Rye-spelt cottage bread “Drager Landbrot”

70 % rye / 30 % spelt | single stage rye sourdough

The Drager Landbrot has arisen from a spontaneously improvised recipe, when a freshly cultivated sourdough was looking for a first object of activity. In the meantime, however, the recipe has reached a stable – and very tasty – state.

Schedule

  • Sourdough: 5 minutes preparation, 12-14h ripening
  • Main dough: 15 minutes preparation, 60 minutes bulk fermentation, 75 minutes final proofing
  • Baking time: 65 minutes (45 with lid + 20 without)

Ingredients sourdough

  • 220g wholegrain rye flour
  • 220g water (ca. 35 °C)
  • 22g starter (rye sour)

Prepare the sourdough

  • Mix ingredients in a large bowl; close the bowl
  • Allow to ripe at 20–22 °C for 12-14 hours
  • The dough is ready when it has significantly increased its volume, is streaked with bubbles, and has a slightly sour smell

Ingredients main dough

  • Entire sourdough
  • 300g rye flour type 1150
  • 230g spelt flour type 630
  • 260g water (40 °C)
  • 8g fresh yeast (alternative: 2.75g dry yeast)
  • 12g salt

Prepare the main dough

  • Put all the ingredients except the salt in a mixing bowl
  • Knead with a food processor: 6 minutes on speed 1 (slowest), 2 minutes on speed 2 (next fastest)
  • After about 2 minutes, add the salt
  • If the dough sticks to the walls of the bowl, push it down with a dough card if necessary

Bulk fermentation

  • Put the finished dough in a large bowl, the bottom of which has been lightly floured; form a ball and flatten it a little; close the bowl
  • Let the dough rest for 60 minutes at approx. 24 °C (e.g. on top of the kitchen cupboard)
  • After 30 minutes, open the bowl and fold the dough upwards all around with a dough card
  • After 60 minutes, fold again, then flour the dough, turn it over, bring it into a round shape and put it in a well-floured proofing basket
  • Cover the proofing basket with a large bowl or shower cap

Final proofing

  • Let the dough rest at 24 °C for about 75 minutes in the proofing basket; the dough should have increased in volume by approx. 50% and show clear cracks in the surface
  • Put a large pot with a lid (ideal: Dutch oven; diameter approx. 24cm) without plastic parts in the oven; preheat the oven to 250 °C (recirculation mode) for 1 hour

Baking

  • At the end of the proofing time, carefully lift the dough out of the basket onto a floured plate so that the top remains on top; if this is too complicated for you, you can also simply turn the dough onto the plate
  • If the dough is turned over, the surface should be cut several times in a shallow crosswise fashion (about 0.5cm deep) to create a star-shaped pattern
  • Let the dough rest on the plate for about 5 minutes
  • Carefully lift the dough into the preheated pot; close the pot lid quickly
  • Set oven temperature to 210 °C and bake for a total of 65 minutes at falling temperature
  • After 45 minutes, remove the lid and bake for another 20 minutes.
  • Turn the finished bread out onto a rack and leave to cool for approx. 2h

Tips & tricks

  • If you do not have a proofing basket at hand, you can also leave the dough in the bowl after the second folding for the piece proofing; flour it there and let it proof further.
  • If you don’t have a Dutch oven at hand, you can also bake the bread on the baking tray or pizza stone. In this case, follow the instructions for baking from this recipe with adjusted times and the cutting pattern for the Landbrot.

Original recipe

I used this simple recipe to bake the first version of Drager Landbrot, whose rather roughly measured ingredients resulted from the circumstances described here. The processes were largely identical to those described above, but the bread was kneaded by hand, ripened entirely in a large bowl, and baked on the baking sheet instead of in the Dutch oven. To ensure a better micro climate in the oven, a glass of water was poured into a heated ceramic bowl immediately after the dough was put into the oven.

  • 500g sourdough starter
  • 250g wholegrain rye flour
  • 200g spelt flour type 630
  • 200g water (lukewarm)
  • 10g salt
  • 3.5g dry yeast (1/2 package)