Walliser Roggenbrot

Round Valais loaf of wholemeal rye sourdough, its floured crust crazed into a web of cracks

Origin: Sion & the Valais, Switzerland

From the journey of Rye.

The Valais is a dry inner-Alpine valley enclosed on both sides by some of the highest mountains in Europe, and for most of its history the grain that would grow on its terraces was rye. Wheat wants a longer and kinder season than the upper Rhône will give; rye tolerates cold, thin soil, and altitude, and it was sown on slopes well above a thousand metres, where it was often the only cereal that ripened at all. The bread that resulted was made to last. In the high villages the communal oven was traditionally fired only two or three times a year, and the loaves baked in it had to last until the next firing, growing harder as the months went on. A dense, sour, wholemeal rye loaf is one of the few breads that tolerates that treatment, because rye's pentosans hold water and its acidity keeps mould at bay. Nobody bakes that way now, but the character of the loaf still follows from it. On 29 January 2004 Walliser Roggenbrot, in French pain de seigle valaisan, was registered as a Swiss protected designation of origin (AOP), and it is the only bread in Switzerland to hold one. The specification is short and strict: a wholemeal flour of at least 90 per cent rye and no more than 10 per cent wheat, nothing else but leaven, salt, and water, and grain that is grown, milled, and baked within the canton. The finished loaf is round, heavily floured, and marked by the network of cracks that opens across its crust as it rises, which bakers read as the sign that it is ready for the oven. The Alps have the oldest written notice of rye in any European language. Pliny the Elder, writing in the 70s CE, recorded that the Taurini at the foot of the Alps grew a grain they called asia, which he identified as secale, thought it the worst of cereals, and said it was eaten only to avert famine.

Ingredients

Sourdough

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

Dough

400 g wholemeal rye flour
50 g strong white wheat flour
12 g fine sea salt
300 ml warm water (about 35 °C)
3 tbsp wholemeal rye flour, for dusting

Method

The evening before, stir the starter, 150 g of rye flour, and 150 ml of warm water together in a bowl, cover, and leave somewhere warm for 12 to 16 hours.
Put the whole of the sourdough into a large bowl with the remaining rye flour, the wheat flour, the salt, and the warm water, and mix with a wet hand or a dough scraper for five minutes into a heavy, sticky paste.
Cover and leave to rest for 30 minutes.
Dust the work surface heavily with rye flour, turn the dough out, and with wet hands shape it into a round. Roll the top in the flour so that it is thickly coated, and set it floured side up on a sheet of baking parchment.
Leave the loaf to prove in a warm place for 60 to 90 minutes, until the floured surface has split into a web of fine cracks.
Meanwhile heat the oven to 250 °C with a baking stone or heavy tray inside and an empty roasting tin on the shelf below.
Slide the loaf on its parchment onto the hot stone, pour a cup of boiling water into the roasting tin, and close the door at once. Bake for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to 210 °C and bake for a further 50 minutes.
Cool on a rack, then wrap in a linen cloth and leave for 24 hours before cutting.

Notes

Rye sourdough starter can be made from scratch with wholemeal rye flour and water in about five days, or begun from a spoonful of any active starter fed on rye for two or three days. The proportions here keep to the AOP rule of at least 90 per cent rye. The small amount of wheat flour is permitted, not required; an all-rye loaf is equally correct and a little denser. Slice it thinly. In the Valais it is eaten with air-dried beef and ham, raclette cheese, butter, and a glass of Fendant, and it keeps well for a week wrapped in cloth.

The Gastrographer

Name: Walliser Roggenbrot
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1 h
Yield: 12
Cuisine: Switzerland
Ingredients: 50 g active rye sourdough starter; 150 g wholemeal rye flour; 150 ml warm water (about 35 °C); 400 g wholemeal rye flour; 50 g strong white wheat flour; 12 g fine sea salt; 300 ml warm water (about 35 °C); 3 tbsp wholemeal rye flour, for dusting

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Journey Point Map Key

Ingredient originTrade or transit route

Became a culinary stapleColonial / trade control