After traveling for a couple weeks in Europe, I couldn’t wait to resume my baking! This is slightly inspired my the wonderful breads I have seen during my recent trip to Spain & Germany.
This is another one of my just wing it recipe =) Here are the ingredients (mainly for myself so I can repeat this recipe next time)
Sponge Starter:
- 1/2 teaspoon of active dry yeast dissolve in 2 tablespoon of luke warm water
- 4 oz of rye flour
- 2 oz of bread flour
- 15 oz of luke warm water
- 1 oz of honey
Mix all of above ingredient and stir for one minute to ensure everything is well mixed and there is no lump of flour. Cover in damp cloth and let it sit for at least 3 hours. Notice you really don’t need too much yeast because you it giving the little creature more time to grow in the honey sponge.
Rest of rye brea ingredients:
- 14 oz of all purpose flour
- 1 cup of lightly roasted almond
- 2/3 cup of dried figs (cut off the stem and cut in half)
- 2 teaspoons of salt
The rest of the step is very simple, just pour the sponge on the flour, mix and knead until gluten is developed. (Remember to do the windowpane test). I find flatten our the dough and evenly spread out the fig and almond is the easiest way in incorporate the dry fruit and nuts into the dough.
Roll that into round knead and let it proof until it double in size. Then separate the dough into two even portion and shape into two basic long log. Let them raise again for until they double again. Just before baking, lightly dust some flour and slash the top for basic decoration. Bake the two log in 425F steamy hot oven for 20 minutes.
This bread is great for both savoury and sweet application! I just had a slice with goat cheese and another slice with Nutella. Really nice bite and wonderful chew from dried fig. Can totally omit the almond if u are allergic to nuts.
ATB YUMMY LAND 