Palanga Rye/Ruginė Duona iš Palangos (Lithuania)

Rye %: 90%
Stages: Sourdough sponge, Scald, Scald-sponge (Opara), Yeast sponge, Final dough
Leaven: Rye sour culture, Instant yeast
Start to Finish: 24-30 hours
Hands-on Time: 45-50 minutes
Yield: One 3¼ lb/1.46 kg loaf

My weakness for Baltic rye breads took over when I found this recipe in a Polish blog. Just to set the scene, Palanga is a coastal resort in western Lithuania, on the shores of the Baltic whose white sand beaches attract tourists from all over Europe, especially Poles and Germans. I suspect that this bread, which is lighter in both color and flavor that the other Baltic ryes I’ve encountered, is intended to appeal to the tastes of the town’s economically important summer visitors. Instead of the wholegrain rye flour that’s commonly used in Baltic breads, this one uses Type 1150, a much lighter blend that can be approximated by mixing 2/3 medium rye and 1/3 white rye.

Despite the lightness of the flour, the baking method is pure Baltic-Russian. a sour sponge, a scald that includes caraway and pale rye malt and a scald-sponge produce the sweet-sour flavor profile that’s typical of Baltic ryes, but with a lower level of intensity. A yeast sponge, meanwhile, opens and tenderizes the crumb, while a dry bake produces a thick, crisp crust that’s a delight to chew.

This is an exceedingly versatile bread that will go with pretty much anything savory: my own preference is for what I call “Baltic sushi” – a slab of lightly buttered rye, topped with herring and sliced red onion.

Sponge (Day 1, Morning):

Ingredient

Grams

Ounces

Baker’s
Percentage

NYB Type 1150 light rye flour

50

1.75

100%

Warm (105°F/41°C) water

50

1.75

100%

Rye sour culture

5

0.20

10%

Combine the sponge ingredients, cover and ferment at room temperature (70°F/21°C) 8-10 hours. The sponge will be bubbly and will have doubled in volume.

 

 

 

Scald (Day 1, Afternoon):

Ingredient

Grams

Ounces

Baker’s
Percentage

NYB Type 1150 light rye flour

290

10.25

100%

Pale rye malt, ground

10

0.35

3%

Caraway seed

2

0.05

1%

Hot (150°F/65°C) water

400

14.10

138%

Combine the scald ingredients, cover and place in a warm (150°F/65°C) oven for 3 hours, then remove and let cool for 1 hour. The scald will have become very liquid and will have a strong sweet/malty aroma.

 

 

Opara (Day 1, Evening)

Ingredient

Grams

Ounces

Baker’s
Percentage

Sponge

105

3.75

100%

Scald

702

24.75

669%

Combine the sponge and the scald in the mixer bowl, cover, and ferment at room temperature, 10-12 hours or overnight. The scald-sponge will be very bubbly and have a strong sweet-sour smell.

 

 

 

Yeast sponge (Day 2, Morning)

Ingredient

Grams

Ounces

Baker’s
Percentage

NYB Type 1150 light rye flour

150

5.30

100%

Warm (105°F/41°C) water

150

5.30

100%

Instant yeast, ½ tsp 2

0.05

1%

Two hours before the scald-sponge matures, combine the yeast sponge in a separate container, cover and ferment at room temperature 2 hours. The sponge will have doubled and have a bubbled surface.

Final Dough (Day 2, Morning):

Ingredient

Grams

Ounces

Scald-sponge

807

28.50

Yeast sponge

302

10.65

NYB Type 1150 light rye flour

390

13.75

Bread flour

100

3.55

Warm (105°F/41°C) water

40

1.40

Salt

8

0.30

Sugar

20

0.70

Combine the scald-sponge, yeast sponge and final dough ingredients in the mixer bowl and mix until thoroughly blended into a stiff dough that leaves the sides of the bowl, 4-5 minutes.

 

 

 

Cover the bowl and ferment at room temperature 1-2 hours, until the dough has doubled in volume and shows cracks or broken bubbles on the surface.

 

 

 

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and use wet hands to shape it into a boule or oblong.

 

 

 

Place on a floured peel, if using a baking stone, or a parchment-lined sheet pan, cover and proof at room temperature until the loaf has visibly expanded and shows cracks or broken bubbles on the surface, about 1 hour.

 

 

Preheat the oven to 450°F/230°C with the baking surface in the middle . Spray or brush the loaf with water and bake until the loaves thump when tapped with a finger and the internal temperature is at least 203°F/95°C, 60-70 minutes. Transfer to a rack, immediately brush the crust with boiling water, and cool thoroughly before slicing.

Baker’s Percentages

Ingredient

g

%

TOTAL FLOUR

990

100.00%

  Type 1150 light rye flour

880

88.89%

  Bread flour

100

10.10%

  Malted rye

10

1.01%

Water

640

64.65%

Salt

8

0.81%

Instant yeast

2

0.20%

Rye sour culture

5

0.51%

Sugar

20

2.02%

Caraway seed

2

0.20%

TOTAL FORMULA

1,667

168.38%

% prefermented

490

49.49%

 


14 Comments

  • Britta

    January 4, 2018

    Beautiful bread with an artistic presentation and a meticulous recipe. Thanks for posting. Britta at Castlerock Sourdough

    Reply
  • Linda Teders

    January 6, 2018

    Hi,
    You list 20 gr sugar in your total ingredients, but I don’t see it in the recipe. I’m guessing it goes in with the yeast sponge?

    kind regards
    Linda

    Reply
    • Stanley Ginsberg

      January 6, 2018

      Sorry…. goes in the final dough. Correction made, and thanks for the sharp eyes.

      Reply
  • Tortoise

    January 10, 2018

    Hi Stan,
    Can you give us an idea of approximately how long your final proof took at room temperature before popping into the oven? I’m planning on baking this delicious looking bread this weekend and need to draft a rough timeline.
    Thanks,
    Tortoise

    Reply
    • Stanley Ginsberg

      January 10, 2018

      About 1 hour at room temperature. Apologies for not including that. Recipe fixed

      Reply
  • Jessica

    January 11, 2018

    Thank you for the recipe! 🙂 will save this for my future bakes 🙂 I love Palanga’s rye, favourite from early childhood 🙂 <3 Thank you !

    Reply
  • Pingback: Palanga Rye – Fornacalia

    • Stanley Ginsberg

      January 20, 2018

      IMO, any diastatic malt will do, since its purpose is to provide the amylase enzymes that convert starches to sugars. The recipes that use rye malt do so because it appears in the original formulas. There may be slight flavor variations between breads made with rye malt vs. barley malt, but in general I think the two are interchangeable. Let us know how the bread turns out!

      Reply
  • Heather

    February 6, 2018

    May be a dumb question but where do I get the rye sour culture?

    Reply
    • Stanley Ginsberg

      February 11, 2018

      no dumb questions, only dumb answers. there are a zillion methods of creating your own sourdough starter online. just google “sourdough starter.” Instead of feeding it with wheat flour, use equal amounts by weight of rye flour and water.

      Reply
  • Eliza

    March 27, 2019

    I have a problem: in my home the room temperature is 26-27°C , I think I should shorten the time for each stage(except for the baking), but I don’t know with how much. Can you help me ?

    Reply
  • Eliza

    March 28, 2019

    What I should do differently if my room temperature in my kitchen is 26-27°C ?

    Reply
    • Stanley Ginsberg

      April 12, 2019

      Expect shorter fermentation and proofing times and adjust accordingly.

      Reply
  • Marta

    April 28, 2020

    Made this bread today and it was delicious. I`m fairly new to bread baking, so this was a bit challenging, but the result was spot on 🙂 Thank you very much. I`m from Latvia myself and my girlfriend is Lithuanian so we really enjoyed it.

    Reply

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