Grandma's black bread

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 1 kg rye flour (wholemeal)
• 500 g rye meal
• 150 g sourdough, preferably rye ST (your ASG)
• Water
• 1 tbsp salt
• some caraway
• 100 g beet syrup, can be up to twice the amount more
• Butter, for greasing the mold

Instructions

Working time approx. 1 hour; Rest time approx. 1 day 12 hours; Total time approx. 1 day 13 hours

Whole-grain rye bread with sourdough, also suitable for beginners, sweet – tart (black bread)

The ingredients are sufficient for one 30cm bread pan or two king cake pans. 1st step: For the pre-dough, at least 38 hours before baking, mix 250g of rye with the sourdough starter and 1/2 liter of lukewarm water to form a dough. If the sourdough starter consists of a full-fat sourdough starter (ready-made bread dough), please soak the bread dough in the water for 2 hours and liquefy it before adding the flour (mix with a whisk). The bowl should now be covered and stand in a place at least 20 degrees C warm for 24 hours. The dough will ferment and will look “dirty” afterwards, like dirty foam. 2nd step: At least 14 hours before baking, add 250g of flour and 250g of lukewarm water. The dough should now stand for 12 hours, covered, of course, after which it should already smell sour and have shrunk slightly. Step 3: At least 2 hours before baking, mix 100g of beetroot syrup with 500g of rye meal, pour over 3/8 l of boiling water, and let stand, covered, for at least 1 hour. Now we mix our sourdough starter with the 500g of flour and reserve the ASG for next time. Now we add 1 tablespoon of salt and, if desired, about 1 tablespoon of caraway seeds and the swollen rye meal (our brew). After greasing the tin (line cake tins with baking paper), let it rise for another hour, ideally in the oven with the light on. Now preheat the oven to 190°C and put the bread in the bottom of the oven. Place a bowl of water in the oven. Bake the bread for about 1.5 hours; the edges will then be a few mm from the edge. When it’s done, let it stand in the turned-off oven for 15 minutes, then remove it from the oven and gently spray or brush it with water again. When you remove it from the oven, tap the bottom; it will sound hollow. Let it cool completely on a wire rack. Since this is a very heavy bread, we recommend waiting a day or two to slice it. It’s okay if you don’t follow the baking times exactly; it will make it more sour or hearty.