Russian Sourdough Borodinsky Bread {rye + coriander}
Traditional Russian dark sourdough Borodinsky Bread made with whole grain rye and coriander is very flavorful and healthy.
Servings: 1 loaf
Ingredients
MASH
- 80 g whole grain rye flour mine is home milled - I use this KoMo grain mill
- 25 g fermented red rye malt powder (solod) see note below
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander best to use whole seeds and grind them same day
- 250 g boiling water
SPONGE (ZAKVASKA)
- 150 g active rye starter how to make rye starter or whatever starter you have sitting around
- 140 g water about 2/3 cup
- All mash
- 170 g whole grain rye flour
DOUGH
- All sponge
- 100 g water
- 20 g unsulfured molasses
- 30 g sugar I use sucanat
- 100 g whole grain rye flour
- 100 g whole grain spelt flour
- 5 g salt teaspoon
- Whole or crushed coriander for topping
Instructions
TO MAKE MASH
- Turn oven to 160ºF. Combine 80g whole grain rye flour with 25g of dark rye malt powder and 2 teaspoons ground coriander.
- Add 250g boiling water.
- Mix well; cover with an airtight lid (I use a silicon cover).
- Place into the oven, set timer for 3 hours.
- Once done, set aside to cool slightly.
TO MAKE SPONGE
- Whisk 150g rye starter with 140g water until milky and frothy.
- Add cooled mash, whisk until well combined.
- Add 170g rye flour, mix with a spoon to incorporate.
- Cover again, and leave to proof until bubbly under the surface (3-4 hours at 'bread proof' oven setting, or 100ºF, longer if room temperature. The dough will not visually change much on top, just will become airy, slightly puffed up. If you look under the surface, it should be very bubbly.
TO MAKE DOUGH
- To the bowl with sponge, add 100g water, 20g molasses and 30g sugar. Mix with a spatula to blend.
- Add 100g rye flour, 100g whole spelt flour and 5g salt. Mix well.
- Transfer dough with spoon or spatula to bread loaf pan lined with parchment paper.
- Sprinkle with whole coriander seeds, if desired. Smooth top with wet hand. Leave at bread proofing temperature (100ºF) for 45 minutes, longer for room temperature, look for signs of noticeable rise and airy top.
- Preheat oven to 450ºF.
- Place bread to the oven, bake for 10 minutes.
- Lower temperature to 350ºF, bake for 45-50 minutes.
- When done, place Borodinsky bread on a wire rack and remove parchment paper.
- It is best to wait 24 hours before slicing (I know - it's hard!) but this will help stabilize the crumb. Bread loses water during rest, which helps prevent/reduce sticky and gummy crumb. I store it wrapped in linen towel and plastic bag over that.
Notes
- I went through the pain of making my own fermented red rye malt, known as Solod in Russia. Find it here. It works but I much prefer to use the real stuff, which I've been buying on Ebay from this Ukrainian seller. Look for this item - 300gram Solod Rye malt. It's organic, and as authentic as they get.
- My rye flour is home milled from whole rye berries. I'm saying that because different flours perform differently, and recipe has been working consistently for me for a while. I use a Komo Mio Grain Mill, which I love. Before that I use a Victorio Mill with a motor, which served me well for the price.
- The reason for preheating oven to 450ºF is we try to quickly capture the initial stream reaction, which helps to make crumb more open. Once we open the oven, the temperature goes down quite a bit; so basically we are overheating from the start to compensate for heat loss.
Whole coriander and ground coriander taste different to different people, some love the taste of ground coriander in the bread but not like biting into the actual seeds. Feel free to omit sprinkling the seeds on top. - Rye bread would never be as dry as wheat because of its unique gluten structure and higher level of pentosans (which contribute to gumminess). Because of those factors, rye binds water at higher rate than other flours.
- Keep fermentation temperature high to avoid gummy crumb. I do 100ºF. My previous oven had 'bread proof' function, and now I use a cooler with a Fermentation Spot Heater inside.
- You can increase the sponge proof time, if you like your Borodinsky bread more sour. This will also help reduce stickiness and gummy crumb.