The Fresh Loaf

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German Dark Rye

joeg214's picture
joeg214

German Dark Rye

While I visit this site often, I'm not really much of a poster.  However, I was so happy with my last bake, I decided to share :) ...

Picked up some Hodgson Mills stone ground rye flour and decided to give a recipe for German Dark Rye (on the bag) a shot.

3 1/2 cups Rye Flour

2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups of bread flour (I used KA AP)  2 1/2 cups was more like it.

2 tbs vital wheat gluten

2 pkgs of yeast (3 tsp or 14 grams)

2 cups of warm water (probably more like 2 1/2 cups)

1/4 cup of brown sugar

1/4 cup of molasses

3 tbs of cocoa powder

1 tbs caraway seeds (I don't like caraway seeds and left them out)

2 tsp salt

1/4 cup of melted butter

The brown sugar and yeast are disolved into the warm water in the mixing bowl.  Let this sit for about 5 minutes until the yeast is bubbly.  Add the molasses, rye flour, vital wheat gluten, cocoa and caraway seeds.  Mix well and let it rest for about 10 minutes.  Mix in the melted butter and salt.  Slowly add in 1 cup of bread flour and add enough of the flour balance to get a soft dough.  

This dough was a bit stiff so I quit adding flour at around 2 1/2 cups.  Concerned that it was still too stiff, I added approximately another 1/2 cup of warm water.  

I kneaded this for about 10 minutes in a KA mixer, placed the ball in an oiled bowl, covered it and let it double in size at room temp (about an hour).  I then knocked it down, cut it in half and formed two small boules which were placed on some parchment paper and covered with saran wrap.  These were left to rise for approximately 1 hour until they were almost double in size.

The tops were scored and both loaves were placed onto a baking stone in an oven pre-heated to 400F.  (looking back at their recipe, they said to pre-heat to 450F; I kept it at 400F)  I added about a cup of water to a lower cookie tray for steaming.  The loaves were removed after around 30 minutes or until the internal temperature of the bread was around 200F.

To date, this was the best overall bread I've ever made.  Crispy crust, light airy crumb and outstanding flavor.  A perfect compliment to the corned beef and cabbage I made for lunch / dinner today :)  

(I made another two boules the following day for my brother and his wife and it made a great sandwich bread :) )

 

 




dosidough's picture
dosidough

Like you I hang out here a lot but don't post much. It's nice to see a bake and critique from a bag label recipe, and this loaf looks like a good one. But I'm confused...is that a recipe by Ann Hodgman or was it from Hodgson Mills Rye flour package?
I haven't heard of Hogman's flour so I was just wondering.

Dosi

joeg214's picture
joeg214

You are absolutely correct...  for some strange reason I typed "Hodgmans" and not Hodgson Mills.   Thanks for pointing that out to me.  

I actually baked another two yesterday and eventually gave both to my brother and his wife.  Unfortunately, I was in the middle of a couple of things at the time and accidentally overproof the boules.  Thinking back, I probably shouldn't have tried to slash them as they collapsed a bit.  However, the end result, was still pretty darn good and it was a big hit.  Looks like the shelf life on it is pretty good too.  Now I need to do a Russian Black bread :)

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

looks so nice.  Well done.  Now will have to bake some and see what it tastes like.  Good to see another bag recipe is a keeper too.  My masa harina bag had a great tamale recipe.  Cut it out to save it and had to put the harina in a plastic bag - leaks everywhere.  Could have waited but too stupid.  But I am smarter than this spell checker that says to replace masa harina with Masia hearing.  Very dark....rye...... indeed

Bake On

joeg214's picture
joeg214

"smarter than this spell checker..."  LOL

Thanks for the feedback :)

 

 

dosidough's picture
dosidough

I've got a bag of Hogson's at home. I'm gonna check it out. A big TGIF...got a long weekend coming up and trying a new rye will be fun.
Thanks joeg for what turned into a timely post.

Dosi

 

joeg214's picture
joeg214

Glad my post was a timely one for you :)  I'd love to know how yours came out and how you handled the hydration...

Joe

dosidough's picture
dosidough

This is a keeper for me. I do rye formulas that use starters but I like to have some straight dough recipes if I haven't time for the overnight business. The hydration was fine for me, I used the original 2 cups called for but it was a very damp and drizzly day when I baked. I did change the mixing order a bit...I mixed all the dry ingredients together with all the flour, dissolved the brown sugar and yeast in the warm water with the molassas then I added the dry mix slowly in 2 steps, rested 10 min. then added the melted butter and salt. After about 3 min. mixing I needed another 2 – 3 T. flour. Then I (my mixer) kneaded it for 10 min. Got a nice smooth, tacky not sticky dough. When it comes to baking I can only do one at a time so I formed the 2 boules and 1 went in the proofer 1 in the frig. When the 1st hit the oven the other went in the proofer. Both came out great.

Thank you again for calling my attention to this bag recipe. I printed out a copy of your post and was SOoooo glad I had. Either you're quite younger than I or you're eyeglass prescription is much better...no wonder I didn't pay attention to it...can't read it!!! I had a really good laugh.

See ya' round the Loaf, and....Bake on.

Dosi

 

 

joeg214's picture
joeg214

Dosi,

I'm very glad you enjoyed it too. 

I'm a bit of a newbie at bread baking so I was curious as to how the recipe worked for you.  If I understand you correctly, you added 2 cups of flour plus another 2 - 3 tbs.  The original recipe called for 2.5 to 3.5 cups of flour in addition to the rye flour.  As I detailed in my post, I only added 2.5 cups to begin with and thought the dough was a bit stiff (from my own limited knowledge) which is why I added more water (should have kept track of the exact amount...).  Since my dough ended up somewhat smooth and tacky, I thought it was OK (and the end result was very satisfactory).   

I think I'm going to go in another direction now.  I really loved this bread, so I'd like to try some similar recipes.  I'm looking to do a nice Russian Black Bread or a Dark Pumpernickel next.  Any suggestions?

Oh, BTW, the secret to reading the side of the bag is having a very good pair of bifocal lenses and long arms LOL.  I firmly believe that everything should be printed in (at the very least) Ariel 14 :)

Thanks,

Joe G

dosidough's picture
dosidough

Ooops I mislead...I used the 2 1/2 c plus 2–3T of AP flour; water ratio was fine, but as I said it was a very damp day. The water needed may change (by tablespoons) depending on the humidity. So what you use once may change on another day. Notes are nice however. Over a few bakes of the same loaf you can see the correlations. This is the 4th day and the bread is still nice, I cut some for a sandwich this afternoon. That's good longevity for a rye without a starter.There are a lot of rye breads here at TFL. Just enter the kind you want in the search box and it will keep you busy. HansJoakim, and Varda are 2 members who use rye often. Check out their Blogs on here. You might try your library for "Whole Grain Breads: by Machine or Hand" by Beatrice Ojakangas. It's a nicely done book. No big gorgeous photos but good solid info and formulas. You mention you don't like caraway...ever try fennel seed? I was surprised, quite good in rye, and very traditional in some places.
OK I give...time to get new bi's for the eyes!

See ya round the Loaf
Dosi

golfermd's picture
golfermd

This is an excellent recipe. Came out great for me the first bake. Good one...

Dan