alcophile's blog

I wanted to make a special bread for Christmas and the Lithuanian Christmas Bread from Stanley Ginsberg’s The Rye Baker fit the bill. The bread is 100% rye and has a whopping 45% fruit added (prunes, apricots, and raisins). The recipe specifies 76% white rye and 24% medium rye. I don’t have any white rye flour so I made it with all medium rye (King Arthur) and increased the hydration from 70% to 75% to compensate.

The recipe starts with a two-stage sponge: the first stage is at 83% hydration and the second brings the hydration up to 100% overall. The final dough has honey, the fruit, and a small amount (2%) of red rye malt added. I opted to use fermented rye malt instead because that seems to be a more traditional additive in Baltic region breads.

The dough is placed directly in the loaf pan and the bulk/proof is conducted warmer than usual. Ginsberg’s instructions are to preheat the oven to 38 °C (100 °F) and turn off. My proof was slow so I occasionally, and carefully, applied heat to the oven and kept the oven light on to keep it warm. I let the dough rise for 4.75 h but it still hadn’t reached the rim of the pan. It’s probably the combination of all medium rye and a weaker than optimum rye sour culture. There may also be a slight inhibitory effect from the apricots. I did not have unsulfured apricots as required and the sulfite may have had a negative effect on the yeast.

I baked the loaf 10 min longer because some of the rye breads I’ve made have been a little sticky. I think maybe an extra 5 min would have been enough as the crust got a little darker than intended.

After waiting ≈18 h, the bread was cut for Christmas Eve. The crumb is firm and almost cake-like. All the flavors of the rye, fruit, and malt blend beautifully in this bread. A non-rye fan was converted—a Christmas miracle!

Merry Christmas everyone!

I finally screwed up enough courage to attempt the Latgalian Rye from Stanley Ginsberg’s website. It’s a more complicated recipe with several steps at elevated temperature. But @Econprof, @Martadella, and @squattercity have all made some beautiful looking breads.

I don’t have a Brod & Taylor proofing box, so I had to improvise using appliances that I do own. The specifications page for the InstantPot Duo showed some temperature ranges that might work for the elevated temperatures for the scald and sour-scald in the recipe. Not wanting any surprises during the recipe, I measured the temperature of a water bath at some of the settings of the IP:

The Keep Warm and Yogurt temperatures looked most promising.

I scaled down the recipe to 1200 g because I wasn’t sure how my Bosch Compact would handle the full dough. The first day is preparation of the scald and a stiff rye sour sponge. The sponge was mixed according to the recipe using whole rye flour (Breadtopia) and refreshed rye sour culture (aka Vaal).

The scald has pale rye malt (Canada Malt via NYBakers), whole rye flour, and ground caraway (Penzey’s). Hot water was added and these were mixed in the IP and set at Keep Warm-Normal. The mixture was to be held at 65 °C for 16–18 h, but after ≈45 min, the temperature was at 68 °C. Fearing overheating during the unattended overnight period, I set the IP to Yogurt-Normal. I think the thick nature of the scald caused the bottom to overheat. In the morning, I set the IP to Keep Warm-Less and that setting gave 53–55 °C for the remainder of the heating period.

At this point, I decided to deviate from Ginsberg’s instructions and follow the Latvian recipe as described by Sergey and @Martadella (Latgalian Rye). I felt that heating the sour-sponge at 55 °C would kill off most of the LAB and yeast. The Latvian instructions add the sour sponge to the scald at ≈50 °C and hold for 3 h without mixing and allowing the temperature to fall to 28–32 °C. The sponge is then mixed into the scald and held for another 3–4 h at 28–32 °C. I followed this method using the Yogurt-Less setting. I did find that the stiff sponge was difficult to incorporate into the thick scald, but I tried to smash it in as much as possible.

The next step adds yeast to the mixture to boost the leavening. I added SAF IDY, mixed well, and held overnight at ≈27 °C. The next morning, it was very bubbly and had pH 3.5. It also appeared to have hard particles as if the IDY had not dissolved. I will follow @Martadella’s method of pre-dissolving the IDY next time.

No changes were made in the final dough mixing and shaping. I used a sprayer to moisten the dough instead of brushing with water. Proofed for 46 min. Baked for 30 min at 250 °C and for 15 min at 200 °C; applied cornstarch glaze and baked for 3 min. It smelled wonderful while baking—sort of apple-malty(?).

The waiting before cutting is sooooo difficult…

This recipe from The Rye Baker surprised me with how complex the flavor was despite the simplicity of the method (i.e., no sourdough). Most of the rye recipes in the book are built on sour culture to provide the acidic environment and flavor; this one uses hard apple cider to accomplish those goals.

The dough is a 71% medium rye and AP blend (both King Arthur) with Blake’s Flannel Mouth hard cider (6.5% ABV and slightly sweet) as the liquid (71% hydration). There is also a bit of sugar and IDY. The recipe was scaled to one can of cider and it yielded one 782-g loaf.

I had not attempted this recipe sooner because it specified a 20 minute knead with a mixer and that was more than an iffy shoulder could handle for hand mixing. I recently purchased a Bosch Compact mixer so that obstacle was no longer preventing me from trying the bread. I’m glad I did!

This Pumpernickel bread is from a German bread book Brot backen für jedermann (Bread baking for everyone). The formula is similar to Lutz Geißler’s Hütten-Pumpernickel. The dough consists of fine, medium, and coarse rye meals (Bay State Milling's Wingold), water, salt, and rye sour culture. One of the main differences from Lutz’s process is that the coarse rye meal (Roggenschrot grob) is scalded in this recipe instead of the medium rye meal. An interesting requirement for Pumpernickel is that it must be baked for at least 16 hours to be considered Pumpernickel.

The fine rye meal has an overnight sponge at 22 °C and the coarse rye meal is scalded with twice its weight of boiling water with added salt.

The sponge and scald are combined with medium rye meal and more water in the final dough. The dough was mixed a total of 25 minutes to break down the meals. Using wet hands on a wet surface, it was formed into a log and placed in an 8.5×4.5×2.5″ bread pan and smoothed with a wet spatula. The pan was then placed into an oven roasting bag (some online translators have problems with the German word Bratschlauch and translate it to “frying hose”) and proofed for ≈2.5 hours. I had planned to go 3 hours but I started to see pinholes in the dough.

Panned   Proofed

I had planned to go 3 hours but I started to see pinholes in the dough. The bread was baked for 1 hour at 120 °C and 1 h at 100 °C in a regular gas oven. Even though the lowest setpoint on the oven 170 °F, the actual oven temperature was close to 200 °F after 1 hour and the oven was cycling on and off. The pan in the roasting bag was transferred to a toaster oven that could maintain the desired 80 °C (175 °F). I placed pans above and below the bag to shield it from the toaster oven elements. The final 15 h at 80 °C was finished in the toaster oven.

In toaster oven

After cooling to room temperature, the loaf was stored in a plastic bag for 2 days before slicing. I was surprised that it had lost 15% of its weight, despite being sealed in the bag during the bake. I was also surprised that the crumb was very sticky and left heavy deposits on the knife used for cutting. The flavor mellowed after several more days but the sourness dominated the early slices. I would add some malt or sweetener on the next loaf.

The worst shock was the amount of corrosion that the baking pan incurred. I first thought it was dried dough, but on washing realized that it was rust. I reread some of the comments on Lutz’s Hütten-Pumpernickel recipe and found that several bakers had the same problem. I’m glad I didn’t use my favorite USA Pullman pan. I’ll need a wood baking form or a silicone pan if I plan on baking this again.

This recipe for Black Rye Bread with Buttermilk is from Der Foodcoach blog. I did not have Austrian R960 (light) rye flour or fresh yeast and used King Arthur Medium Rye and IDY instead. But I do have a lot of Wingold Dark Rye from Bay State Milling via NYBakers that was used for the Schwarzroggen (black rye).

The dough rose more slowly than expected. In a prior attempt of this recipe, I saw little activity in the 3 hour cold proof. This time I let the dough proof at 21 °C instead of in the refrigerator, and it had achieved ≈85% rise in 3 hours. It could be the IDY was not mixed properly in the stiff dough; I could see grains of IDY in the dough even after mixing. It would have been better to dissolve the IDY in the water used for the main dough. It could also be that the hydration was too low because of the substitution of medium rye for the light rye. I’m still getting the used to the proper hydration of rye dough.

Formula:

The loaf was baked a total of 60 minutes because I had read on another German-language blog that dough that uses R2500 flour should be baked not less than 60 minutes. The crumb is tight and only slightly sticky. The bread has a pronounced sour, not surprising with the sour culture and buttermilk. I liked the flavor but the sourness does limit the generality of the bread.

A slice at 5 days post-bake from near an end of the loaf shows some loss of structure. Is this due to poor shaping, incorrect hydration, or incorrect proofing?

I made Fleischmann’s Rye Batter Bread a couple of years ago as I was easing back into bread baking. It was an easy recipe that produced a decent loaf of rye bread. I revisited this recipe a couple of months ago because a shoulder injury limited the amount hand mixing and kneading I could do.

I wanted to increase the level of rye in the formula (and use up some of my rye stock), so I modified the recipe to use a sourdough sponge of medium rye meal (Bay State Milling) and added Wingold Dark Rye flour (Bay State Milling) in the final dough. (Note: The dark rye flour is not whole rye flour, but a flour leftover after lighter grades have been removed by sifting. It has a higher ash content than whole rye and is equivalent to Austrian R2500 rye flour.)

Sponge:

The sponge matured for 17 hours at 23 °C.

The sponge was combined with the remaining dough ingredients and, after adding all the flour, mixed for 5–6 minutes at low speed with a new Bosch Compact mixer. I realized after the fact that I had read my calculations wrong and didn’t add as much water as planned (target: 88%; actual: 81%). A previous loaf at 88% hydration had a more open and moist crumb.

The dough was allowed to rest for 20 minutes, mixed on low speed for about a minute, and scraped into a 23×10×10 cm Pullman pan. The dough was allowed to proof for 50 minutes and was baked for 10 minutes at 220 °C then for 30 minutes at 190 °C. I forgot to take pictures of the dough before and after proofing (just getting used to this blog thing), but here is the final product:

The bread has a mild sour that makes it suitable for toast and sandwiches. The crumb is not the greatest as it’s just barely holding together at the top. I think more mixing and a longer bulk fermentation might help.

I had high hopes for this recipe from theryebaker.com. I really enjoy the flavors of rye and cornmeal and I liked the fact that the recipe wasn’t sweet like a Boston Brown Bread. Unfortunately, the recipe didn’t quite work out for me.

It begins with an overnight sponge of fine rye meal (Bay State Milling) and instant dry yeast.

The next day, the sponge is combined with whole rye flour (Country Life Natural Foods), scalded cornmeal (Bob’s Red Mill), and salt.

Scald:

Panned:

The dough proofs for about 1 hour and baked for 10 minutes at 230 °C (450 °F) and 40 minutes at 175 °C (350 °F).

I waited a day to cut the bread but I found the crumb to be very gummy.

I may have underbaked it or there was starch attack. It was probably the former even though the temperature was ≈93 °C. I tried toasting a couple of slices, but the flavor was bland. Several slices were dried to use as old bread (altus), although the cornmeal could be odd in a German rye.

Kümmel-Bier Brot (Caraway Beer Bread) from The Rye Baker book. This bread is for lovers of caraway seed (sorry Benny!); it has a whopping 2% caraway seed. The bread is 50% rye and 50% first clear or high-gluten flour, barley malt syrup, and beer for half the liquid. The recipe calls for 2:1 white/medium rye to approximate German 997 rye flour. I did not have any white rye flour but used all medium rye (KA brand) and increased the hydration from 60% to 65%. Vital wheat gluten was used to boost KA bread flour to 14% gluten; beer was Destihl Weissenheimer hefeweizen. The loaf is brushed several times with beer before and during baking. I ran a little short on the final beer wash because I forgot about it and drank most of the remaining beer! The bread is great for sandwiches. For those not as fond of caraway as I am, it could still be a good all-around rye sandwich bread if the caraway was reduced or omitted.

First step is a sponge with rye flour and 3% rye sour culture (refreshed overnight before use) at 82% hydration with water; 73% of rye flour pre-fermented. Maintained at 23 °C for 16 h.

Combine the sponge with other ingredients, and, after brief mixing, knead with dough hook for 8 minutes. Final dough temperature 24 °C. Bulk fermentation 3 hours at 23 °C.

Shape into a log, pan the dough, slash, and brush with beer.

Bake for 25 minutes at 465 °F (240 °C) with steam, then at 340 °F (170 °C) for 30 minutes. Used a foil tent on lowering the temperature.