Spelt and rye sourdough

Really enjoyed last weeks loaf - so much so, that I thought I'd try a slight variation this week. Interested to see what the addition of rye would add to the loaf - I'm guessing that it will make it a heavier, darker loaf, but I'm hoping that it will add the flavour of rye without weighing it down too much.

So, this weeks loaf went something like this -

Production leaven - spelt starter, spelt flour, and water. Made to a soft dough. This time I placed it in the fridge overnight as the weather's been fairly warm.
'Mush' - no raisins, so I used sultanas. Soaked in boiling water overnight.
Flour/water mix - in the morning, I mixed half spelt, half rye, with the water for the dough, and left to relax for 30 minutes.

Kneaded the flour/water mix and the 'mush' until they'd formed a cohesive dough. Then I kneaded in the production leaven. Left for 1hr on a moistened worktop, under an upturned bowl. The dough was then stretched and folded, as with the other "Bread Matters" sourdoughs.

For the first time, I decided to support the loaf in a floured, tea-towel lined, bowl (in lieu of a proving basket). So the prepared dough went in seam-side up. This offered the final proof much more support and meant that the dough didn't spread out at all. Much better! Will definitely be doing this again.

Final proof took only a two hours - the combination of the wholemeal spelt and rye meant that I knew it wouldn't rise much. Used the small oven too, so minimal warming-up time. The obvious bonus being that this oven actualy works!

Great oven-spring! Tasty, slightly sweet (due to the sultana mush), with a nice texture. One minor thing - could have done with an extra 10 minutes in the oven - ever-so-slightly underdone. No matter, still a gorgeous loaf!

Spelt & Rye sourdough