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It has been beastly hot this week, and while not as hot as it will become, it was enough to make me think seriously about my normal baking routine. I wanted to slow things down so that I could still have an overnight rest in the fridge, but without extending either the bulk rise or the rest for too long.

Five well-risen loaves of sourdough bread with dark flecks of kalonji seed resting on a cooling rack about a red tablecloth.

Instead of using 29% starter (i.e. 14.5% prefermented flour), I dropped it to 10% starter, 5% prefermented flour. Other than that (and the omission of the sultanas) the method was very similar to my standard recipe.

Kalonji ear.

I was very pleasantly surprised. The bulk was about 3 hours instead of six (I can’t image how fast it would have been with a full load of starter) and the retard about 12 hours. And the results not at all shabby.

How odd that once again it is a Kalonji bread that bumps me out of my rut.

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Oh dear. Here we are again on the brink of Fornacalia and, to my shame and despite this website’s name, I have not prepared anything special. I was going to do my 100% rye sourdough, with a nod to some Norse deities, but a microbe attacked my throat and nose on Friday so I didn’t really feel up to it.

A cut loaf of pale brown bread, the top dusted with flour spots, the tight crumb flecked with black seeds of Kalonji, Nigella sativa. The loaf sits on an olive wood bread board and some walnuts are visible in the background

Last week’s big bake was of Kalonji bread, which I’ve written about before.

These days, I tend to omit the olive oil of the second recipe above and to bump the hydration a bit to 70%. The resulting loaf, as seen above, rises well, has a reasonably tight crumb – good for toast – and tastes delicious.

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Five baked loaves, slashed with a well-developed crust in which can be seen some of the many seeds that stud the bread

This is a firm favourite and quite impossible to find anywhere in the city. I’ve been making it forever, based on the original in Hamelman’s Bread adapted for a natural leaven and seven rather than six seeds.

  • 50% wholemeal leaven at 75%
  • 50% strong white flour
  • 20% mixed seeds, soaked (see below). I use oats, corn, pumpkin, sunflower, millet, linseed and sesame.
  • 1.8% salt.
  • 21% additional water (there’s lots in the leaven and the soaker)
  • 5% honey. Optional. I’ve gone off the idea.
  1. Prepare soaker by pouring 125% boiling water over seeds. So, for 200gm seeds, 250gm boiling water. Leave for at least 2 hours.
  2. Mix all ingredients. Knead to incorporate and ensure there is no dry flour. Return to bowl.
  3. Stretch and fold roughly every hour for about 4 hours.
  4. Turn out, pre-shape and rest, shape and proof for about 2 hours.
  5. Preheat oven and a casserole to 220°C. Slash the loaves and bake for 50 minutes, removing the cover and lowering the temperature to 210°C after 25 minutes.
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Two loaves of rye bread, scored across the top, on a dark red checkered cloth with two candlesticks and some other objects in the background.

Two light rye loaves, which could probably have used a little longer proof.

Having recently managed to move this site to a new host, the least I could do is bring it back to a kind of life. I’ve been baking solidly all through its existence, but got out of the habit of posting because I really have nothing new to say. I bake bread. I share it. We eat it. That’ll do.

On the other hand, why not share my formulae here?

Light rye with caraway seeds

  • 40% Whole rye flour, as ripe 100% starter
  • 60% Strong white flour
  • 70% Water
  • 4% Caraway seeds
  • 2% Salt
  1. Mix all ingredients roughly together in a bowl.
  2. Turn out on the counter and ensure the dough is well mixed and uniform.
  3. Replace in bowl, cover, and leave for 50 minutes.
  4. Lightly oil counter, turn out dough, knead hard and fast, about 5 folds, and return to the bowl.
  5. Repeat as required each hour until the dough has doubled in volume.
  6. Turn out, pre-shape and rest, shape and proof for about an hour.
  7. Bake in a covered casserole in a pre-heated oven at 220°C for 50 minutes, removing cover and turning heat down to 200 °C after 20–25 minutes.
  8. Allow to cool at least 18 hours before eating.