Swiss Rye Ring | Brasciadela

This Swiss Rye Ring is based on a bread from the Graubünden canton in Switzerland. It has the tang of sourdough with the combined flavors of rye and wheat. It is delicious with smoked fish and cured meats.

The dough calls for a combination of white rye and medium rye to simulate a Swiss rye called Type 1150 that is not available here.

In addition, the bread includes first clear flour, which was traditionally used to make Jewish deli rye. It is the flour that is left after the bran has been removed and the white endosperm has been removed for making white flour. Essentially, it is "leftover" flour. To read more about it, visit The Rye Baker.

As a bread geek, I just happened to have all three flours in my freezer. If you don't want to buy first clear flour, you can simulate it by sifting out some of the bran through a mesh sieve and using the sifted flour (not the bran).

The original recipe also calls for a rye sour culture. Instead, I used my wheat sourdough to build the rye sponge, and it worked just fine.

This bread was really easy to make, with very little hands on time. It was delicious thinly sliced and topped with cream cheese, smoked salmon, and red onions.

The recipe was chosen by Cathy of Bread Experience for the Bread Baking Babes monthly bake. After the recipe, be sure to check out how the rest of the Babes fared with this recipe.

Swiss Rye Ring

Ingredients

Rye sponge:

• 300 grams (10.6 ounces) medium rye flour
• 200 grams (7.05 ounces) warm (105 degrees F) water
• 20 grams (.7 ounces) sourdough starter

Wheat poolish:

• 200 grams (7.05 ounces) first clear flour
• 200 grams (7.05 ounces) cold water
• 8 grams (.3 ounces) instant yeast

Final dough:

• All of the rye sponge
• All of the wheat poolish
• 110 grams (3.88 ounces) medium flour
• 210 grams (7.41 ounces) white rye flour
• 82 grams (2.89 ounces) first clear flour
• 170 grams (6 ounces) warm (105 degrees F) water
• 20 grams (.71) salt

Instructions

1. The night before baking day, in a medium bowl, combine the sponge ingredients by hand into a stiff dough, cover with plastic wrap, and let rest at room temperature for 10 to 12 hours, until doubled.
2. At the same time, mix the poolish ingredients by hand in a medium bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 10 to 12 hours.
3. The next morning, combine all of the final dough ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with the dough hook on low speed for about 6 to 8 minutes. The dough should be slightly sticky. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled, about 60 to 90 minutes.
4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and divide into two equal pieces. Form each piece into an 18 inch log and shape into a ring sealing the ends with water. Place each on a piece of parchment paper and cover with oiled plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature until they have expanded and show some bubbles and cracks on the surface. Dock the dough with a skewer or chopstick all over, at least 1/4 inch deep.
5. Preheat the oven to 480 degrees F with a baking stone on the middle rack and a pan on the lower rack. Bring a cup of water to a boil on the stove top.
6. Slide the loaves onto the baking stone, and poor the boiling water into the steam pan. After 15 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 410 degrees F and bake an additional 10 to 30 minutes (the original recipe calls for 30 minutes, but my loaf was ready in 10), until the loaf reaches an internal temperature of about 200 degrees F.
7. Transfer the loaves to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Yield: 2 1 1/4 pound loaves

Adapted from The Rye Baker, adapted from Bernd's Bakery

The Bread Baking Babes who baked along are:

• Blog from OUR Kitchen – Elizabeth
• A Messy Kitchen – Kelly
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories – Karen
• Notitie Van Lien – Lien
• Bread Experience - Cathy
• My Kitchen in Half Cups - Tanna
• Feeding My Enthusiasms - Elle
• Judy's Gross Eats - Judy