The Fresh Loaf

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Hamelman's Flax Seed Bread

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Hamelman's Flax Seed Bread

This is Flax seed bread from Hamelman's "BREAD", i baked two days back. It is a 60% Rye bread with soaked flaxseeds. I used Wholegrain Rye in the Rye sour instead of the medium Rye called for. I also adhered to Hamelman's recipe and procedures, including the addition of 1.5 tsp of instant yeast in the final dough.

This Rye dough with flaxseeds is very sticky! I had to add 2 Tbl of Vital wheat gluten to the white (12% protein) flour to emulate the strength of High gluten flour. The dough ended up very .. very thirsty, that i ended up adding almost 75g more water to the final dough to get the consistency of the (paste) right. Once i immersed my hands (i mix entirely by hand) into the dough, i knew i had to toil in the pasty mess for at least 20 minutes trying to get whatever white flour in there to develop.

The dough kept on tearing even during shaping, but i finally managed to get them into floured lined banettons.

The only way to get this boule to bloom properly was load it seam side upwards.

Lower Profile due to all the added hydration

But with a very evenly opened textured, and moist crumb.

The dough, although quite a hassle to mix, does make a wonderful Rye bread, with a flax seed crunch and a pleasent soury note. My elder family members loved this bread. It is wonderful with cream cheese, or pastrami.

 

Comments

ananda's picture
ananda

Really good effort Khalid,

The instant yeast and vital wheat gluten have really made for a bold loaf.   Lovely even crumb!

Best wishes to you

Andy

lumos's picture
lumos

I'm sure it'd be lovely just lightly toasted with butter, too, with deep flavour of wholegrain rye and hint of 'kicks' from flaxseeds.   Or maybe with some smoked salmon?   Whatever you team with it, it looks delicious!  Thanks for sharing, Khalid....not only the wonderful result but the grippling drama on the way to it, too! :p

Coinsidentally, I'm making seeded sourdough at the moment, too.  Not Hamelman's, but mixed in some seeds to my sourdough interpretation of Heinz's Swiss Bernese Oberland .....with a few new twist.....as a result of a few unexpected incidents on the way.  Hope it'll turn out as good as yours.....

lumos

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Thank you, Andy! I have tried this recipe earlier, and i've promised myself not to go through Rye/flax mess soon, but the my parents did like it, and asked for another loaf!

Thanks, Lumos! I've chosen to top a slice with cream cheese, and another with Tahini/Dark Sugar molasses, YUM!

Good luck with your seeded SD.

lumos's picture
lumos

Actually I was thinking of  something in line with Tahini, too....like  baba ganoush (or do you call it moutabal where you are??) or houmous, maybe.  But thought I'd better not mention JUST IN CASE you're a purist and think those traditional dishes should only be served with traditional flatbread-kinds. :p 

Never ever thought of matching tahini and dark sugar molasses before.  Interesting.  ;)

My seeded SD turned out fine, fortunately. Will blog about it later.  It's getting darker here with winter approaching, I have to wait for an extra hour or two until it gets light enough to take the photo in natural light these days....

Franko's picture
Franko

Hi Khalid,

Your patience with the sticky dough was rewarded with a splendid looking loaf on all counts. I've been doing some similarly sticky doughs myself lately so I can empathize with you on what a hassle these doughs can be to mix by hand. You made a good choice to load them seam side up and with the natural vent that occurred looking very rustic and appealing. Nice bake!

ehanner's picture
ehanner

A beautiful loaf Khalid. As Andy pointed out the crumb is quite even and open. Very nice baking what must be a delicious loaf.

Eric

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

is to mix the wheat (and seeds) with the liquids first taking a whisk to the batter to develop gluten.  After a good 20 - 30 minutes of altering whisking and resting, add the rye with a stiff sturdy spoon.  I know if I stuck my hands in the dough, I'd never get them out again without fighting the dough and ev. searching for my rings.  It is just so much easier!  

Hey!  Beautiful even crumb!  

Mini

PiPs's picture
PiPs

Nice bake Khalid,

I bet it tastes fantastic.

I know that feeling of despair being half way through mixing a rye bread ... shock to the system after clean wheat mixing. Once I discovered "wet hands" mixing my stress levels decreased.

Lately I have been mixing high percentage ryes with a scraper in my right hand for picking up and turning the dough and my left hand for kneading, keeping it wet with a bowl of water near by. 

Cheers, Phil

 

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Thank you, Franko :)

Thanks, Eric! I didn't expect it to be so evenly opened given the whole rye flour i used in the sour.

Thank youMini, that is a very useful suggestion! i'll sure try it next time. (you're the expert).

Nice suggestions too, Phil! thank you.

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Hommous does not complement well Rye breads, or do they? Tahini with Sugar molasses/carob molasses is a popular ancient dessert in northern middle eastern countries, especially in Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt and Syria. Don't spread much of it though on a slice, as it tends to overwhelm the subtle flavor of Rye.

Awaiting to see your Seeded sd blog.

 

lumos's picture
lumos

Oh, forgot it had rye in it. My bad....:p

varda's picture
varda

Beautiful rye.   And I'm sure the flax seeds give it a lot of flavor over and above what you get from the rye itself.  -Varda

Daan's picture
Daan

It is just a wonderful bread!!! My first Hamelman bread I ever baked...