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Hello, friends.

My new rye sour is taking to the rye flour like a horse to water in the desert! This means a "New York" Jewish Sour Rye bake no later than tomorrow. The formula I selected comes after a visit to my Pisani  (Villager) Island 66 blog page. From there I was directed right back here. I landed at everybody's friend, and a fine baker David Snyder's blog. 

For this exercise (performance) I will attempt David Snyder's, Jewish Sour Rye. Which is based on Greenstein's formula. Boy that was a lot of acknowledgements! 

Onwards.

This proformance will be done as it happens, live without a net. For better or worse, success or failure that is my way. Smile...

Phase 1

The rye sour.

Earlier this year, Tony (CalBeachBaker) posted a bread made with einkorn flour.  I modified the recipe a tad, and this is my second attempt (these bakes were my first experience with einkorn).

For the levain, I mixed 3 grams of sourdough starter, 72 grams of einkorn flour, and 54 grams of water.  There is a soaker, and for that I mixed 48 grams of rye chops, 48 grams of sesame seeds, 120 grams of boiling water, and 2 grams of salt.  The levain and soaker sat overnight covered at room temperature.

After about twelve hours, it was time to combine the final dough ingredients.  These were 407 grams of einkorn, 329 grams of water, 8 grams of salt, and all of the levain and soaker.  I mixed by hand using a small plastic scraper, and the components came together fairly easily.  Three stretch-and-fold sessions spaced thirty minutes apart followed, and then the dough sat for a total bulk fermentation of two hours and ten minutes.

For those unfamiliar with einkorn, perhaps a word or two.  If you think rye is sticky, you haven't worked with einkorn, which is super sticky.  It also has no gluten strength, doesn't rise, and has no structure for shaping.  If some of you with einkorn experience can chime in with some tips or comments, that would be very much appreciated.

After dumping the dough onto a floured countertop, I shaped (sort of) by using a scraper to flop the dough onto itself and let it sit for five minutes.  Then I used the scraper and a bench knife to get underneath the mass of dough and plop it into a 9"x5" loaf pan that had been lined with parchment paper.  I smoothed the top of the dough with a spatula, and the loaf pan went into a plastic bag.  The proofing phase lasted about an hour and forty minutes, during which time I saw no rising to speak of, but the dough did settle nicely in the loaf pan.

Eventually I put the loaf pan into a 450F oven that has pie pans filled with lava rocks for steam, and the bake lasted forty-five minutes.  Watching the loaf expand during the bake was neat.

Here is the loaf, and you can see where the dough rose from its level at the start of the bake until the end.

The crust is tender, and the crumb is chewy with a nice flavor.

Given the slightly gummy center evident at the very bottom of the loaf, I think the next time the bake will be perhaps five minutes longer, but everything else seemed to go well.

Einkorn is one of the ancient grains, and I wanted to give it a try.  Glad I did, and there will be more bakes with it.

Happy baking.

Ted

   I made the same bread about a year ago to bring to my Cousin’s house for the Jewish New Year.  It was a big hit and I really liked the malty flavor the Guinness imparts on the overall bread.  It doesn’t taste like beer but you can definitely taste the underlying flavor.  I don’t really like beer that much and I definitely would not be caught dead drinking a motor oil type beer like Guinness but it’s my favorite one to add to bread.

A double build was used for the levain but you could easily just do one build if you desire.

Last time I made one large miche but I decided to give one away to a co-worker so I made 2 smaller loaves.

I like to keep the potatoes rustic so you can actually see some of the chunks in the crumb shot which I prefer.  The whole wheat and rye were both freshly milled from Barton Springs Mill berries and sifted and milled twice for a high extraction flour.  The spelt was also milled with my Mockmill 200 and only sifted once as I don’t find any need to do 2 sifts and mill passes with Spelt.

Just like the previous bake, the crumb was nice and open and the crust was deep and dark  and flavorful.  Give this one a try and you won’t be disappointed.

Formula

Levain Directions Build 1

Mix all the levain ingredients for build one (including the seed starter) together for about 1 minute and cover with plastic wrap.  Let it sit at room temperature for around 6-7 hours or until the starter has almost doubled.  I used my proofer set at 76 degrees so it took around 5 hours for me.

Levain Directions Build 2

Add in the flour and water as indicated and mix until incorporated by hand.  Cover and let sit another 3-5 hours until doubled and you should see plenty of activity.

Either use in the main dough immediately or refrigerate for up to 1 day before using.

 Main Dough Procedure

Mix the flour and Guinness together in your mixer or by hand until it just starts to come together, maybe about 1 minute.  Let it rest in your work bowl covered for 20-30 minutes.  After 30 minutes or so  add the salt, starter (cut into about 7-8 pieces),  olive oil, honey, potatoes and mix on low for 5 minutes.   Note: If you are using the Ankarsrum mixer like I do, add your water to the bowl first then add in the flour and potatoes.  After your autolyse add in the starter, salt, honey  and olive oil and mix on low to medium low for 15-20 minutes.

Remove the dough from your bowl and place it in a lightly oiled bowl or work surface and do several stretch and folds.  Let it rest covered for 10-15 minutes and then do another stretch and fold.  Let it rest another 10-15 minutes and do one additional stretch and fold.  After a total of 1.5 hours place your covered bowl in the refrigerator and let it rest for 12 to 24 hours.

When you are ready to bake remove the bowl from the refrigerator and let it set out at room temperature still covered for 1.5 to 2 hours or if using a proofer set at 80 degrees for one hour.  Remove the dough and shape as desired and cover with a moist tea towel or plastic wrap Sprayed with cooking spray and let rise at room temperature for 1 1/2 – 2 hours.  (I use my proofer set at 80 F and it takes about 1 hour to 1.5 hours).

Around 45 minutes before ready to bake, pre-heat your oven to 500 degrees F. and prepare it for steam.  I have a heavy-duty baking pan on the bottom rack of my oven with 1 baking stone on above the pan and one on the top shelf.  I pour 1 cup of boiling water in the pan right after I place the dough in the oven.

After 1 minute lower the temperature to 450 degrees.  Bake for around 35 minutes or until the breads are nice and brown and have an internal temperature around 200-210 F.  Note: if making a Miche lower the temperature to 435 F and bake for close to an hour or until the internal temperature is 200-205 F.

Take the bread(s) out of the oven when done and let them cool on a bakers rack for as long as you can resist.

This morning i have done a fast bake with a 1 hour bulk fermentation time This dough is made from Fresh Milled Red Wheat, Millers 1100 Bakers Flour and Lupin Flakes from the Lupin Coi also used some of the sour dough starter that is kept in the fridge left overs after revival feeds to bring the starter amount back to a manageable size. I calculate that as half flour half water and adjust my formula to accommodate that. The advantage is of course much less waste as well as flavours that have been generated in the prolonged fermentation. In this instance the S/D starter isnt being used for the doughs fermentation that's where the added yeast is employed and the reason this is a fast dough. A hybrid in fact. the new mixer is allowing me to make larger doughs, juggling the oven is what's needed now.     

Hi all,

I need to know how to calculate flour and water weight, based on total dough weight.

if I need to mix up 1 kg of dough @ 65% hydration, how do I get there.  At this point I just guess, do the math and adjust my numbers until I get there.  Not efficient at all 🥴

Thank you!

One of my favorite wheat to use is Durum which I usually mill myself but since I was out of Durum berries I used some packaged Italian flour my wife had purchased for my pizza making, Semola Rimacinata Durum which is a very fine milled flour.

I did mill some Yecoar Rojo whole wheat from Barton Springs Mill and sifted twice to produce a high extraction flour. I added some freshly made ricotta cheese I bought at a Italian specialty market which produces a nice soft crumb. This type of bread cries out to be topped with some sesame seeds which always adds a wonderful finishing touch.

The dough was nice and silky and easy to work with but I probably could have upped the hydration a bit to get a more open crumb. All and all it was a tasty bread perfect for grilling brushed with some olive oil and some nice cheese on top.

Formula

Levain Directions

Mix all the levain ingredients together for about 1 minute and cover with plastic wrap. I used bottled cherry juice but you could easily substitute it for water. Let it sit at room temperature for around 6-7 hours or until the starter has almost doubled.  I used my proofer set at 76 degrees so it took around 5 hours for me.  Either use in the main dough immediately or refrigerate for up to 1 day before using.

 Main Dough Procedure

Mix the flour and liquids (leave about 50 -70 grams to add after the first mix), together in your mixer or by hand until it just starts to come together, maybe about 1 minute.  Let it rest in your work bowl covered for 20-30 minutes.  After 30 minutes or so  add the salt, starter (cut into about 7-8 pieces), ricotta cheese and remaining water as needed and mix on low for 5 minutes.  Note: If you are using the Ankarsrum mixer like I do, add your water to the bowl first then add in the starter and flours.  After your autolyse add in the salt, ricotta and remaining water and mix on low to medium low for 15-20 minutes.

Remove the dough from your bowl and place it in a lightly oiled bowl or work surface and do several stretch and folds.  Let it rest covered for 10-15 minutes and then do another stretch and fold.  Let it rest another 10-15 minutes and do one additional stretch and fold.  After a total of 1.5 hours place your covered bowl in the refrigerator and let it rest for 12 to 24 hours.  

When you are ready to bake remove the bowl from the refrigerator and let it set out at room temperature still covered for 1.5 to 2 hours or if using a proofer set at 80 degrees for one hour.  Remove the dough and shape as desired and cover with a moist tea towel or plastic wrap Sprayed with cooking spray and let rise at room temperature for 1 1/2 – 2 hours.  (I use my proofer set at 80 F and it takes about 1 hour to 1.5 hours).

Around 45 minutes before ready to bake, pre-heat your oven to 500 degrees F. and prepare it for steam.  I have a heavy-duty baking pan on the bottom rack of my oven with 1 baking stone on above the pan and one on the top shelf.  I pour 1 cup of boiling water in the pan right after I place the dough in the oven.

After 1 minute lower the temperature to 450 degrees.  Bake for around 35 minutes or until the breads are nice and brown and have an internal temperature around 200-210 F. 

Take the bread(s) out of the oven when done and let them cool on a bakers rack for as long as you can resist. 

I’ve tried adding an egg to my standard country sourdough but hadn’t tried adding one to a 100% whole wheat sourdough.  Given the benefits of an egg in bread, leavening, lightness of crumb, fluffiness and thin crisp crust, a bread that is 100% whole wheat should theoretically greatly benefit from the addition of an egg.  

I also wanted to try a 5 min score.  For those who haven’t heard of this before, the idea is that if your dough is possibly overproofed and at risk for collapsing upon scoring, bake the dough for 5 min without steam.  So for a dutch oven bake, do so without a lid for 5 mins, then take the bread out of the dutch oven, score it and then place it back in the dutch oven this time with the lid on and continue your bake.

For those like me who prefer an open bake, bake without steam for 5 mins, then score and put it back in the oven with the addition of steam.  I didn’t really need to do the 5 min score with this bake and one thing I don’t like about it is the appearance of the crust when done this way.  I usually score, then brush water on the crust.  When doing the 5 min score, you don’t brush water on the crust.  So I find that there is some residual rice flour on the crust that doesn’t get washed away by brushing on water that gives the crust a less appetizing appearance to me.  I think detracted from this bake.  Also, it is a waste of time doing any decorative scoring as it won’t open up since the crust is partially set by the 5 mins without steam.

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I added an additional 10 g of bassinage water so the total hydration of this loaf was 93%.

Taking all the flour, I sifted it through the #40 sieve extracting about 47 g of large course bran flakes from 470 g of the stoneground organic whole wheat flour.  I then added 97 g of boiling filtered water to the bran as a scald.  I sprinkled the salt onto the bran and it was left to cool overnight.

The stiff levain was built and left to ferment overnight at 74ºF.

The next morning the egg and water were added to the bowl of my Ankarsrum Assistent and mixed by spatula.  Next the levain was added cutting it up into small pieces with the spatula.  Then the sifted flour was added to the bowl and mixed until there was no dry flour.  After 10 mins of rest the mixer was started.  After good gluten development the hold back water was added in several aliquots.  10 g of water more than in the spreadsheet was added during bassinage since the dough felt very strong.  Once bassinage was completed gluten development was very good.  Finally the scalded bran and salt was added until the bran well well incorporated.  The pH was 5.62 at this point.

A bench letterfold was performed and the aliquot jar set up as well as an aliquot of dough for pH measurement.

Every 30 mins a coil fold was performed until the dough felt strong and was holding its shape well.

Aim to shape went rise 40-50% or pH fall of 1.0.  This dough reached 50% rise but only had a 0.83 fall in pH.  Used my starter that has been converted to a while flour fed starter.  It has greater rise with less fall in pH.

Warm final proof and aim to bake at a pH fall of a further 0.3.  In this case I allowed a rise of 96% and then placed the dough into the freezer while the oven finished preheating.

I will do a 5 mins score.  To do this the dough is turned out onto a piece of parchment and transferred to the oven without scoring baking at 450°F.  After 5 mins in the oven the dough is taken out and then scored and brushed with water.  Then steam baking starts for 20 mins at 450°F.  The steam gear is then removed and baking continues at 425°F for 20-30 mins rotating as needed.

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I believe the egg did as advertised, the loaf had great lift, the crumb was light, the crust thinner than expected and for a 100% whole wheat loaf the crumb was fairly open.  I will try this again and without the 5 min score that may have affected the bloom.

Another note, I have switched back to using my own starter which I changed to feeding bread flour.  It is now rising more than the starter I was kindly gifted by Alan when given the same ratio of feeds.  It is also displaying the same characteristics of less sour tang and more rise for the change in pH.  For this bake, this bread turned out to be far less sour than any of my previous similar bakes, granted none of them had the egg in it which does raise the pH a bit.  But still, I used to bake after a drop in pH of 1.3 and perhaps get a total rise of 80%.  For this bake, the pH drop was 1.14 and the rise was 100%.  I suspect this is mostly due to the characteristics imparted from my starter being fed bread flour.

Gary posted a little while ago about using potato flakes instead of the usual flour based tangzhong.  Although potato flakes are more expensive than flour per gram, at least the good quality ones without additives they have one advantage.  Because the flakes are prepared from cooked potatoes, the starches are already gelatinized.  Apparently even through drying to make the flakes, although the water is gone from the starches, they retain whatever change that occurred so you do not need to precook the flakes to use them. 

This is a quote from the article Gary shared the link to.

” Potato flakes as tangzhong

In both wheat flour and potatoes, amylose and amylopectin exist in about a 1:4 ratio. This, plus its lower gelling temperature, means that amylopectin is the molecule responsible for the softness and staling-preventing effects of a tangzhong paste. As Dr. Ross explains, the amylopectin in instant mashed potato flakes are in a state of suspended gelation, ready to rehydrate as soon as they see water again.

Potato flakes, instant mashed potatoes are cooked and dried, maybe spray dried, but the starch never returns to the condition it was in the uncooked potato. The amylopectin doesn't really retrograde much and when dried fast enough remains as an amorphous matrix predisposed to fully rehydrate on the next introduction to water, even without heating. The amylose probably retrogrades, but this is an advantage as it doesn't rehydrate fully on the next introduction to water and gives some structural strength to the rehydrated mash. In potatoes this is complicated by the presence of starch within cells and whether the cells rupture or not during cooking. Rupture depends on the amount of cooking and the amount of shear applied during stirring/mixing.

Back to the method: You want enough additional water to completely saturate the starches in the potato flakes, so that they can do their thing in the dough and so that they don’t suck up water that would otherwise be destined to hydrate the flour—but no more than that, or it will make the dough stickier than it needs to be. Twice the weight of the potato flakes is about right, based on the tests I’ve done.

As for the amount of potato flakes to add, I’ve tested up to a 15% substitution of the total flour, though I think that in most cases sticking to no more than 10% is probably best, especially if the goal is to retain adequate crumb structure. (If you want a more dense, custard-like, tight crumb, by all means try higher amounts, but keep in mind that you need some structure to avoid a sticky dough—so you might have to reduce the total water to keep it easy to handle.)

In summary:

• You can amend the dough with as much as 15% of the total flour—meaning adding 15g of potato flakes for every 100g of flour—but to keep the dough texture close to the original, you probably want to limit it to no more 10%
• To fully saturate the potato starches, you want to add 200% water, relative to the weight of the potato flakes (aka twice as much water as potato flakes)
• And 2% salt, relative to potato flakes, to keep the overall salt % correct
• For example: Add 50g potato flakes, 100g water, and 1g salt to a bread that contains ~500g flour, for a 10% amendment 

If the dough is going to be machine-kneaded, you can just add the flakes to the dry ingredients, they’ll get sufficiently moshed up during kneading. To prevent a lumpy dough if you are hand-mixing, you’ll want to either grind them to a flour in a spice or flour mill, or instead mix the flakes with a small amount of the water from the dough and whisk them to a smooth paste before adding the remaining liquid ingredients.

I’ve yet to prove conclusively that instant potato flakes are as “good” as other cooked starches in a tangzhong-style approach, but they are so convenient to use that it might not matter to me if you can get a slightly better result using another starch. (I’m entirely happy with them in a soft-and-squishy enriched bread application, such as the bun recipes I’ve got coming up in the Summer 2021 edition of Edible Boston.) The amount of amylopectin relative to a traditional flour-based tangzhong is close to identical, so they should behave comparably. But it is something I plan to test eventually with a side-by-side.”

So for a baker who doesn’t feel like having to cook and mess up a pot to prepare a tangzhong, using potato flakes might be a time saving step to prepare a bread that uses a tangzhong.  At the same time, you get the benefits of the tangzhong, the delayed staling and fluffiness of the crumb with less work.  Win win as long as the flavour is still good.

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For one 9x4x4” Pullman pan loaf.

Instructions

Levain

Mix the levain ingredients in a jar or pyrex container with space for at least 300% growth. 

Press down with your knuckles or silicone spatula to create a uniform surface and to push out air.

At a temperature of 76-78ºF, it typically takes up to 10-12 hours for this sweet stiff levain to be at peak.  For my starter I typically see 3-3.5 times increase in size at peak.  The levain will smell sweet with only a mild tang.

Tangzhong 

If you are mixing by hand, then prepare the tangzhong by cooking the milk with the potato flakes until they form a mash potato.  If you are using a stand mixer then add the potato flakes with the tangzhong milk to the bowl along with all the other ingredients.

Dough

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the milk (consider holding back 10 g of milk and adding later if this is the first time you’re making this), egg, salt, sugar and levain.  Mix and then break up the levain into many smaller pieces.  Next add the flour and the potato flakes.  I like to use my spatula to mix until there aren’t many dry areas.  Allow the flour to hydrate (fermentolyse) for 20-30 minutes.  Mix on low speed and then medium speed until moderate gluten development this may take 5-10 mins.  You may want to scrape the sides of the bowl during the first 5 minutes of mixing.  Next add room temperature butter one pat at a time.  The dough may come apart, be patient, continue to mix until it comes together before adding in more butter.  Again, knead until well incorporated.  You will want to check gluten development by windowpane during this time and stop mixing when you get a good windowpane.  You should be able to pull a good windowpane, not quite as good as a white flour because the bran will interrupt the windowpane somewhat.  Add the seeds, then mix again until they are well distributed.

On the counter, shape the dough into a tight ball, cover in the bowl and ferment for 2 - 4 hours at 82ºF.  There should be some rise visible at this stage.

You can next place the dough into the fridge to chill the dough for about 1.5 hours, this makes rolling the dough easier to shape.  Remember, if you do so the final proof will take longer.  Alternatively, you can do a cold retard in the fridge overnight, however, you may find that this increases the tang in your bread.

Prepare your pans by greasing them with butter or line with parchment paper.  

Lightly oil the top of the dough. Scrape the dough out onto a clean counter top and divide it into four. I like to weigh them to have equal sized lobes. Shape each tightly into a boule, allow to rest 5 mins. Using an oiled rolling pin roll each ball out and then letterfold. Turn 90* and using a rolling pin roll each out to at least 8”. Letterfold again from the sides so you have a long narrow dough. Then using a rolling pin, roll flatter but keeping the dough relatively narrow.  The reason to do this extra letterfold is that the shorter fatter rolls when placed in the pan will not touch the sides of the pan.  This allows the swirled ends to rise during final proof, this is only done for appearance sake and is not necessary.  Next roll each into a tight roll with some tension. Arrange the rolls of dough inside your lined pan alternating the direction of the swirls. This should allow a greater rise during proof and in the oven.

Cover and let proof for  4-6 hours at a warm temperature.  I proof at 82°F.  You will need longer than 4-6 hours if you chilled your dough for shaping. I proof until the top of the dough comes to within 1 cm of the top edge of the pan.

Preheat the oven to 350F and brush the dough with the egg-milk wash.  Just prior to baking brush with the egg-milk wash again.

Bake the loaves for 50 minutes or until the internal temperature is at least 190ºF, rotating as needed to get even browning. Shield your loaf if it gets brown early in the baking process. After 50 mins remove the bread from the pan and bake a further 10 mins by placing the loaf directly in the oven on the rack with the oven turned down to 325ºF

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I had a technical issue with this bake that I hadn’t experienced in quite sometime.  I didn’t dust the couche or the bottoms (bottoms facing up in the couche) of the baguettes sufficiently, so when I attempted to transfer them off the couche, onto the transfer board and then finally onto the parchment lined cookie tray, two of the three stuck at each point.  This resulted in some pretty significant degassing and really compromised the crumb.  The third baguette did suffer nearly as much and was much better looking.  The flavour of course isn’t affected by the degassing, but certainly the texture of the baguettes was.

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Overnight Levain build ferment 75°F 10-12 hours

In the morning, to your mixing bowl add 327 g water, 10 g salt and diastatic malt 4.9 g to dissolve.  Add levain to water and cut the levain into small pieces in the bowl.  Next add 448 g AP flour to combine.  Allow to saltolyse for 20 mins.  Slap and fold x 100 then add hold back water 25 g gradually working in until fully absorbed by massaging and then Rubaud kneading the dough, then slap and fold x 200.  Alternatively mix in a stand mixer until good gluten development.  Add seeds.

Bulk Fermentation 82*F until aliquot jar shows 20% rise.

Do folds every 20 mins doing 3 folds

Could do cold retard at this point for  up to overnight. (Aliquot jar 20% rise)

Divide and pre-shape rest for 15 mins

Shape en couche with final proof until aliquot jar shows 55% rise then (optional) cold retard shaped baguettes en couche for at least 15 minutes for easier scoring.  I often do this for convenience as the oven is pre-heating.

Pre-heat oven 500*F after 30 mins add Silvia towel in pan with boiling water.

Transfer baguettes from couche to peel on parchment

Score each baguette and transfer to oven, bake on steel.

Bake with steam pouring 1 cup of boiling water to cast iron skillet dropping temperature to 480*F. 

The baguettes are baked with steam for 13 mins.  The steam equipment is removed venting the oven of steam.  Transfer the baguettes from the baking steel to next rack completing baking directly on a rack to minimize the browning and thickening of the bottom crust.  The oven is dropped to 450ºF but convection is turned on and the baguettes bake for 10 mins rotating them halfway.  The baguettes are rotated again if needed and baked for another 3 mins to achieve a rich colour crust.

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They was recent post on Debra wink English muffin but the link to recipe is not working please if anyone had the recipe can you kindly share thank you