Monday, December 28, 2009

Sundays with Marlena Spieler-Rye Sourdough Bread


My husband makes the bread in our family. He has struggled with some of the recipes for bread in this book, as it was published with the wrong info in the baking section..at least this one sure was Not Marlena's fault, of course. So we continue to cook our way thru Jewish Cooking!

His version of New York Seeded Corn Rye Sourdough Bread is as follows: makes 2 loaves

4-5 cups of flour..depending on how sticky the dough is. Use some for flouring the board and the peel.
A small package of dry yeast
1 cup of lukewarm water
1 1/2 tsp of caraway seeds
1 TBLS Salt
1/4 corn meal..for sprinkling (Dave is leaving this step out next time...kitchen gets smokey)

For the sourdough starter:

2 1/4 cups unbleached bread flour
1 small package rapid rise yeast
1 cup warmish water

For the sponge:

1 3/4 cups rye flour
1 cup lukewarm water

To make the starter, put flour into a large bowl and stir in yeast then make a well in the center. Stir in the water and mix. Cover tightly and leave at room temp for two days or in fridge for up to a week.

For the sponge, put the rye flour into another large bowl, mix in the sourdough starter and water. Cover tightly and keep at room temp for 8 hours or in fridge for up to 2 days.

Put the flour into a large bowl and add the sponge, yeast, water, seeds, salt, and mix to a soft yet somewhat sticky dough., Turn the dough into a large, clean bowl, sprinkle with flour, clover with clean towel and leave to rise in a warm spot until doubled in size...about 2 hours.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and punch down..then knead for 3 or four minutes. this is a workout! It looks like one anyway. Divide the dough in half and then shape each loaf into a round. Sprinkle two baking sheets with cornmeal. {I suggest flour or maybe lightly spray with Pam or something like that} Place the loaves on top and score with a sharp knife (see photo). Cover the loaves and leave in warm place for about 45 minutes or they double in size.

Preheat oven to 425. Fill a roasting pan with boiling water and put on top rack. My husband bought heat resistant tiles to put in the bottom of the oven..but that was his way to make it more like a bread oven. Marlena says to put the water in the bottom of the oven though. Carefully transfer loaves onto flour-dusted peel and then onto baking sheets. Bake for about 35 minutes until lightly browned and you hear a hollow sound when tapped. The outside will be crunchy. Yum. Perfect for a reuben..or any kind of sandwich! Maybe just warm with butter?

Thanks Dave!!

Be sure to check out Shankari's blog and Eileens blog...although I think Eileen is taking a holiday break from posting. Hell, I am a day late...and yes, a dollar short.

22 comments:

Peg said...

He does make some beautiful bread.

Anonymous said...

You might want to correct the misspelling of flour in the ingredient list. Otherwise, looks yummy!

Unknown said...

It isn't spelled wrong..but thanks because I did another spellcheck and I had misspelled the word perfect. Left out the r.

Thanks for stopping by.

Anonymous said...

Huh? You meant to spell "flour" as "flower"? Am I missing the joke?

Unknown said...

Thank you spelling police person. I did spell it correctly nine other times though! LOL!

Anonymous said...

Spelling police? Seems a bit passive-aggressive, if you ask me, especially since I also complimented the recipe and picture.

I linked to your site after your post about the sourbread on the kosher board of Chowhound, but between the other thread you are involved in there and this, it seems you are a very easily angered person.

I think you could attract many new readers to your blog, but your attitude in both places is very key to whether that happens or not. I know you will remove this comment, but at least I will know you saw it. Just think about it.

Unknown said...

To Anonymous:

You just don't know me. I looked at my responses to you here..and on the other board. I thought about it. I didn't feel angry then, don't now. I don't think my response to you was out of anger. It really wasn't a passive-aggressive statement and I'm sorry you took it that way. We all filter info we read through our own brains...see, that is the kicker with email, FB, blogs..etc.

Like I said, thanks for stopping by...and I mean it! :)

I don't censor my blog posts unless they are vile or abusive. Yours was from your heart. I appreciate people who are "up front" because I am too.

Have a Happy New Year...and I really mean that!

Me. Here. Right now. said...

To Anonymous (very brave of you, by the way): I recommend that if you find a misspelling on a blog and it offends you to such a degree that you can't contain yourself you just not return. Your display here hit me quite negatively.

You seem quite willing to point out what you perceive to be the failings of others. I'm so glad Mel has taken the high ground and is not insulted by your rude behavior here, but were it me, I would not welcome you back.

DIL said...

I didn't get to see the misspelling... If I did I probably would not have notice as i suck at spelling myself... But I think you should use "flower" in place of "flour" for all your recipes! It's cute!

Unknown said...

Here is the link to the Kosher Chowhound board that anonymous mentioned.

http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/677462

DIL...I might just start spelling flour...as flower. It has a nice ring to it!

Me. Here. Right now. said...

To me the Chowhound thread was very interesting. As with great scholars of sacred texts, some people are going to pick every nit until they reveal the nugget of truth at the core.

You got a few of those kinds of non-answer questions from your question. Like Talmudic scholars.

Maybe next time ask something like: If you were raised an Ashkenazi Jew in America sometime between 1900 and today, what do you remember to be the things you most enjoyed eating in your kosher or non-kosher home during holidays and Seder or just during regular meals that may have been influenced by the generations that came before your parents or may not have?

Unknown said...

Lori...that is exactly how I should have posed the question! How silly of me to have gotten straight to the point! Thanks..and I mean that.

Love ya!

The thread is interesting to read.

Unknown said...

I found this interesting article while searching

http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/chefsexperts/interviews/joannathaninterview

An interview with Joan Nathan about Jewish Cooking.

Unknown said...

I wonder why my links are not highlited??

Unknown said...

My son sent this to me on FB.

"The word "flour" was originally a variant of the word "flower." Both derive from the Old French fleur or flour, which had the literal meaning "blossom," and a figurative meaning "the finest." The phrase "fleur de farine'" meant "the finest part of the meal," since flour resulted from the elimination of coarse and unwanted matter from the grain during milling.[1]"

Anonymous said...

Over shabbos, I had a bit of time to think about the insulting response made to me by lhahn.

First of all, I wonder why a simple statement like my first comment here: “you might want to correct . . .” was taken as an indication that I was offended. My initial comment was equally divided into the suggestion about the minor misspelling and a compliment on the picture of the bread.

In my later comment, I was a bit more surprised at being called the “spelling police,” for the one innocent suggestion I had made. I realize that the current trend in the US, and maybe the world, is that spelling is not very important anymore, especially with all the texting and emailing people do. Still, on a blog, something which is, in theory, given thought and edited, I wonder why someone (lhahn, not the blog author) feels that “anything goes” . . . or should, at any rate.

And perhaps my biggest question is why my use of “anonymous” is cowardly. You want a name? OK, here it is: Susan Baker. Or is it Marsha Weinstein? Or Joe Piscatelli? Or Bruce Sterling? How does a name really indicate who I actually am? My name might be any one of those . . . or none of them. What about lhahn? Is that YOUR actual name? Is it short for L. Hahn or L. H. Ahn? How does your use of some supposed identifier make you braver than I? Do you think I was worried about Melody Koontz hunting me down if she had my real name because I pointed out a spelling error to her? Are you serious? I generally stay anonymous on most internet sites because of my profession; it had nothing to do with the nature of my comment. On Chowhound I use an alias, because you have to register with something more than “anonymous,” but if you think that you are the only “lhahn” in the world (whatever name it really stands for), and therefore, by using that five letter identifier, you are being more open and above board than I, we are clearly living in different universes.

I am sorry to have to take valuable space on someone else's blog to make these comments, but this is where the issue took place. If it is inappropriate, I leave it to the author to do with it what she will.

Unknown said...

To Anonymous:

You don't work at the Pentagon do you?

I am kinda thinking that during shabbos you might have reflected on your own actions instead of on the actions of others...or let the entire thing go. Even if my friends correct my spelling..I call them the spelling police.

Seriously now...let it go. Don't come back. Take a chill pill.

Me. Here. Right now. said...

Really Mel. What a hoot.

Anonymous...for one thing, Mel knows who I am and you could easily find out who I am. I don't hide my comments behind a cloak of anonymity.

Perhaps it was your upbringing or perhaps you are just an ass generally. It really matters not in my world, but that you wasted that much time and thought during Shabbos on this is really quite amusing to me.

Look at it this way: I found your comments after your spelling correction insulting to the blog author. I find you boorish. I find you petty and I also would guess that you have some issues with control. Those are all my opinions of Anonymous. And, you haven't provided anything new here, I find this to be true of most people who comment as Anonymous and feel the need to "correct" others and then fiercely defend their poor behavior.

Glenna said...

I think making comments telling an author to correct a spelling mistake, no matter the intention, to be pretty boorish too. I dunno, it just doesn't seem to be a huge mistake in the big scheme of things. I also would have called you the spelling police. It's usually a gracious way of teasing someone who's taking themselves too seriously, or put another way, it was a joke made to someone who was taking themselves too seriously! And again...and again...

CBoshell said...

I'm lovin this......MEEEEEOOOOOW

Pat said...

Ahhhh...sweet Peg. If only it could have ended there...but no Anonymous must rear her ugly head!! What a hoot to read. Truly, it has made my evening here at work much more bearable. Lori, I could read your words forever. Bravo Peg, Melody, LHahn, Glenna and even that wild and crazy Anonymous!

Me. Here. Right now. said...

Mel - She just missed the point that the spelling thing really wasn't the worst of her behavior - it was all the BS that followed that was totally unnecessary and de classe'.

I like your official spelling police link on FB - very funny.