{"id":7058778,"date":"2026-09-11T06:20:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T06:20:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/recipes\/category-a-b\/bread\/austrian-urkorn-sourdough-bread-breadtopia\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T06:20:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T06:20:08","slug":"austrian-urkorn-sourdough-bread-breadtopia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7058778","title":{"rendered":"Austrian Urkorn Sourdough Bread – Breadtopia"},"content":{"rendered":"


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A friend recently send me the link to a bread recipe from \u00d6fferl Bakery<\/a> in the outskirts of Vienna, Austria. Their website describes the bread as \u201cnutty to spicy, juicy\u201d<\/strong> and the bakery\u2019s instagram recently featured a video<\/a> of their bakers scooping up the wet dough out of a large vat, rolling it in seeds, and plopping it in loaf pans. This Ulrich Urkorn<\/em> bread looked and sounded fabulous and I was eager to try it\u2014with my own spin of course. (Ulrich is a name and urkorn <\/em>means ancient grain.)<\/p>\n

\"crumb<\/a><\/p>\n

The first thing I noticed about the recipe<\/a> was that the sourdough levain and final dough are both mixed with 42\u00b0C water\u2014that\u2019s 107.6\u00b0F\u2014a much higher temperature than my water has ever been with sourdough. I actually wondered if this was a translation error but I speak enough German to read the original, and a little research reassured me that the higher temperature ferment is likely intended to favor certain species of lactobacillus that produce dairy-yogurty flavors.<\/p>\n

I was still a little worried the heat would damage the desirable microbes in my starter, so after scaling the recipe<\/a> to fit a single 9x4x4 inch Pullman pan<\/a>,\u00a0I built two<\/em> overnight levains: one fed with 107\u00b0F water and the other with 75\u00b0F water\u2014just in case the warm one smelled or looked off in the morning. After mixing the levains, they were only about 15\u00b0F apart in temp (93\u00b0F and 78\u00b0F) because of the temp buffering of the flour. By the next morning, they were similarly doubled, but the originally warmer levain was indeed more lacto-sour in aroma and the other levain was nutty and less sour.<\/p>\n

I found the easiest way to arrive at approx 107\u00b0F water was to tare the scale with the container (Pyrex here) and ThermoPop thermometer<\/a> in it, and then add hot water and room temp water, alternating until I hit the target.<\/p>\n

\"measuring<\/a><\/p>\n

I joked with the Breadtopia crew that this bread should be called \u201cHot and Complex Sourdough Bread\u201d because not only does it have a hot levain and dough, it also has a scald<\/strong>, which is where you mix some of the ingredients with boiling hot water. That gelatinizes the flour, allowing the dough to hold more water\u2014perhaps where the descriptor juicy<\/em> comes from. The heat can also activate some spicy flavor compounds and sweetness, though this is more evident when you do a mash or saccarification<\/a> (initial higher temp, followed by holding the mixture at 145-149\u00b0F for several hours). Our scalding experiment<\/a> offers a deep dive into the process and outcomes if you want to learn more about scalds.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\"Scald:<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n
\n\t\t\t\tScald: khorasan, rye, flaxmeal, buckwheat groats, sunflower seeds\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\"Scald\"<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n
\n\t\t\t\tAfter adding boiling water and mixing\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n


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Ingredients<\/h3>\n

I made various modifications to Georg \u00d6fferl\u2019s original recipe apart from scaling and I really love how the bread turned out. I think it fits the description: nutty, spicy, and juicy aka moist and hearty. The main changes I made were to work with my grain inventory<\/strong> (spelt instead of einkorn, khorasan instead of emmer) and seed preference<\/strong> (ground flax seeds instead of whole in the dough, less caraway more anise). In test bake #1, the buckwheat groats in the dough didn\u2019t hydrate much, so I moved them to the scald. I suggest you work with your inventory and seed preferences as well, modifying the water amount to target a dough that is loose and sticky. In the recipe ingredient list, I give flour options that have similar absorbency.
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\n\t\t\t\t\"Mixed<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n
\n\t\t\t\tFinal dough after mixing\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\"Pouring<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt>\n
\n\t\t\t\tPouring dough into pan\n\t\t\t\t<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n


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\"urkorn<\/a><\/p>\n

The photo above shows slices from test bakes #1 and #2. In that second test, I increased the dough size, let it ferment more, modified the ingredients a bit, and baked at a lower temp and covered the bread for part of the bake.<\/p>\n

Equipment<\/h3>\n

This recipe should be made with a scale<\/a> to weigh ingredients and a thermometer<\/a> for taking water temperature.<\/p>\n

The ingredients are set for a 9x4x4 inch small Pullman pan<\/a>. To scale the recipe for a 13x4x4 inch long Pullman pan, multiply each ingredient by 1.45 (rounding is fine). For help with scaling to other pan sizes, take a look at the FAQ How to Scale a Recipe<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"urkorn<\/a><\/p>\n

See the Photo Gallery<\/strong> after the recipe for more images of the recipe steps.<\/p>\n