steam baked

I am so psyched! I baked my sourdough rounds in a steam oven today. They are so good. The crust is crunchy and thick and the crumb is chewy and moist...I just placed a pyrex baking dish full of water on the bottom rack while I heated the oven. I originally had it cranked up to 450 (to get the steam going), then lowered it to 350 for the bread. After about 5 minutes of baking I realized the baking temperature was supposed to be at 425. So I turned it back up. Who knows if the temperature changes have to do with the way it turned out. Just in case, I have to document it for my own sake. Artisan, I am getting closer! Oh, and I did one cup less white flour and replaced it with 1/2 cup ground white wheat. Taste is wonderful. So, this loaf has rye flour, white flour, and white wheat flour. King Arthur Sourdough recipe.

A pocket full of Rye?

I happily purchase my 25 pounds of rye to add to my grain storage. The crazy thing is, my only intention in using the rye was to make sourdough starter...good thing it turned out. I have loved it so much that my wheat hasn't come out of storage for over a month. That's okay...it has a long shelf life. For now, its fun to explore an old grain and think that somewhere out there in the history of time, perhaps rye was the main squeeze.

Sourdough Rye

Oh how I love you, sourdough. Quite a unique marriage: sourdough meets rye. This is made from a rye flour starter. Taken from Sally Fallon's book, Nourishing Traditions. I gathered about 3 different sourdough recipes and used the rye starter for each one. King Arthur's sourdough recipe was the only one worth repeating, in my opinion. And, I believe that is because it calls for additional yeast rather than just the yeast that is developed in the starter. This picture is of the pre-baked loaf. Isn't it lovely?