I’ve read through Stanley Ginsberg’s book ‘The Rye Baker’. It has great eye-opening information in it and the principles have been extremely valuable to me. If you are interested in rye baking, then you should definitely check it out (you can find it in my Amazon store).
Saying all that, some of the recipes I’ve tried have not been to my taste, so I decided to use the principles I learned from that book to modify the recipes in that book to fit my baking style and desired results.
This is a modified Swedish limpa. Staying true to the seasonings given in the recipe (coriander, fennel, caraway, anise), but changing the flour and liquid. 60% white rye, 20% wholegrain rye, 20% white wheat mixed with milk and yogurt (or buttermilk).
Resulting in a super soft, delicate, and moist sandwich loaf full of flavour and sweetness.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – learning the principles of baking is far more valuable than learning recipes. It gives us freedom to modify any recipe to our liking.
You can modify my recipe too by using different seeds for seasoning or changing the proportions to suit your taste. You can play around with the flour and make the dough even with 100% rye.
This loaf fits perfectly in a 2lb baking tin. You can find the exact USA Pan tin in my Amazon store if you’re interested.
Watch the video down below for detailed instructions.
Ingredients
For the dough –
5g (0.17oz) caraway seed
4g (0.14oz) fennel seed
4g (0.14oz) coriander seed
4g (0.14oz) anise seed
360g (12.7oz) milk
60g (2.1oz) yogurt or buttermilk
30g (1oz) butter
100g (3.5oz) black treacle
6g (0.21oz) salt
5g (0.17oz) instant dry yeast or g active dry yeast or 15g fresh yeast
100g (3.5oz) white bread flour
100g (3.5oz) wholegrain (dark) rye flour. Medium will work too.
300g (10.6oz) white (light) rye flour
Method
- Make the seasoning. Combine the seeds in a pan and place on high heat. Toast whilst moving continuously for around 2 minutes or until the seeds become aromatic and you start seeing smoke appearing.
- Grind the seeds to a powder. You can leave them slightly chunky for aesthetics if you like.
- Infuse the milk. Combine the milk-yogurt mix with the seasoning powder in a small pan set on medium heat. Warm the milk gently to nearly 40C (104F).
- Make the dough. Pour the infused milk in a large bowl and add the butter, treacle, and salt. Mix well. Just in case, check the temperature to see if it’s not too hot for the yeast. It should be no more than 47C (116F).
- Add the yeast, white bread flour, and wholegrain rye flour. Whisk until smooth.
- Finally, add the white rye flour and finish the mix. *Desired dough temperature around 32C (90F). If your dough is warmer, then it will ferment more rapidly. If it is cooler, then it will take longer. Adjust proofing time accordingly.
- Pour the dough in a greased tin and spread it out so it gets into all the corners. Sooth the top. Cover.
- Proof for 1 – 1.5 hours. During this time pre-heat the oven to 160C (320F) fan on or 180C (355F) fan off.
- Cover the loaf with a lid or with foil and bake it for 50 minutes.
- Remove from the tin and gently place it back into the oven on its side to bake for another 10 minutes. Turn the loaf onto the other side halfway through the final bake.
- Leave to cool down completely before slicing to avoid having a gummy crumb.
Keep in mind that the conditions in each kitchen are different, so fermentation times may vary for you. It is up to the baker to control the bread and react accordingly.
Your oven may be different too, so your baking time may vary.
Watch The Video Here
