MIXED-FLOUR POLISH SOURDOUGH WITH CARAWAY SEEDS. WORLD BREAD DAY 2010

Yes, I missed on the last event so this year, thanks to Zorra, there is no excuse. Ah, maybe one - I thought it would be nice if non-Polish readers could read the recipe. But honestly would you check my blog and leave your comments if it was written in English? I wouldn't and I'm sure I would find it difficult. Yeah, being a perfectionist does not help, innit?
It's been a long time since I baked my last bread and I must say I have missed it. But for me home bread making is like a ceremony which I need to prepare myself to and which I need lots of space for. It is not easy when your kitchen does not look like a ... kitchen. But I missed it I missed the way I made my starter ready, the way I worked with the dough and finally the way I carefully placed the final loaf onto a baking stone.
If you asked me what the recipe for a Polish bread is, I would say just google it. There is so many of them available and I cannot say which is the most truthful one. It probably depends on which region of Poland you grew up in. I was born in the south east Poland and when David really wants to play on my nerves, he says that I am more Ukrainian than Polish especially when I am using the most common eastern Polish words and sentences he does not know. I must say I have found it a little bit funny!

But going back to the point for me the proper Polish bread is the mixed flours sourdough and it must contains caraway seeds in it. It is not a luxury in my home town and you do not have to spend a fortune to get it from the family-run bakeries. But of course it tastes the best if you bake your own bread. I had tried hundreds of recipes before I found the one which reminds me how tasty the proper Polish could be. It it my own recipe and I would like to share it with you today.

Hope you will enjoy it!

MIXED-FLOUR POLISH SOURDOUGH WITH CARAWAY SEEDS

250g mature rye culture (rye leaven) /liquid/
275-325g warm water
300g high-gluten white bread flour
150g white spelt flour
100g whole-rye flour
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp caraway seeds

In a large bowl, whisk the the mature rye culture with the water.

Add the flours and salt, and stir well with your hands until you have a soft, quite sticky mass.

Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a lightly oiled or flour-dusted work-surface (I prefer the oiled one).

Scrap any dough from your hands and then kneed the dough for 10-15 minutes until a strong gluten development is achieved.

Add the caraway seeds and kneed for another 5 minutes /the dough temperature should be around 20C/

Shape your dough into a ball, place it back in the bowl, then cover and leave at room temperature until almost double in height - about 3 hours /remember to knee your dough twice in the meantime -  after  the first and the second hour of fermentation/

Dust the work-surface with a flour.

Kneed the dough once again for 15-20 seconds, cover and leave for 10 minutes to give the dough some relax.

Shape the dough round or oblong and place seam-side-up in the flour-dusted bread proving basket (banneton).

Cover and leave until almost doubled in height.

Preheat the oven to 220C/430F.

Dust an oven tray, or peel if you are using an oven stone, with semolina.

Upturn the loaf onto the tray and cut two or three slashes across it.

Bake the loaf with steam for the first 20 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 200C/390F and bake for further 20-25 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!