Comfort food?

Today is the Belgian national day, 21 July - the day the first King of the Belgians took his oath of office in 1831. Despite working for an international institution, I also get the day off, which is always welcome. I had intended to go in to the centre of town and watch the festivities, which include a military parade. However, the weather was so bad that I couldn't face it - it was cold, wet and windy. More like October than July. So I stayed at home, and enjoyed one of my indoor passions - baking bread.

I baked a couple of loaves of sourdough rye bread - OK, I lied a bit, I started the process yesterday, before it became obvious that today would be so bad weatherwise. But since sourdough is such a slow process, I would have had time to go into town during the 'rising' periods. To make sourdough rye is fairly simple - first catch yourself a wild yeast, which you keep, by partially using and replenishing every week or two. To catch the wild yeast, leave a batter of flour and water in the open air for a day or so, until the wild yeasts in the atmosphere colonise it - it will start to bubble a bit. Keep this captive yeast/batter mix in the fridge until you need to use it - this is then your 'sourdough starter'.

When you want to bake the bread, take the starter out the day before, and replenish it with some flour and lukewarm water. Do this in the morning, and in the evening of the day before you intend to bake. On baking day, in the morning, take some of the (now expanded) sourdough and put it back in the fridge for next time. With the sourdough you intend to use (about a cup-full), mix the flour (rye and wheat in roughly even proportion), and a teaspoon of salt, and warm water to make a fairly wet dough. Mix it well - I use a handheld mixer with dough-hooks. Leave it to rise for a few hours - it will be a slow rise, as sourdough starter is far less potent that fresh or dried yeast (this would have been the time to go into the July 21 celebrations). When the dough has risen somewhat (a doubling is too much to hope for), re-knead it a bit, and form into loaves of whatever shape you want. Place these on wooden boards dusted with fine cornflour (to avoid sticking). After another few hours, depending on how fast they rise, turn on your oven to 250 C. I bake directly on a tile placed low in the oven, to similate a 'real' brick bread oven. When the oven it up to temperature, quickly slide one of the loaves onto the tile, and bake for about 20 or 25 minutes, until the crust is brown. Remove the loaf, and repeat with the next one, if there is one. And here is the result: