Since I've got my rye levain perked and regularily refreshed these days, I decided to use Dieter Buschman's Sauerteig rechner ( sourdough calculator). Perhaps I'll try various percentages of rye/wheat till I get to a total of 100 percent rye. In the meantime, my latest is a 60 percent rye and 40 percent wheat. I used a 50/50 mix of white whole wheat and white all-purpose flour, along with medium rye in the final dough. Just out of precaution and time (it was a late night bake), I used yeast along with the sourdough.
The result? A moist loaf and a perfect foil for butter and ham. On my next try, I may do without the yeast and go all white whole wheat. Or I might even do use bread flour which could give it a bit more structural strength. Mind you, I like the rustic flavor and texture as it is, but you can always tweak bread, give or take a percent.
Be brave, lose the yeast. A great way to do that is to use the three stage Detmolder process. It really supercharges the starter, with a wonderful balance of rise and flavor. It’s my go-to technique for all my rye breads.
Thanks Mike, but time is a big problem with my shifts, I shall do a detmolder in three rather then 1 step, when time provides…I actually didn’t need the yeast and usually just add a pinch in case I haven’t been feeding the beasties enough!
I say the yeast stays.
There is no shame in spiking a rye bread with a small amount of yeast (1% of total dough weight maximum) regardless of the percentage of rye sour or its relative vigour.
Besides, rye breads in general and rye breads with a higher percentage of rye flour specifically do not benefit from the slow rise or retarding that wheat flour based doughs do.
The “slow” portion of the dough exists during the ripening of the rye sour, typically 12-16 hours at 68-72 degrees F.
Once the final dough is mixed the idea is to limit the bulk rise, no more than one hour for smaller percentages of rye sour, even less for larger percentages of rye sour.
Then it’s division, a short bench rest (if at all), a quick shaping and then final proof before hitting the blistering hearth with plentiful steam.
Hmmmmmm. Steammmmmmm!
I think I concur herr Volkorn…but I’ll try it both ways….I’m just that way!
;P