Ever since I read about this bread baked by Varda (recipe here) on The Fresh Loaf website I have wanted to try to bake one. I managed to pick up what I thought was Chocolate Malted Rye which is one of the key ingredients at a local brewers supply store. Unfortunately I later learned that what I bought was chocolate malted barley. Never the less I still figured it was worth giving it a go anyway.
You are also supposed to use a Pullman pan with a lid for this bake but since I don’t currently own one I used a standard baking tin and covered the bread for most of the bake with aluminum foil. I think it worked out okay, but next time I will buy a Pullman pan and see if it makes much of difference.
Following Varda’s advise I tried to dock the dough and separated the sides with a spatula to avoid cracking on the top. I still ended up with some cracking so I guess I need to try something else next time.
Nice and Bubbly
Overall I think the bread came out pretty good for my first attempt. It has a nice moist crumb with a pretty hard crust. I have never eaten this type of bread before so I’m not sure what it is supposed to taste like, but mine is very sour which I imagine may mellow after it sit for another 12 hours or so. I ate a piece after about 18 hours which is the longest I could wait.
The chocolate malted barley smelled so good when mixed with the sour; almost good enough to eat like cake batter.
I am going to try and get some authentic malted rye for the next attempt. I used only the malted chocolate barley for this bake even though Varda’s formula called for some plain malted rye which I did not have. Not sure what kind of difference that made in the final taste profile.
I will have to give a 100% rye version of this style bread in the near future after I return from my trip to China next month.
Happy baking everyone.
This post has been submitted to the Yeast Spotting Site here: http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting/.
mookielovesbread 