Ulrike's bread with baking ferment

Ingredients for 1 servings:

• 200 g rye wholemeal flour, finely ground
• 200 g spelt wholemeal flour, finely ground
• 400 ml water, about 45 degrees hot
• 200 g spelt flour 550
• 200 g rye wholemeal flour, finely ground
• 200 g spelt wholemeal flour, finely ground
• 50 g wheat gluten
• 300 ml water, about 45 degrees hot, maybe a little more
• 20 g salt, possibly up to 25 g
• 1 tbsp beetroot or apple leaves
• Flaxseed and
• Pumpkin seeds and
• Sesame and
• Nuts and
• Sunflower seeds – total 150 g

Instructions

Working time approx. 20 minutes; Rest time approx. 3 hours; Total time approx. 3 hours 20 minutes

For the starter: Mix the ingredients into a smooth paste, cover with plastic wrap, then cover with a thick cloth and place near the heater for at least 12 hours. The starter should be evenly interspersed with bubbles the next day. The bubbles on the surface should be foamy. IMPORTANT!!!!! Now take 3 tablespoons of the starter for the next loaf and store it covered in the refrigerator until the next time you bake. A screw-top jar is ideal for this, but don’t screw the lid on too tightly. For the bread dough: Knead the ingredients together with the starter into a dough; I use a food processor for this. Knead for 10 minutes is essential. If you’re kneading by hand, you can occasionally dip your hands in hot water. This will prevent it from sticking so much. The amount of water depends on the consistency of the flour and the seeds you’re using. You’ll have to experiment. 650-700 ml of water (total amount) to 1 kg of fine wholemeal flour (total amount) is a tried and tested amount. If seeds are added, use 50 ml more if necessary. Cover the bowl again with foil and a cloth and place it near the heater. The first dough rest period now takes one to two hours, depending on the activity of the baking ferment. The dough should roughly double in size before continuing. After that, I knead the dough again briefly and form a loaf. This is then placed in a well-ground, long, three-pounder proving basket, smooth surface facing down. Cover with a cloth and let rise for another hour or longer, until the dough has doubled in size again. On unfavorable days, this can take up to three hours. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 250 degrees Celsius. Turn the well-risen bread out onto a sheet of baking paper or a latex baking mat, immediately spray with hot water, and place in the oven. Pour a cup of boiling water onto the floor of the oven and immediately close the oven. Baking time: 10-15 minutes at 250 degrees Celsius, 15-20 minutes at 200-210 degrees Celsius, 30 minutes at 180-190 degrees Celsius. You’ll have to experiment with your own oven to determine the temperature, always decreasing it, starting at 250 degrees Celsius. The total baking time is 60 minutes. (If I want the bread to be ready at a specific time, I use about 10-20 g of yeast. The first resting time then takes 50-60 minutes. By then, the dough will have doubled in size. The second resting time in the basket doesn’t take longer than 60 minutes. I prefer the fermented bread without yeast, and it also stays fresh longer.)