Pinzgauer Bauernbrot

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large mixing bowl
• •Banneton proofing basket (22-24cm round) or deep bowl with linen cloth
• •Baking stone or heavy baking sheet
• •Bread lame or sharp serrated knife
• •Wire cooling rack
• •Roasting tin for oven steam

Instructions

1. 1

   Mix the Salzsauer

   The evening before you bake, combine the rye sourdough starter, 300g rye flour, 15g salt, and 250ml warm water in a large bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon or your hand until no dry flour remains. The mixture will be thick and paste-like, heavier than a wheat sponge. Cover with a damp cloth or cling film and leave it at room temperature overnight, ten to fourteen hours. The salt does something important here: it slows the fermentation, keeping the wild yeasts and bacteria in check so the sponge develops flavor without tipping into harsh acidity. This is the Salzsauer, and it's why Pinzgauer bread tastes rounder and sweeter than the sour rye loaves you find further north.

   If your kitchen runs cold, especially in winter, find the warmest spot you have. Near the oven, on top of the fridge, anywhere that holds around 22-25°C. Below 18°C, the Salzsauer stalls and you'll wake up to a bowl that hasn't moved.
2. 2

   Mix the main dough

   The next morning, the Salzsauer should smell pleasantly tangy, like sour apples, and look slightly puffed. Add the remaining 200g rye flour, the bread flour, 8g salt, crushed caraway seeds, and fennel seeds if you're using them. Pour in most of the warm water and mix everything together. Rye dough behaves nothing like wheat dough. It's sticky and heavy and it won't develop the elastic, stretchy quality you're used to with bread flour. Don't fight it. Mix until the ingredients are fully combined and the dough is uniformly shaggy and wet, about five minutes by hand. Add the remaining water if the dough feels stiff or if dry bits persist at the bottom. You want it tacky but holding together in one mass.

   Resist the urge to add more flour when you feel the stickiness. Rye dough is supposed to be wet. Wet rye dough makes moist bread. Dry rye dough makes a brick.
3. 3

   Bulk ferment the dough

   Cover the bowl and leave it in a warm spot for one and a half to two hours. Rye dough doesn't rise dramatically the way wheat dough does, so don't wait for it to double. You're looking for the dough to expand by about a third and feel slightly lighter when you tilt the bowl. The surface may show a few fine cracks. That's fine. That's the fermentation working.

4. 4

   Shape the loaf

   Dust your work surface generously with rye flour. Turn the dough out and dust the top as well. With well-floured hands, gather the dough into a round by folding the edges into the center, turning the mass a quarter turn after each fold. You'll make six or seven folds. Flip it seam-side down and use your hands to gently tighten the surface, rotating the ball against the counter until it feels taut. Don't overwork it. Rye dough tears if you handle it too aggressively. Dust a banneton or a deep bowl lined with a clean linen cloth with a heavy coating of rye flour and place the loaf seam-side up inside.

   Wet your hands between folds if the dough sticks too badly. Water works better than flour for handling rye. The banneton flour should be thick enough that you can see a solid white layer. Rye dough grabs onto everything, and a loaf stuck in the banneton is a sad morning.
5. 5

   Final proof and preheat

   Cover the banneton with a cloth and proof for forty-five minutes to one hour. The surface will develop small cracks when it's ready, and the dough will feel puffy but still spring back slowly when you press it with a floured finger. While the loaf proofs, place a baking stone or your heaviest baking sheet on the middle rack of your oven and set an empty roasting tin on the floor of the oven. Preheat to 240°C. You need the stone ripping hot before the bread goes in.

6. 6

   Score and bake

   Turn the proofed loaf onto a sheet of baking paper, seam-side down now. The rye flour from the banneton will leave a beautiful white dusting on the surface. Score the top with a deep cross using a bread lame or sharp serrated knife, cutting about one centimeter deep with confident strokes. The cuts let the bread expand evenly in the oven and givethe loaf its traditional Pinzgau look. Slide the bread, paper and all, onto the hot baking stone. Pour a cup of hot water into the roasting tin and close the oven door quickly. That burst of moisture helps the crust develop before it sets. Bake at 240°C for fifteen minutes, then reduce the heat to 200°C and continue for another thirty-five to forty minutes. The bread is done when you knock the bottom and it sounds unmistakably hollow, a deep thud, not a dull thump.

7. 7

   Cool completely before cutting

   Set the loaf on a wire rack and leave it alone. This is the hardest part and the most important. Rye bread must cool completely before you cut it, at least two hours, and ideally longer. The crumb continues to set as the loaf cools, and cutting too early gives you a gummy, underbaked interior no matter how long it spent in the oven. I know the smell will test your patience. Walk out of the kitchen if you have to. Come back in two hours with a bread knife and the satisfaction of having done this properly. Mahlzeit!

Chef Tips

• •If you don't have a rye sourdough starter, you can build one in about five to seven days. Mix equal parts rye flour and water, leave it at room temperature, and feed it daily. By day five or six, it should be reliably bubbly and smell like sour apples. Or do what I did when I first started baking: ask a baker. Most sourdough bakers are happy to share a spoonful of starter, and a spoonful is all you need.
• •Crush the caraway seeds lightly with the flat of a knife or in a mortar. You want them cracked open, not ground to powder. Whole caraway slides off the palate without releasing much, ground caraway turns bitter in the crumb, but crushed caraway opens its oils into the dough while keeping some texture. The fennel does the same thing on a quieter note. Together they give the bread that unmistakable Pinzgau character.
• •This bread is better on day two than day one. By the third day, it's perfect. The crumb firms up, the rye flavor deepens, and it slices cleanly for Brotzeit with butter, radishes, and cold cuts. Don't judge the loaf by the first slice.
• •Wrap the cooled loaf in a clean linen cloth and store it at room temperature. It keeps for five to seven days. The linen lets the crust breathe so it stays crackling and dry. Plastic bags trap moisture and ruin the crust within a day. If you must use the freezer, slice first so you can pull out what you need and toast it directly from frozen.

Advance Preparation

• •The Salzsauer must be mixed the evening before baking. This overnight ferment is not optional and cannot be shortened. Plan your baking day accordingly.
• •The baked loaf freezes well for up to three months. Slice it before freezing so you can pull out individual slices and toast them directly without thawing.
• •Store the cooled bread wrapped in linen at room temperature for up to seven days. The flavor deepens through day three and the bread toasts beautifully all week.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 108g)