STIR THE POTS: Landbrot 60/40

Landbrot 60/40

It's been a sort of quest of late, like the holy grail or at least a wish to bake a decent loaf of rye for some time now like my friend Nina in Denmark who makes a mean 100% rye.

so I refreshed some starters for a bake-athon weekend with the first out of the oven being a Landbrot with some gewürze I bought in Maisprach this summer! I dug through my baking school recipes choosing Landbrot a 60/40 loaf of wheat and rye. Being cautious I decided to make life easy, a touch of commercial yeast in case my rye starter was not too awake, then I forgot completely to mix half whole wheat and white flour for a sort of bise flour effect, as the recipe called for whole wheat in the final dough.Then I could smell the gewürze in my baking bin wafting so I added it in. Gewürze are generally comprised of fennel, coriander,cumin and caraway spice that are common in German and Swiss breads, though I have even seen pepper added in for certain loaves. This time too I was actually being an observant baker, no notes, but not my usual "lazy baker" routine. Times were maintained, mixing,pre-shaping, shaping and even the slashing of the loaves! First observations from the oven to cooling rack, a nice caramel color with definite spice smell and a light loaf, probably the added commercial yeast! Sourdough purists, forgive me!