Rupjmaize

Latvian dark rye loaf of scalded coarse rye and caraway, baked long on maple leaves and glazed to a shine

Origin: Riga & Latvia

From the journey of Rye.

Rupjmaize means coarse bread, and it is the everyday dark rye loaf of Latvia: made from coarsely ground rye, scalded, soured, flavoured with caraway, and baked long and slowly until the crust is thick and the crumb is dense, moist, and faintly sweet. It is a bread of the whole eastern Baltic. Estonians bake the same kind of loaf as leib, Lithuanians as juoda duona, black bread, and Belarus bakes it too, and across the four countries the family resemblance is closer than the names suggest. The method that defines it is the scald. Boiling water is poured over part of the rye and the mash is kept warm for several hours, which gelatinises the starch and wakes the grain's own enzymes to turn some of it into sugar. Only then is the sourdough added. The sweetness that results is the grain's own, and the scald also holds water in the crumb, which is why a Latvian loaf stays good for a week. Rye bread carries more ceremony in Latvia than almost any other food. The customs are widely remembered and still practised in many households: a loaf is not set down upside down, a dropped piece of bread is picked up and kissed, and the first cut of a new loaf was traditionally marked with a cross. Rye bread is listed in the Latvian Cultural Canon, the national list of the country's defining cultural achievements, and the Latvian word for rye itself, rudzi, is a cognate of English rye, from a word the Baltic and Germanic languages share. Traditionally the loaves were set to bake on maple or cabbage leaves on the floor of a wood-fired oven, and the leaf pattern printed on the base of the loaf is still the mark of a hand-baked rupjmaize.

Ingredients

Scald

250 g coarse rye meal
2 tsp caraway seeds
500 ml boiling water

Sourdough

50 g active rye sourdough starter
100 g dark rye flour
100 ml warm water (about 35 °C)

Dough

350 g dark rye flour
20 g red (fermented) rye malt
50 ml hot water, to dissolve the malt
1 tbsp dark honey or brown sugar
12 g fine sea salt
4 whole large maple or cabbage leaves, or baking parchment
1 tbsp rye flour whisked into 50 ml water, for glazing

Method

Put the coarse rye meal and caraway into a large bowl, pour over the boiling water, and stir to a smooth, thick porridge. Cover, wrap the bowl in a towel, and leave in a warm place for two to three hours.
When the scald has cooled to blood heat, stir in the starter, 100 g of dark rye flour, and 100 ml of warm water. Cover and leave in a warm place for 12 to 18 hours, until risen, bubbly, and sour.
Dissolve the rye malt in the hot water. Add it to the fermented dough with the remaining rye flour, the honey or sugar, and the salt, and work everything together with a wet hand for ten minutes into a heavy, sticky dough.
Lay the leaves or parchment on a baking tray. With wet hands shape the dough into a long oval loaf, set it on the leaves, and smooth the surface with a wet palm. Leave to prove in a warm place for 60 to 90 minutes, until the surface begins to crack.
Heat the oven to 250 °C. Bake the loaf for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to 200 °C and bake for a further hour.
Ten minutes before the end, brush the loaf with the rye-flour glaze and return it to the oven to set.
Wrap the hot loaf in a linen cloth and let it cool slowly. Leave it overnight before cutting.

Notes

Red rye malt is rye that has been sprouted, fermented, and kilned; it colours and flavours the loaf and is sold by Baltic, Russian, and specialist baking suppliers. It is not the same as the pale diastatic malt used in wheat baking. Rupjmaize is eaten with butter, with salted herring and soured cream, with curd cheese, and alongside soup. Stale loaves become rupjmaizes kārtojums, a Latvian dessert of toasted rye crumbs layered with whipped cream and cranberry or lingonberry jam. The traditional Latvian leaf is maple, but a cabbage leaf does the same job and is easier to find.

The Gastrographer

Name: Rupjmaize
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 1 h 15 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: Riga & Latvia
Ingredients: 250 g coarse rye meal; 2 tsp caraway seeds; 500 ml boiling water; 50 g active rye sourdough starter; 100 g dark rye flour; 100 ml warm water (about 35 °C); 350 g dark rye flour; 20 g red (fermented) rye malt; 50 ml hot water, to dissolve the malt; 1 tbsp dark honey or brown sugar; 12 g fine sea salt; 4 whole large maple or cabbage leaves, or baking parchment; 1 tbsp rye flour whisked into 50 ml water, for glazing

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control