My initial choice for today’s post was Lavash, the Armenian flatbread. But something did not feel right. It did not seem connected to the rest of the breads that I was baking. But I was also not able to find another bread to replace it. So with a heavy heart I decided to go ahead with Lavash. But I kept postponing the actual bake so much so that it was almost time and I did not have anything ready.

Then one day, I hit paydirt. I chanced upon this awesome dense rye bread from Germany and I knew this had to be it. With my new found love for rye, I was excited to bake this one. What made it even better was this is a bread that needs a starter. I have not made such loafs before and was planning on exploring that too during this mega marathon. So, with multiple ticks for this one, I went ahead with full gusto and was rewarded with a chewy loaf which I am munching now as I type this. Bliss!

Before we proceed to the recipe, I have to talk about German bread culture. I was aware about the Italian and French breads but do you know that breads are seeped in the culture of Germany. It has more than 300 bread varieties and 1200 bread rolls and baked goods across the country. Take a moment to let that sink in. Germans mostly use rye and wheat for their breads which are classified based on the proportion of these two flours in the loaf. Most people are aware about Germany’s most famous bread -the ‘pumpernickel’ but German breads are usually classified into 7 different types –

Breads made with wheat –Weizenbrote, Breads made with a mixture of wheat & other flours – Weizenmischbrote, Breads made with Rye –Roggenbrote, Breads made with rye & other flours –Roggenmischbrote, Breads made from whole grains –Vollkornbrote, Rolls & other mini breads –Brötchen & Kleingebäck, Speciality breads –Spezialbrote. As per this classification, what we are baking today is a Roggenmischbrote that has a mixture of rye and all purpose flour.

Landbrot, simply put, is ‘bread of the land’ and is sometimes mixed up with ‘Bauernbrot’ which is ‘farmer’s bread’. I could not get a clear picture as to the distinction between these two because some talk of the two as synonyms while speak of them as completely different. So, I researched quite a few recipes and came up with one of my own in which I made a starter with rye and all purpose flour and left it to ferment for 24 hours and used it to make the loaf the next day. The result was a dense chewy loaf which I will totally recommend you have. Now on to the recipe –

Country – Germany

Makes one 10″ diameter loaf

WHAT WE NEED

For the starter

Rye flour                  106 gms

All purpose flour    120 gms

Lukewarm water    235 ml

Honey                        1 tbsp

Instant yeast             1 tsp

For the dough

Starter made as above (roughly 250-260 gms)

Ry flour                      175 gms

All purpose flour       32 gms

Lukewarm water      Upto 200 ml

Salt                                7 gms

Instant yeast                1 gm
WHAT TO DO

• To make the starter, mix all ingredients for the starter in a bowl and keep covered with a cling wrap for 18-24 hours
• Once the starter is ready, mix it with all the other ingredients for the dough except water
• Slowly add the water to the dough mix. Depending on how your starter has turned out, the water requirement will differ
• Add 150ml water first and add little by little as much as you need to knead it into to a smooth dough
• Cover  and let it rest for 30 minutes
• Take out the dough and shape it into a round loaf
• Grease a 10″ round pan and transfer the loaf to the pan and set aside for an hour
• Preheat the oven at 250C with a pan of water at the bottom rack
• Dust the loaf with some rye flour and slash the top of the dough at 3-4 places with a knife
• Bake the loaf for 10 minutes and remove the pan of water
• Bake at 215C for another 35-40 minutes or till the top crust turns nicely brown
• Slice it once it completely cools down
• Enjoy as is or with some butter!

This is my post for the mega marathon for the letter ‘L’

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 75