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Fermentation Atlas

Cereals and bread from Latvia

Latvian scalded rye bread (rupjmaize and saldskābmaize)rupjmaize

Wholemeal rye flour and a little rye malt are scalded with near-boiling water and held while the flour's own enzymes turn starch into sugar. The sweet scald is soured for 12 to 48 hours by heat- loving Lactobacillus delbrueckii, then mixed with a rye sourdough, more flour and salt, proofed and baked long into a dense, dark, sweet-sour loaf. Made in 6 steps over 22 h – 2.4 days. The longest step, sour the scald, takes 12 h – 2 days (Murniece R 2025) and runs at 28–32 °C (Murniece R 2025). Lactobacillus delbrueckii and Lactic acid bacteria and yeasts of the rye dough sourdough do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step12 h – 2 daysMeasured[murniece2025]Sour the scald
Temperature28–32 °CMeasured[murniece2025]Sour the scald
AciditypH 6.4 → 3.59Measured[murniece2025]Sour the scald
Fully documentedCereals and bread22 h – 2.4 daysMore cereals and breadMore from Europe

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceOne pilot-bakery batch from a 2025 Latvian study (15.18 kg of scald, 23.69 kg of dough, shaped into 2 kg loaves). The protected sweet-sour Salinātā rudzu rupjmaize also adds sugar (see its entry).
6.00 kgRye wholemeal flour (scald)[murniece2025]
0.06 kgRye diastatic malt[murniece2025]
9.00 kgWater at 92 °C · Poured over the flour and malt to make the scald[murniece2025]
0.12 kgScald sourdough · A daily-renewed culture of Lactobacillus delbrueckii from a Latvian bakery[murniece2025]
8.00 kgRye wholemeal flour (dough)[murniece2025]
0.40 kgDough sourdough · Rye sourdough used as the leavening agent[murniece2025]
0.11 kgSalt[murniece2025]
Starterbackslop (scald sourdough and dough sourdough, both renewed daily)

Total time across the recorded steps: 22 h – 2.4 days

Start
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90–94 °Cshapes, not to countYeastsMoulds

What changes: Near-boiling water scalds rye flour and malt, and starch turns to sugar

Step 1 of 6
Scald the flour and let it saccharify
Time
2 h
Measured
Temperature
90–94 °C
Measured
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Yeasts
Moulds
L. delbrueckii
Lactic acid bacteria

Output: sweet rye scald.

Flavour
sweet
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

scalding cuts the numbers of bacteria, yeasts and moulds; flour and malt amylases make glucose, fructose and maltose

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

The defining step is a scald soured on its own, separately from the dough, by heat-loving Lactobacillus delbrueckii, before it meets the leavening sourdough. Total fermentation time ranges from 6 to 48 h and is most often 24 h.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Saldskābmaize (sweet-sour bread)Sweetened scalded rye bread. The EU-protected Salinātā rudzu rupjmaize, made with sugar and malt, has its own entry with specification values.
  • Thermophilic scaldThe scald is held hot and cooled slowly, 55 °C down to 35 °C over 20 h, so L. delbrueckii sours it.

Made the latvian scalded rye bread way

Safety

The scald is made with water above 90 °C, which cuts the numbers of bacteria, yeasts and moulds, and the soured scald falls to about pH 3.5 before it meets the dough.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Scalding wholemeal rye is typical of bread-making in northern and eastern Europe, including the Baltic countries. Latvian studies describe a multi-stage process of scald preparation, scald fermentation, dough preparation and dough fermentation.

  1. [murniece2025] Murniece R., Reidzane S., Radenkovs V., Straumite E., Keke A., Kobrin E.-G., Klava D. 2025, Scald fermentation time as a factor determining the nutritional and sensory quality of rye bread, Foods 14(6):979, doi:10.3390/foods14060979paper
  2. [murniece2023] Murniece R., Reidzane S., Galoburda R., Radenkovs V., Klava D. 2023, The impact of fermented scald on rye and hull-less barley dough and bread structure formation, Foods 12(24):4475, doi:10.3390/foods12244475paper