HAPPY SOURDOUGH SEPTEMBER!
This month with the Real Bread Campaign we are celebrating everything sourdough with a MONTH LONG sourdough series on the YouTube channel and these…
THREE recipes and variations you can make with your RYE Sourdough Starter
A Wholemeal and Wholegrain Ring - a variation on your Beginners Sourdough Loaf Recipe
Sourdough Rye Pikelets - a SUPER EASY to make crumpet slash pancake, served with yoghurt, berry compote, pecans and maple syrup, DELISH!
AND did you know? You can use a little of your Rye starter scrapings to make a WHITE starter to completely transform the flavour and texture of your dough and make Sweet Potato and Thyme Sourdough Subs!
Have fun with these, I hope you like them!
Jack :-)
Wholemeal Sourdough Ring Loaf
If you look closely you’ll see… the base recipe for this is pretty much your Simple Loaf Recipe. Some of the white flour has been swapped for Wholemeal and I’ve added some actual whole wheat grains to make it super wholesome and delicious and because of all that, a little extra water since all that brown soaks it up so much.
If you’ve cracked that recipe, the principle of this one is the same which makes it a lovely place to go next.
Notes
This recipe makes 2 loaves
These loaves are stonebaked, you’ll need a baking stone, deep roasting tray, kettle, peel, two round banneton baskets and a Grignette
Before you begin you’ll need to have made your Rye sourdough starter
Difficulty: Tricky to perfect
My Kitchen Temperature: 20°C/68°F
Start to finish:
Day 1: 2 minutes
Day 2: 4.5 hours
Day 3: 1.5 hours
Ingredients
Day 1
Your starter scrapings
100g Wholemeal Rye Flour
100g Room temperature water
Day 2
200g Super excited sourdough starter from above (take this from your pot and leave the scrapings in the fridge for next time)
450g Room temperature water
400g Strong white bread flour
250g Wholemeal Bread Flour
50g Whole Wheat Grain
12g Salt
Method
Day 1
Feeding your starter
If you already have 200g of excited starter from building your starter in the first place, skip straight to day 2
In the evening before you go to bed add 100g wholemeal rye flour and 100g room temperature water to your starter scrapings pot and mix. Scrape down the edges to level off the mixture and mark on the side of the pot with a pen or elastic band where the mixture comes up to.
Leave this on your kitchen side at room temperature overnight or for 8-12 hours and it will bubble and double in volume at least.
The following morning the starter should have been producing gas and increased in volume, then you know you’re good to go!
Day 2
Make your dough
Take 200g of your starter out of the pot and put in in a large bowl. Add the water, both flours, wheat grains and salt and mix it together into a dough. Mix for a minute or so to make sure everything is combined. Cover the bowl and let this mixture rest and soak for 30 minutes.
First Fold
Spray the work surface with water, and the top of your dough. Turn the dough out onto the wet surface upside down. Work around the dough pinching a piece with your finger and thumb, stretching it out and folding it back over the dough making a ball. 10-12 folds should be enough.
Return the dough to the bowl to rest for 1 hour.
Second Fold
Spray the table and dough again with water. Turn the dough out and reshape into a ball. 6-7 stretches and folds should be enough this time, roll the dough over with the smooth side on top and tuck everything underneath with your hands. Return the dough to the bowl for a further 1 hour.
Third Fold
Stretch and fold the dough exactly as you did last time. Return the dough to the bowl to rest for 1 hour.
Fourth Fold
Stretch and fold the dough exactly the same way one final time. This time return it to the bowl for a 30 minutes rest.
Dividing and Pre-Shaping
Dust your surface and the top of your dough with flour, turn out your dough sticky side up. Use a dough scraper to cut it into two equal sized half moon pieces. Roll each piece up into a short sausage and place seam side down on the table. Dust and cover with a cloth. Rest for 10-15 minutes.
The Final Shape
Take a piece of dough and flip it upside down. Use your fingertips to gently press it into a landscape rectangle and roll it up into a tight sausage from one long side to the other. Squeeze the seam to stick. Roll with your palms to a length of 50cm tapering the ends into a point.
Before you line your round bannetons with a cloth, place an upturned small pot or espresso cup in the middle, then put the liner over the top. Dust well. Bring the ends of your dough sausage together into a ring and place in the basket with the cup pushing the liner through the middle. This helps hold the ring shape. Repeat with the second loaf.
Rest your two loaves uncovered in the fridge to prove up nice and slowly overnight.
Day 3
Bake
Preheat your oven to 230°C fan/gas mark 9 with a stone in the middle shelf and a deep tray on the bottom. Fill a kettle half with water.
Boil the kettle, turn out the loaves out onto a large floured peel. Use a Grignette to score a square shape on the top of each ring.
Slide the dough onto the hot stone at opposite corners so they don’t touch each other. Pour the water into the tray below, close the oven door and bake for 35-40 minutes.
Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing
Sourdough Rye Pikelets with Berry Compote
LOVE CRUMPETS? Love pancakes? Well here’s a tasty alterative FULL of holes to soak up all that syrup and there’s even no need for crumpet rings. The addition of sourdough starter brings additional flavour largely unrecognisable by conscious tastebuds but it’s the difference between “YUM these are nice” and “OH MAN YESSSSSSSSS!”
These may be thin but don’t be tempted to SPEED UP the cooking process else they will be sticky and stodgy in the middle.
Notes
This recipe makes 10-12 pikelets around 12 cm wide. I did mine one by one in a small frying pan but feel free to change the piklet size as you wish and do them together in a LARGE pan if you prefer.
Before you begin you’ll need some excess Rye sourdough starter
Difficulty: EASY peasy lemon squeezy
My Kitchen Temperature: Really doesn’t matter
Start to finish: 30-40 minutes
Ingredients
For the pikelets
150g Rye Sourdough Starter
400g Water
230g Strong white bread flour
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tsp Golden Caster Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
For the Compote
150g Blueberries
150g Blackberries
150g Raspberries
Juice of one orange
35g Golden Caster Sugar
To serve
Greek Yoghurt
Maple Syrup
Toasted and chopped pecans
Icing Sugar
Method
For the compote
Place all ingredients in a medium sized saucepan, bring to the boil, stir once and simmer for 15 minutes to thicken.
For the Pikelets
Whisk everything together in a large mixing bowl, transfer into a jug and leave to stand for five minutes while you preheat a small, heavy, very lightly greased frying pan to a medium/low heat.
Pour in your mixture and swirl around the bottom of the pan in a 1/2cm layer.
Cook for two minutes, bubbles will rise and pop on the top, they will be golden underneath and set on top, flip over and cook for a further two minutes. Cool on a wire rack and repeat.
Bringing it all together
Serve your piklets a few per person, with the compote, Greek yoghurt, syrup, pecans and dust everything well with icing sugar.
Layer up left over piklets with parchment in between and freeze in a freezer bag for emergencies.
Sweet Potato Sourdough Subs
Here at Bake with Jack Studio I have been obsessing about sub rolls for a while. I think it’s the softness of the bread combined with that CRUNCHY semolina on the outside that makes them so enticing and since it’s Sourdough September I thought I’d make a sourdough version. For this I took a teeny tiny bit of my rye starter scrapings and fed with WHITE flour almost creating a proper white starter in itself. This COMPLETELY TRANSFORMS the flavour and texture of the final bread, well worth a try!
I’ve used sweet potato to bring bounce, a touch of sweetness, and to help them keep their softness after baking, almost as you would use butter or oil, and a touch of thyme for fragrance. Fill them up how you like!
Notes
This recipe makes 6 sub rolls
You’ll need a kettle and deep roasting tray to make STEAM
Before you begin you’ll need to have made your Rye sourdough starter OR have a white starter ready to go.
Difficulty: Easy to make tricky to master
My Kitchen Temperature: 22°C/71°F
Start to finish:
Day 1: 2 minutes
Day 2: 7.5-8 hours
Ingredients
Day 1
1g Rye sourdough starter from your scrapings pot
75g Room temperature water
75g Strong White Bread Flour
OR
150g Active white sourdough starter
Day 2
150g White Starter from above
100g Cooked and mashed sweet potato, no skin please
190g Room temperature water
425g Strong White Bread Flour
10g Salt
3g Picked thyme leaves
Coarse Semolina to dust
Method
Day 1
Feeding your starter
If you already have 150g of excited white sourdough starter, skip straight to day 2.
In the evening before you go to bed take 1g of your rye starter scrapings, mix in a clean jar or pot with the white flour and water. Scrape down the edges to level off the mixture and mark on the side of the pot with a pen or elastic band where the mixture comes up to.
Leave this on your kitchen side at room temperature overnight or for 8-12 hours and it will bubble and double in volume at least.
The following morning the starter should have been producing gas and increased in volume, then you know you’re good to go!
Day 2
Make your dough
Take starter out of the pot and put in in a large bowl. Add the water flour, potato, thyme and salt and mix it together into a dough. Knead for 1 minute on the table to make sure everything is combined. Place the dough back into the bowl, cover the bowl and let this mixture rest and soak for 30 minutes.
First Fold
Spray the work surface with water, and the top of your dough. Turn the dough out onto the wet surface upside down. Work around the dough pinching a piece with your finger and thumb, stretching it out and folding it back over the dough making a ball. 10-12 folds should be enough.
Return the dough to the bowl to rest for 1 hour.
Second Fold
Spray the table and dough again with water. Turn the dough out and reshape into a ball. 6-7 stretches and folds should be enough this time, roll the dough over with the smooth side on top and tuck everything underneath with your hands. Return the dough to the bowl for a further 1 hour.
Third Fold
Stretch and fold the dough exactly as you did last time. Return the dough to the bowl to rest for 1 hour.
Fourth Fold
Stretch and fold the dough exactly the same way one final time. This time return it to the bowl for a 30 minutes rest.
Dividing and Pre-Shaping
Dust your surface and the top of your dough with flour, turn out your dough sticky side up. Use a dough scraper to cut it into six wedges like a cake. Flatten each wedge and from the pointed end roll each piece into a sausage. Line them up seam side down on the table. Dust and cover with a cloth. Rest for 10-15 minutes.
The Final Shape
Take a piece of dough and flip it upside down. Use your fingertips to gently press it into a landscape rectangle and roll it up into a tight sausage from one long side to the other. Squeeze the seam to stick. Roll with your palms to a length of 15-18cm.
Moisten the tops of your sub rolls with water and roll in coarse semolina to coat the outside. Arrange between two parchment lined baking trays. Cover and rest for 2.5-3 hours.
Bake
Preheat your oven to 230°C fan/gas mark 9 with two shelves in the middle and a deep tray on the bottom. Fill a kettle half with water.
Boil the kettle and use a Grignette to make 4 diagonal cust across each roll.
Place the two trays in the oven, pour the water into the tray below, close the oven door and bake for 15-18 minutes.
Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.