Dutch Regale’s Finnish Rye

 From Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking Across America

I found some cracked rye at my local health food store and then found this recipe which seemed like it might be an interesting balance of hearty flavors.

Cracked Rye Soaker:

Cracked Rye – 145g

Hot water – 145g

Soaked 8 hours

Flax Seed Soaker:

Golden Flax Seeds – 50g

Hot Water – 100g

Soaked 8 hours

Sourdough Starter:

White Starter @100% - 20g

Water – 60g

KA Bread Flour – 100g

Fermented 8 hours

Final Dough:

Cracked Rye Soaker – 290g

Flax Seed Soaker – 150g

White Sourdough Starter – 180g

Lukewarm Water – 215g

Molasses – 60g*

Sea Salt – 11g

Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Flour – 220g**

Hodgson Mill Whole Rye Flour – 100g***

*I used dark molasses, rather than the light that was called for, because that’s what I had on hand.

**Formula called for 250g

***Formula called for 70g (I just wanted a little more rye flavor)

Process:

I combined all ingredients in a stand mixer and mixed on low speed with the paddle for 5 minutes as directed. I couldn’t tell that there was any development at all, just a nicely combined glop.

Covered the bowl with plastic wrap and rested for 30 minutes.

 I did some “air shaping” and placed the dough seam side down in a 8.5” round banneton that I lined with a heavily floured linen.

Proofed for 3:45 at 70°F

Preheated oven with stone to 475°F, baked with steam for 15 minutes at 450°F, reduced heat to 400°F and baked another 40 minutes.

The hard part was waiting 24 hours to slice the loaf, but it was worth it. This bread has great flavor for my taste, and it was as good with butter and honey as it was with smoked salmon!

I will make this one again.

It’s Summer in San Francisco, and that means soup weather.  And what goes better with soup than a nice tender, wheaty dinner roll with whole grains and seeds?  I’d never made such a bread, but why not try?

I’ve never really invented a formula before, just tried adaptations of proven formulas.  But I didn’t find a formula that looked quite like what I was after: something in between the Hamelman Whole Wheat Multigrain and an enriched whole wheat-oatmeal bread.  So I looked to my experience with enriched whole wheat and oatmeal breads, read a number of TFL entries about how to achieve a soft crust and about seedy breads.  Then I looked at a bunch of formulas from Hamelman and Reinhart, and put pencil to paper (with calculator at hand).

Since I had a very active starter going, I decided to make a leavened dough, with a pinch of instant yeast.

I also had in mind trying the Central Milling Organic Type 85 flour for something besides a Miche.  So that’s the flour I used for this experiment (but I think a mix of 50% whole wheat and 50% bread flour would work fine).

I mixed the levain last night, and this morning I soaked some Bob’s Red Mill whole grain cereal (Five Grain with Flax seed) and toasted some wheat germ and some pumpkin, sunflower and sesame seeds.

My calculation on paper of the proper hydration for this dough was a ways off, presumably due to the thirsty whole grains, and I ended up having to add more water during the initial mix.  Reminded me of proth5’s discussion of the “hydration neutral” concept.

But once I got the dough texture feeling right (kind of like the Hamelman Oatmeal bread), it was a joy to handle.  Having no clear idea how long the bulk ferment should be for this dough, I just watched the dough, not the clock (hmmm…where have I heard that before).  After about 1 ¾ hours, the dough had expanded about 50% and seemed nice and airy. 

So that’s when I divided and pre-shaped the dough into 3 oz balls, waited 30 minutes, and then shaped the balls into round rolls.

They proofed 1 ¼ hours, then baked for 18 minutes, the first half with steam.

They came out a nice golden brown, and they make the house smell delicious.

I let them cool about 40 minutes before I couldn’t resist any longer.  They are about the density of a firm whole wheat bread; nice and springy, but firm; the structure would be good for a sandwich loaf.  The seeds and whole grains make for a nice mix of feel and flavor.

The flavor is nutty and complex, just the slightest bit sweet.   It would be excellent with a sharp cheese or with peanut butter, or just sweet butter.  My wife enjoyed the first taste a lot, and said it would be great with raisins added…and nuts and cinnamon (she has a thing for cinnamon-fruit-nut breads).  That’s a variation I’ll try.

All in all, a good experiment.  The formula follows a few more photos.

Multi-grain Seedy Rolls

(7/31/11)

Liquid Levain

.4 oz ripe starter

2.4 oz water

1.9 oz Type 85 flour

Soaker

2 oz BRM 5-grain cereal mix

2.5 oz hot water

Final Dough

14.1 oz Type 85 flour

.4 oz baker’s milk powder

.05 oz instant yeast

6.8 oz warm water

.7 oz honey

.8 oz vegetable oil

liquid levain (all)

soaker (all)

.35 oz salt

1.2 oz toasted seeds (mix of sesame, pumpkin and sunflower) and wheat germ

Procedure

1.        The night before baking, mix the liquid levain and leave covered at room temperature 10-14 hours.

2.        An hour before mixing dough, (a) toast seeds and wheat germ in 300 F oven for 40 minutes, then let cool, and (b) pour hot water over cereal for soaker, and cover bowl.  

3.        Mix flour, milk powder and instant yeast.

4.        Mix water, liquid levain, honey, vegetable oil, then add soaker.

5.        Pour dry ingredients into liquid ingredients and mix to shaggy mass.

6.        Cover for 30 minute autolyse.

7.   Add salt and toasted seeds and wheat germ, and mix thoroughly, then knead five minutes to medium development.

8.        Bulk ferment at 70 F. for two hours with four way stretch-and-folds at 45 minutes and 90 minutes.

9.    Divide into approx. 3 oz pieces and pre-shape in balls.  Rest 30 minutes.

10.  Shape as round rolls, place on parchment, and proof one hour.

11.  Pre-heat oven, with baking stone and steam apparatus, to 450 F.

12.  Transfer parchment to baking stone and bake 9 minutes with steam, then remove steam apparatus and lower  temperature to 400 F.  Bake an additional 9 minutes or so (to internal temperature of 195-200 F), rotating the parchment for even browning as necessary.

13.  Remove rolls from oven, and brush with milk (if you like softer crust).  Cool on rack for 30 minutes or more.

Submitted to Yeastspotting (http://www.wildyeastblog.com/category/yeastspotting/)

Glenn

First the old:  An 85% whole wheat sourdough.  I'm still tinkering with this formula and getting good bread, but I'm coming to realize that the way I handle the dough has more impact on the bread than my endless tinkering with the numbers (if only I could spend as much time baking as I do in front of a computer). 

Now the new:  I finally got a copy of Hamelman's Bread.  Wow.  Now I understand.  I also tried scoring with a safety razor-on-a-stick for the first time.  That was weird.  I didn't think it would be so different from scoring with a bread knife.  It will take some practice, but I think it will be an improvement.  Lastly, but no less exciting, I recently discovered that the little health food store in town will happily special order 25lb bags of Giusto's flours at rock-bottom prices.  Who would have thought?

The Little Things:  That's what this bake really threw into sharp relief.  These two loaves came from the same lump of dough and were meant to be exactly the same except for the scoring.  I don't think scoring alone accounts for this much difference.  The larger loaf isn't just larger because of a better oven spring, it actually is larger because I didn't get them divided exactly in half - there's one little difference.  But obviously the larger loaf did behave quite differently in the oven.  Shaping.  I tried a new (to me) method, first on the smaller loaf.  It seems that by the second loaf I was already better at it.  The crumbs differ significantly as well, though they don't look as different in the photos.  A good lesson for me - keep an eye on the little things!

And the garden is in full swing, so I put the bread to good use!

Marcus

Some of you will remember the tale of the miner who froze to death in the Yukon, with the last BTU in his body, curled about Maude,  he saved her. Maude was his sourdough starter, named after a favorite memory. I never told you his name. It's Hurcules; friends called him Herk. As his legend grew, he became known as Sourdough Herk, Maude's savior.

With Sourdough Debra's help--oops, that's Ms. Debra Wink I mean--It appears my new starter is saved.  I'm diligently feeding it ever eight hours. I have eight days to go before, by Ms. Wink's estimate, it will be officially ready. Meanwhile, I'm biting my fingernails--a habit picked up post-puberty when I started worrying more than I'd done pre-pube--waiting to test it out.

One of the side-effects of feeding a starter every eight hour, regardless of how small a quantity you're feeding, is Discard. Discard, if you save it, piles up. I'd forgotten that over the last couple of years, before I trashed my old starter. My old starter was a Refrigerator Queen, pampered, yes, but only once a week (or so). Discard had been forgotten.

I rarely throw away anything. That's why my kitchen, home office, and wood shop are cluttered. Now don't think the TV show "Hoarders". I've enough of a mild case of OCD that I keep things orderly...well, mostly. So it was natural, when it came time to discard my first Discard, I thought of Herk. It goes without saying, Herk never discarded a gram of Maude! Why, why that would be like...well, it doesn't matter; no need to talk about kittens here.

So I started saving Discard.

It's now Day 6 or 7--I lost track, so being cautious I'm assuming its Day 6--eight days to go.

I've already got a lot of Discard.

Early days, I'd visions of sourdough pancakes, sourdough biscuits, sourdough batter fried 'round fish, or, maybe, green tomatoes.

Discard just kept growing--on it own, as well as my additions--every eight hours.

Now my fledgling starter seems to be doing wonderfully. With Marine drill precision timing it peaks every 7 hours, and with equal discipline I feed it. And I collect Discard. I've named its collection container Slop Bucket.

I'm also getting impatient--another post-puberty habit--I want, very much, to see the final results from my new starter: Bread!

So I reasoned, it's not cheating if I make bread with Discard. After all, if it wasn't for my deep respect for Herk, I'd have thrown Discard away, and, besides, if baking with Discard is even slightly successful, it will be a precursor of what's to come. Right?

I did it. Today.

I know, I know. It's not the real thing. That's eight days away. Not to worry, in eight days this wannabe will be history. Herk would understand.

David G