I just made the biggest loaf. Seriously, this one almost didn’t make it out of the oven. Something having to do with the warm weather, I think, has made my yeast into super yeast. The dough from this seigle was trying to push its way out of the bowl and crawl out the back door, good thing I heard its conspiring and ran to the kitchen to intervene. Brought it to Beer Church tonight, and quite a hit!
Pain de Seigle Sur Poolish
Sponge-Method Rye Bread
Adapted from The Village Baker
Poolish (the sponge)
2 packages dry yeast (or two cups sourdough starter)
2 cups water
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup rye flour
Dough
1 ½ cups warm water
The Poolish (previous)
2 cups rye flour
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp salt
Glaze: 1 egg whisked up with 1 tablespoon milk
Mix together the poolish and allow to sit, covered, for at least 3 hours. Then make the dough, slowly, slowly add the flour. Sprinkle the salt in toward the end, and knead on a surface for 3 minutes. The dough will seem sticky (if it’s too sticky, it is okay to add another ½ cup flour). Place the dough in an oiled bowl to rise for 2 hours, and then flatten it out and shape into a boule. Let it rise in a banneton for another hour. Slash with a cross or a circle, or, if you want to try out the stamp method again, pick the surface 8 to 10 times with an ice pick and glaze. Bake at 450 for 40-50 minutes.
5 stars for this massive loaf, as wide as the oven. 
Ha, I love the image of the bread spilling out your door – your own version of Strega Nona! 🙂
This looks great. Do you bake it in a Dutch oven? I tried baking a boule at 450 last week but the outside was getting overcooked before the inside was even close to done, and I ended up having to cover it so it wouldn’t burn. Maybe it’s just my oven though. By the way, your dog is ridiculously cute!!
I use just a plain ole’ oven– but I’ve found a good trick is to get a baking stone and let it preheat up to 450 as well. If you don’t want to splurge for a stone, quarry tiles work well too. Every oven is different– I found that if I move a rack to the bottom rung and to the front, it cooks more evenly. Thanks about the bulldog–she is lazy but quite supportive in my bread project. Especially when I share with her
Aww your dog sounds like quite the character! Thanks for the tip about the quarry tiles, I’ve been using the bottom of my cast iron pan but that’s probably not ideal haha. Come to think of it, I’m probably putting it too high in the oven, so I’ll try it lower next time and probably have more success 🙂