Slow Bread

A home baking notebook: sourdough, rye and a lot of waiting.

Notebook · autumn

Country loaf, 78% hydration

The kitchen is colder now, so the bulk rise takes most of the afternoon. Four folds in the first two hours, then the dough is left alone until it has grown by about half and wobbles when the bowl is shaken.

Ingredient	Weight	Baker's %
Bread flour	450 g	90
Wholemeal rye	50 g	10
Water	390 g	78
Starter	100 g	20
Salt	10 g	2

Shaped loosely, overnight in the fridge, baked from cold in a cast-iron pot: 25 minutes with the lid on, 20 without.

Notebook · summer

Dark rye with caraway

A dense, sticky dough that is spooned into the tin rather than shaped. It keeps for a week wrapped in linen and is better on the third day than on the first.

Notebook · spring

Keeping a starter alive

Equal weights of flour and water, once a day on the counter or once a week in the fridge. When it smells sharp and thin, it is hungry; when it smells of yoghurt and doubles in a few hours, it is ready.