The Fresh Loaf

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Hamelman's 40% Rye with Caraway

louie brown's picture
louie brown

Hamelman's 40% Rye with Caraway

I had some starter left over from the blinis, and this formula looked manageable. I love caraway, so it was a no brainer. 

At the end of the entry for this bread, Hamelman suggests alternately shaping the dough as "fingers," ("salzstangerl") without further guidance. I chose 6 ounce, long sticks. Googling only too late, I see that a typical shape for these is to roll, stretch or flatten the dough and then roll it back up, croissant-style, then slightly curved, with tapered ends. Oh, well. They were delicious and even showed a decent interior, despite less than the most delicate handling on my part. I say were, because they are already gone, having served as the basis for the smoked salmon not consumed this morning.

As for the loaf, I was inspired to try Sylvia's elegant curved scoring, but the spring with the towels-and-brick-in-a-pan setup was so strong that the loaf almost came apart. Besides, I don't think that such a beautiful curved scoring is really suitable for the rough surface of this loaf. It really wants to be shown off on a cleaner surface. 

I can see fairly simple fixes for the flaws in this bake, but it will be a little while. I need to lighten up on the carbs for a while.

Comments

AnnaInNC's picture
AnnaInNC

caraway seeds and coarse salt - and what SPRING on that beautiful loaf.

 Is this a yellow wall ? ;)   Cut that question, I thought, I was writing to Mini, grin ....

anna

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Excellent, Louis.

Coincidentally, I was just looking at that formula tonight.  Thanks for the heads-up about the salzstangerl shaping.  Might be fun to try it.

OldWoodenSpoon's picture
OldWoodenSpoon

Awesome loaf, and I love the "fingers".  I must look up how to shape those.  Last time I tried to bake that bread I turned out a truly awesome brick!  Nicely done Louis.

OldWoodenSpoon

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

How did you guess I want one of these rye loaves!  I also love caraway and rye loaves.  What a great idea to have 'salzstangerl'.  HERE is a great example of slashes on a rye loaf, no ears required.

Sylvia

 

 

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Very Nice, louie!

louie brown's picture
louie brown

Sylvia, you are right, of course. That sort of scoring makes much more sense and is very nice looking as well. Thanks for the pointer.I will remember it after I have lost five pounds.

wally's picture
wally

I'm not much of a caraway fan, but those fingers looks really lovely and Hamelman's 40% rye is a favorite.  Nice bakes, Louie!

Larry

hanseata's picture
hanseata

schöne Salzstangen, Louie - and one can always reduce the caraway.

Happy 2011 baking,

Karin

Francine's picture
Francine

Louie,

That bread looks great; now I want to make some too!  Thanks for sharing!

Cheers,

Francine

louie brown's picture
louie brown

This is a straightforward, rewarding formula. Karin is right; one can always reduce the caraway, although i have a free hand with it myself.

As for the fingers, while I got away with it the way they are (were), it would be fun to try to shape them as they are shown traditionally. They're fun to eat, and they make a nice change from customary loaf shaping. They must be a great bakery item in Germany; I'm surprised we don't see something like them in the states more often, at least I don't here in New York.

AnnaInNC's picture
AnnaInNC

would be a hit with the guys at Superbowl time.