By Markus Poschung, with intro by Liz Lyon
What grass can be planted at the very end of the Wisconsin growing season; survive the winter; help prevent erosion with its strong root system; keep nutrients cycling for biologically active soil; and be turned into flour to make delicious baked goods? It’s Rye!
Rye is just one of the small grains we grow here at Gwenyn Hill, in addition to wheat, barley, oats, and more. Rye fits well into our grain rotation, as it is harvested early during the growing season. This allows us to follow rye with a long-season cover crop, forage planting for our animals, or a new hay planting that will last for the next few years.
We asked rye enthusiast Markus Poschung, also one of Gwenyn Hill’s CSA members, to share his experience baking with rye in this blog post. We’re also sharing a few links to some of our staff members’ favorite rye recipes at the end of this post.
Markus’s Experience with Rye
Baking with 100% rye flour can be a slow process. All in all, it could take fifteen to twenty four hours to make a naturally fermented (sourdough) rye loaf. This is probably why I can’t find any genuine 100% rye bread in the stores and commercial bakeries.
Most commercially produced ‘Rye Bread’ is a mix of rye flour, strong wheat for shaping, molasses for looks and a smidgen of caraway for taste. Most commercial bakeries also add yeast to speed up the process. I am not advocating against their recipes or the use of machine mixers but I personally prefer using my hands. I find it is more fun and makes me feel happy. Also, more importantly, the home baker has better control over the grains used, the quality of the fermentation, timing, culture, rise, and the final bake.
Markus’s suggestions for making your own sourdough bread with whole grains
Home baking is gaining more and more attention over industrial scale production these days. Many home bakers tend to look for local grain, organic if possible. Starting your own sourdough culture can take a few days or more. As a shortcut alternative, you can ask a home baker friend to help you out with a starter culture. The philosophy of “each one teach one” can also build community.
There are “right” bacteria and “wrong” bacteria for starting a sourdough culture. Bacteria are the volunteers of nature, are all around us, and are used in wine and beer making as well. To have success with your culture (sometimes called a starter), you need the right temperature, time of feeding, and mix of flours. Keep it regular and feed it often. Once you like the smell and find a good “lift” keep growing it by adding flour and water.
Sourdough is often unsustainable for bakeries at a commercial scale and I want to suggest “baking outside the box” at home, so to speak, as a solution.
Through my own experience and experimentation I cultivated a starter exclusively made with whole grain and water and let it stand in a jar covered with a wet towel for the time needed to ferment and form bubbles (can be 6 to 12 hours). This is phase one and I call it making the “mother dough”.
Phase two is optional and a preferment: with a portion of my sourdough starter ,I add water, flour, salt and the rye flour and let it stand in a separate jar for a minimum 6 hours (doubling its size), then I mix the dough for bulk fermentation for about 30 minutes and bake it at 420℉ for one hour.
As mentioned, there are several methods and blends of flour for making sourdough at home in your kitchen. There is nothing wrong with making it with partial white wheat (I recommend King Arthur) or using a machine mixer like a conventional bakery does. I, for my part, prefer craftsmanship and freedom to experiment.
I spoke to three old bakers who lost their small bakeries to the technological advances in bread making. Despite feeling for them and blaming science and technological advances in food production, it has saved the world from hunger.
But it is not my responsibility to solve global hunger and avert war because of it. It is not too late and put into existence the slogan: buy locally to save the world. The world is in need of that.
Markus Poschung has been actively involved in local artisan bread baking since 1983. Sourdough bread baking is his passion, especially use of the grain Rye. Markus has worked in commercial as well as artisan bakery start-ups featuring organic products over the years and is an enthusiastic supporter of the current home baking movement. Markus’s roots stem from Switzerland where wood-fired ovens fueled the production of bread for an entire community.
Gwenyn Hill Staff Favorite Rye Recipes
click each recipe title to see the full recipe