all-purpose flour
100g wholewheat flour
100g light rye flour
100g maize flour
1.5tsp salt

First, mix the leaven with the water. Add all the dry ingredients and then mix it into a dough. Turn it out onto and oiled work surface, knead for 15 secs or so and then put it back in the bowl. It may be easier if you wash the bowl and lightly oil it before you return the dough to the bowl. Cover the bowl and leave the dough to rest, hydrate and rise.

Repeat this after 15 mins, then 30 mins then an hour. Leave the dough for another hour. This whole process takes around 3 hours.

Now turn out the dough, divide it in two parts. Knead each part into a ball then shape it into short batons - kinda rugby ball shaped. I put each one onto a floured linen cloth, 'top' side down, wrapping the cloth round the sides and rolling the two ends together over the top, leaving room for expansion. I then left the loaves overnight at a cool room temperature (17-18 C) to prove - this was around 6 hours. They spread out more than I hoped but I managed to re-shape them on the tray.

To bake, heat the oven to 425F. Turn the loaves onto baking sheets, slash the tops of the loaves twice. Bake for around 40 minutes.

I realised afterwards that even with this overnight proving, the bread could probably have done with extra proving - it may be that my leaven isn't vigourous enough yet. I was pretty pleased with the results, although it would have been nice to have even more of a holey, open texture. The taste was great - just a hint of rye with the nuttiness of the wholewheat and a hint of sweetness from the corn and malt.

Another one to work on!

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