102 / breadButtermilk Rye BreadRye bread is an intriguing thing. You can’t treat the dough like a typical bread dough, as it has the consistency of stiff concrete. No stretch and fold, or slap and fold, or fold and fold. Due to the very low gluten content of rye flour, there is no elasticity in it, so we can’t rely on any of the things we’ve learnt about bread-making. This was our first rye bread at The Snapery Bakery. It was a very long time in the making and in the end was achieved by encouraging the bakers to forget everything they thought they knew about bread. RSMakes 2 small loavesEquipmentplastic dough scraper2 x 500g (1lb) loaf tinsIngredientsFor the leaven20g (¾oz) sourdough starter (page 76)60g (2oz) strong white flour60g (2oz) strong wholemeal (wholewheat) flour120g (4oz) warm water (26–30°C/79–86°F)For the dough 200g (7oz) Cultured Buttermilk (page 140), at warm room temperature (25°C/77°F)40g (1½oz) clear honey 220g (7¾oz) warm water (30°C/86°F)400g (14oz) dark rye flour, extra for dusting40g (1½oz) pumpkin seeds30g (1oz) linseeds8g (¼oz) sea salt continued >>104 / breadbread / 105The day before you want to bake your loaves, make your leaven by following the Stage 1 instructions on page 73. Leave the leaven at room temperature until tiny bubbles appear, then refrigerate overnight.The next day, mix the buttermilk, honey and 200g (7oz) of the water with the leaven until combined, then add the flour and seeds and mix by hand until smooth. Leave to rest for 30 minutes. Grease the loaf tins with butter.Add the salt and remaining water to the dough and scrunch with your hands until they are completely absorbed. Using a wet hand, smooth over the surface of the dough, then dust liberally with rye flour. Prove, uncovered, for 1–2 hours until the surface of the dough resembles a cracked pavement. The shaping process for this bread is very different to the other breads in this book: using a plastic scraper, scoop half the dough onto a floured surface. Lightly dust the sticky top of the dough with rye flour and pat it into a long rectangle. As gently as you can, roll up the dough into a cylinder and, using your scraper, place it into a greased 500g (1lb) loaf tin. Repeat with the remaining dough. Using a wet plastic dough scraper, neaten the loaves to make sure that they’re snug in their tins, then dust heavily with rye flour.Prove in a warm place (25–30°C/77–86°F) for 1½–2 hours until the surface of the dough looks like a dried-up watering hole.Preheat the oven to 225°C (435°F). Place a roasting tin on the bottom shelf of the oven and fill with 250g (9oz) of just-boiled water. Bake the loaves for 45 minutes until nice and dark. The smell of this bread coming out of the oven always blows us away in the bakery. Turn out and cool on a wire rack. Do not be tempted to cut into it right away, as it will likely still be a little stodgy in the middle. I think this loaf is at its best when it has fully cooled and can be sliced and turned into a delicious smörgås (open sandwich) topped with pastrami and pickles. The shaping process here is very different to other breads – it’s so wet and cement-like, the shaping can seem impossible.>>Cultured Butter & ButtermilkGrant’s signature butter142 / butterWhile working at Fäviken in Sweden, I got to know butter very well. Often the first job a chef is given is the simplest, so they can observe how the kitchen and the team operate. Mine was portioning the butter for service – so I got to taste the incredible butter on day one. The first thing I noticed is the insanely yellow colour of the large rectangular slab inside its parchment wrapping. The second thing I noticed is the intense buttery smell – the fermented cream before churning adds a distinct butyric tang. When I broke chunks off the cold block of butter with a fork, tiny remnants would remained on the chopping board; tasting these shards made me realise just how uncared for and plain such an important staple ingredient had come to be, and it made me want everyone in the world to taste something as good as this. I constantly experiment to reach the best butter recipe for the current butter I produce and I encourage you to do the same at home. The best variable to experiment with is the starter culture – this is the bacteria that ferments the cream before churning. More about this onpages 146–149.To pick your starter culture, start by choosing your favourite sour cream or crème fraîche, or even a thick, set yogurt (ensuring it isn’t the low-fat variety). The flavour you taste in this is the lactic bacteria, and it is this lactobacillus that will culture the cream that you will churn to become your butter – in other words, the flavour of that lactic bacteria will be reflected in the finished butter.Next, you need to find a really good-quality double cream, with approximately 40% fat. You’ll need twice the amount of cream than the amount of butter you want to make – I recommend starting with 1 litre (1 quart), which will give you a 500g (1lb 2oz) pat of butter. And if you want to adapt the quantities in the recipe, stick to a ratio of 10% starter to cream.I source cream from select Jersey and Guernsey herds at specific farms, but most farmers’ markets will have a supplier of great dairy products. Pasteurisation means we’re used to blander dairy products. While the process renders the products safe, it doesn’t distinguish between good and bad bacteria, but removes them all, including harmless ones that bring unique flavours to dairy products. Despite my great love for raw milk and its beautiful flavours, I ironically use pasteurised cream to make my butter. While raw milk has a natural and beautiful microflora showcasing all the wonderful bacterial flavours present in milk, I aim to produce one specific-flavour butter, and pasteurised cream is a beautiful ‘blank canvas’ that allows me to do this.I still continue to look for the bacteria that produces the best ‘butter’ flavours and I buy many freeze-dried individual strains of lactobacillus to test with, but the following recipe reflects my first experience of exploring the flavour of butter by fermenting creams with bacteria I could find readily available. GHcontinued >>>>butter / 143Spread your butter so thickly that you might mistake it for cheeseNext >