I needed a recipe to try my round cane**banneton** on and this month’s [Mellow Bakers][1]challenge introduced a nice sourdough recipe:**40% rye sourdough** with**caraway** seeds. According to Mr. Hamelman, the bread “contains just enough rye to be a serious rye sourdoubh bread”.<figureid="attachment_378"style="width: 300px"class="wp-caption aligncenter">
The caraway seeds are something new for me, the recipe calls for 2 tablespoons but as they smelled quite strong, I used teaspoons instead. The end result is a stellar looking and tasting bread with a still very strong caraway flavor. It reminds me of anise seeds. It’s a bit too much for my liking, I might bake it again next time but without the seeds.
You might notice in the pictures below that the bread is still quite grey, for “only” 40% wholerye. I liked it, but too bad the sour taste does not get through thanks to the caraway.
I**did not add yeast** in the final dough. I don’t know why almost all rye sourdough breads call for additional commercial yeast, I find it quite unneeded as the bulk fermentation time could be simply slightly increased (as I did). The crumb is not very dense at all and contains evenly placed little holes. I folded the dough once (or twice? Can’t remember).<figurestyle="width: 150px"class="wp-caption alignleft">
[<imgtitle="_MG_6731.JPG"src="https://lh4.ggpht.com/-ycDseCNLe2s/UCgaOIxjjZI/AAAAAAAAGcQ/xxO6Twt99O8/s150-c/_MG_6731.JPG"alt="_MG_6731.JPG"width="150"height="150"/>][3]<figcaptionclass="wp-caption-text">Some slices of the bread</figcaption></figure><figurestyle="width: 150px"class="wp-caption alignleft">[<imgtitle="_MG_6730.JPG"src="https://lh4.ggpht.com/-culzWekWCBw/UCgaO70ES2I/AAAAAAAAGcY/R9YIJ928gUM/s150-c/_MG_6730.JPG"alt="_MG_6730.JPG"width="150"height="150"/>][4]<figcaptionclass="wp-caption-text">A good look at the crumb</figcaption></figure>
* Caraway has a**dominant flavor**, be careful with it, even with teaspoons!
* **yeast is never needed**with**rye bread**. Especially not with so much gluten present from the “high gluten” flour. (I used 13% protein flour).
* The cane banneton needs to be**floured very well**– even between the edges. It will eventually release the dough but you have to be careful!
