Siegerland Hausbrot

After the Siegerland crusty bread comes a reader request for a Hausbrot from this region. It is quite fun to bake a bread according to only a few details. The details were a dark crumb, shiny crust, extremely long shelf-life and a small content of wholegrain flour. 

For the bread I selected a two-stage sourdough process, where the foundation sour stage was mixed with wholegrain rye flour. This foundation sour stage has a flexible maturity time of 15-24 hours and can therefore be prepared a day ahead without any concerns. The full sour stage has a maturity time of 3-4 hours whereby the desired maturity time is according to the dough temperature. 

In order to achieve a dark crumb without the use of rye malt, I used a dark rye Type 2500 flour and toasted leftover bread. The dark rye provides for a dark crumb and through its high water absorption it also provides for a long shelf-life. The amount of dark rye added should be limited to a maximum of 20% of the total amount of flour. A higher dosage would create a “greasy” crumb.

The toasted leftover bread also helps create the dark crumb and tenderness of the bread. The leftover bread was toasted at 140°C before soaking. Caution: Toasting too long can create bitter substances in the taste of bread.

To get a shiny crust, you can also apply a little diluted sourdough to the bread before baking. The sourdough is mixed with 5 times the amount of water and carefully brushed onto the proofed bread dough with a brush.

I turned off the oven 40 minutes into the bake, but the bread lingered in the shut-off oven for another 40 minutes. The strong crust formation assists in keeping the crumb tender days after baking. 

Recipe

For a total weight of 1980g / 2 pieces, each 990g

Foundation sourdough:

  •   30g Starter
  •   80g Water
  • 100g Wholegrain rye flour

Hydration (TA): 180 RT: 15-20 hours DT: 23-27°C

Full Sourdough:

  • 210g Mature foundation sourdough
  • 250g Rye flour Type 960
  • 280g Water

Hydration (TA): 203    Choice of RT/DT:  4 hours / 28°C,  3 hours / 30°C  or 2,5 hours / 34°C

Attention:  100g of mature sourdough is held back to brush on the dough.

Bread soaker:

  •   50g Toasted leftover bread
  • 125g Water  35°C

Mix at the same time as the full sourdough (soaking time of 2-3 hours)

Main dough:

  • 640g Mature full sourdough
  • 200g Rye flour Type 960
  • 200g Rye flour Type 2500
  • 300g Wheat flour Type 700
  • 175g Bread soaker
  • 425g Water 45°C
  •   25g Sea salt
  •   10g Yeast
  •     5g Bread spice

Mix all ingredients slowly for 6 minutes and knead at a fast speed for 1 minutes. Cover and let it rise in the mixing bowl for 20 minutes. Divide the dough into 2 equal sized pieces and first work into round loaves and then form into long loaves. 

While the bread is proofing, the remaining sourdough is diluted with water. Once fully proofed, the bread is placed onto a baking peel and then brushed with the liquid sourdough mixture 

The bread is baked at  250°C with steam. Release the steam after 3 minutes and after another 10 minutes the oven temperature is reduced to 200°C. After a total baking time of 40 minutes, the oven is turned off and the bread remains in the oven until the desired crust is formed (15-20 minutes).