Health and flavour plus I enjoy cooking and when I retired I wanted to master the art of bread making. I've made "yeast" breads for decades - SD eclipses the best of these in every way. There are very few local bakers who make quality fermented breads.

Characteristics

Has a mellow slightly tangy wine-like aroma with a distinctive buttery , autumn fruit nose with hints of hay not unlike a well-aged chardonnay. Has excellent reliability and stability for longer cool fermentations.

Viscocity

Taste & flavour

Recipe

Starting ingredients

20g Rye flour
20g Dechlorinated water
5g Unpasteurised natural honey
40g Rye flour
5g Water
5g Unpasteurised natural honey
80g Rye flour
80g Water
100g Plain bread flour
100g Water
50g Rye flour
50g Water

Feeding ingredients

50% Rye flour
50% Water

Remove enough to start a levain - usually about 20g per loaf to make a 1:5:5 levain. Mix in the same amount of flour and water by weight as removed. Allow to ferment at room temperature (~20-24C) for 1-2 hours. Cover and store in wine fridge at 5-8C until next required. Generally 1-2 times per week.

50% Rye flour 50% Water

Working method

To make the "mother" culture for a "no discard" starter. Day 1: Beat ingredients together with a spoon into a stiffish batter. Cover with damp cloth. Leave for 24 hours at room temperature 20-25C. Remoisten cloth as needed.

20g Rye flour 20g Dechlorinated water 5g Unpasteurised natural honey

Day 2: Beat the fresh ingredients into the batter with a spoon. Leave for 24 hours at 20-25C. Remoisten cloth as needed

40g Rye flour 5g Water 5g Unpasteurised natural honey

Day 3: Beat the fresh ingredients into the batter with a spoon. Leave for 24 hours at 20-25C. Remoisten cloth as needed

80g Rye flour 80g Water

Day 4 Beat in the fresh ingredients. Allow to ferment at 25C until doubled in volume.

100g Plain bread flour 100g Water

Each time you use the culture. Split the “parent” in half and add the same amount of flour and water to each batch. Beat in the fresh ingredients to each batch and allow to work until nice and bubbly before use. One batch goes back into the fridge “for Ron”. The other provides 200g of levain .

50g Rye flour 50g Water