Troubleshooting Struan Bread
Hi all.
I like to consider myself a pretty advanced home bread baker. I've made successful multi-grain breads with ease before, which is why the problems I'm having with the Struan bread are just killing me. I've made it twice this week - the first time I let it rise too much on the first rise and it kind of flopped on the second rise. The second time, I adjusted the first rise time to only 30 minutes (it was an hour for the first batch) and it still had trouble fully rising to the top of the loaf pans, and then somehow managed to over-rise at the same time - when I took it out of the oven I had flat, delicious bricks. I'm using regular yeast vs. instant, but it's very active and proofed in a little water before being added to the bread. I added a few more of the grains, and omitted the buttermilk - maybe the buttermilk is key to a good rise?
Any suggestions? I'm thinking maybe less yeast (a tablespoon seems like a LOT), or ....?
Thanks in advance!
ETA: I use a Kitchenaid mixer for the mixing and intial kneading, and then I finish the kneading by hand. Another possibility is that the ratio of water to flour may be a little low - I find that the Kitchenaid tends to require more flour than 100% hand-kneading. And I'm using two 8 1/2 inch bread pans - possibly not enough dough for two?
are you thinking 'isn't enough' for two loaf pans? i scale mine at 700g.
I think you may be right. I'm going to try doubling the recipe and using, maybe, three loaf pans next time. Even with the extra grains I add (and the liquid to soak them) it comes to about 1/2 way up the 2 loaf pans.
Reinhart has a few different recipes under different names for this bread. I have used the Multigrain Extraordinaire recipe from Bread Bakers Apprentice, which turned out nearly identical to the Straun Bread I used to buy under the Brother Juniper brand. I have found (as have others) that the amount of water is very high (see this thread from a few months ago) and more than 25% additional flour is required to compensate. This recipe also calls for 1 Tbs yeast, and it has worked for me, but you could probably cut back to 2 tsp (6 gm) without ill effects. You might also try rising/proofing at a lower temperature to slow things down.
-Brad
I'm using the recipe linked here on the left side of the page, but adding an extra tablespoon or so of each grain and using more water to soak. And leaving out the buttermilk. I don't end up with overly dry bread, either cooked or dough, and it's moist but not quite sticky, so I'm probaby using the correct ratio of flour to water. I think next time I will let rise in a cooler place, try a little less yeast, and add more dough to the pans and see what happens.