Hello everyone,
I wanted to try making another porridge bread from Tartine Book Nº3 - so this is a try at making the Rye Porridge bread, retarding warmer, and baking hotter, than the previous bake.
I found some sweet, local walnuts at the market and used these in the dough, along with roasted walnut oil -
*amazing* flavor, with the 50% rye porridge; the flours were 50% organic bread flour, and 50% organic locally-grown
whole-milled whole wheat flour.
I am posting this one, even though it didn’t turn out as well as I hoped, crumb-wise…but the flavor is absolutely outstanding, and I’m pretty excited about that!
I hope my enthusiasm about the flavor encourages someone else to make this :^)
I’m excited too about this morning’s sunshine and a rare opportunity in my house, to take a picture of the bread with some natural daylight!
Temperatures:
The dough temperature was 79F and was bulk fermented at 80F, for 4-1/2 hours.
This is what the dough looked like before dividing:
I divided the dough (sticky!) into three pieces, approximately 50%, 25%, 25%, to make three loaves
(wanting to try baking smaller versions to see how it might work out).
The dough was retarded at 48F for about 7 hours (warmer than my normal fridge temperature).
I chose this temperature after reading about the Slow Final Proof method in Advanced Bread and Pastry (50F was recommended; I tried to play it safe by a couple of degrees, as per the book, the dough using this method “should be a bit stiffer”; this dough definitely was not!).
After retarding, the smaller loaves seemed overproofed, the large loaf maybe just on the verge of; these loaves did not have the airiness of the Oat Porridge loaves, at the same stage.
One of the small loaves was baked first, warming at room temperature for 30 minutes while the Dutch oven preheated. The warm up did not help this dough – but I did it anyway, wanting to see what the effect might be, after retarding at 48F.
For this first bake, I also tried placing a stainless steel cake ring inside the Dutch oven (narrower diameter), hoping the narrower diameter ring would ‘fit’ better with the smaller loaf, and help it rise up better, having closer ‘support’ on the sides. This did not work out that well – perhaps I should have preheated the cake ring too – I think it could have been a somewhat of a barrier to the initial heat? If I try this again, I may try with an aluminum cheesecake ring or something non-stainless, and preheat it.
I don't know why I thought this one would rise? - given its proofing state :^)
This is the crumb, from the first bake
The second, and third loaves, were baked hotter, working my way up to 50F hotter by the third bake.
The third bake was the full-size loaf, and it was baked at 550F for 20 minutes, 500F for 10 minutes, lid off, then 500F for 15 minutes; the crust color is approaching what I was hoping for.
The over-proofing is evident in the crumb – this is more like a high percentage rye bread – but I love the purple color from the walnuts, and oh, did I say how gorgeous this tastes? :^)
There is sweetness from the wheat germ and walnuts, and a lovely tang and aftertaste, the rye porridge and fermentation adding beautiful flavors, and another very moist crumb, from the porridge. I think this bread is going to be an excellent keeper!
Loved the rustic look of the top of the bread, scored with scissors...
…and the pattern of rye flakes on the bottom, contrasting nicely with the crust’s rich caramel color!
Will I be making Rye Porridge bread again? You bet! And very happy to do so, and keep enjoying its deliciousness!,
while I try to find the retarding temperature and timing that’s just right.
Happy baking everyone!
:^) breadsong