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By Root 739 0

Manuel Freedman, and following his instructions we made good starters over and over. Still, we couldn’t quite believe that the tiny amounts of milk and yeast were necessary until we tried making starters a few times without them: mysteriously enough, they really do make a difference.

TO MAKE THE SOUR

1 cup rye berries, freshly ground

OR

1 ½ cups whole rye flour (175 g)

1 ½ cups water (375 ml)

½ teaspoon milk

1 grain (one granule) yeast

Mix together the flour, water, milk, and seed grain of yeast until smooth—the mixture should be the consistency of pancake batter. Keep at warm room temperature, anywhere from 65°F to 80°F, in a nonmetal container that is covered to keep out intruders. Let stand for 3 to 5 days, stirring twice a day, until pungently fragrant. If the odor becomes unpleasantly sour, you have let it get too warm and should begin again.

TO STORE THE SOUR

Store undisturbed in the refrigerator in an airtight nonmetal container. It will keep much longer than anyone would think—we have used ours after as much as two months of total neglect, and found it sleepy but alive. A black, watery liquid will usually collect on the top. Don’t panic, it is merely oxidation, like potatoes turning dark after they are cut. Just stir the black stuff back into the brew.

If your sour has been dormant in the refrigerator and you are in doubt as to whether to use it, bring it to room temperature and double its volume with flour and water. Allow it to sit out at room temperature, stirring twice daily, until it bubbles up. Stir, and take a whiff—if the fragrance pleases you, it will certainly be good in the bread.

TO USE THE SOUR

When you want to use the sour in dough, let it come to room temperature and give it a chance to bubble up, if it will—allow the better part of a day. Replace what you remove with fresh flour and water before refrigerating the sour again. For example, if you take out ¾ cup, mix in ¾ cup flour and ¾ cup water, maintaining the pancake-batter consistency.

Roberta’s Sourdough Rye

¾ cup Manuel’s Rye Sour

¾ cup warm water (175 ml)

2 cups rye flour (255 g)

¼ onion, separated into pieces

4 teaspoons active dry yeast (½ oz or 14 g)

⅔ cup warm water (160 ml)

starter mixture from above

3 ½ cups whole wheat flour (525 g)

2 ½ teaspoons salt (14 g)

1 tablespoon caraway seeds

⅓ cup warm water (80 ml), about

Splendid sourdough rye, bright, tangy, with no off-flavor; the bread is amazingly light.

The night before baking day mix starter, water, and flour, and spread the onion over the top of the mixture, pushing it down lightly into the dough. Cover tightly and leave 12 to 15 hours or more at room temperature.

In the morning dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Remove the onions from the starter mixture.

Stir the flour, salt, and seeds together and then mix in the yeast and starter mixtures, squeezing with your fingers until the dough comes together. Knead about 15 minutes; wet your hands with the remaining ⅓ cup of water from time to time until it is all used up and the dough becomes soft and begins to feel sticky. Ideally, these things should happen at about the same time, in 15 to 20 minutes, but they may not. Add the water very slowly; stop kneading when the dough is soft or begins to be unpleasantly sticky.

Put dough in clean bowl, cover, and let rise once, at about 80°F, for approximately 1 ½ hours. Divide into two or three small pieces, round, and let rest for 15 minutes or so, covered. Shape into hearth-style loaves and place on a greased baking sheet that has been dusted with cornmeal. Let rise again in a warm place until the dough slowly returns a gently made fingerprint.

Slash the loaves in a tic-tac-toe pattern and place them in a preheated oven (450°F). Bake with steam for 10 minutes (see this page); reduce the heat and finish baking without steam at 325°F for 40 to 50 minutes, or until done.

German Sourdough Rye

BASIC SOUR

⅓ cup Manuel’s Rye Sour (90 ml)

OR

¼ pound of Flemish Desem starter (115 g)

1 cup whole