The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Onion Sourdough-Yeast Water Rye Ale Bread

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Onion Sourdough-Yeast Water Rye Ale Bread

There are many things in my life that I have a passion for, with bread  being near the top.  Recently I was very saddened to learn of the sudden passing of a terrific baker and person Eric Hanner.  Eric was a frequent contributor on The Fresh Loaf website and he inspired me with his passion for baking and touched a great many people along the way.

His willingness to share his vast baking experiences and cooking expertise as well photography pointers left an unforgettable mark on all that came in contact with him.  One of Eric's favorite recipes was his Jewish Rye which goes great with his homemade pastrami.  I had a spirited conversation with Eric regarding our pastrami passion and  I couldn't wait to try his pastrami after I had baked his famous rye.

In tribute to Eric I offer my own inspired Jewish Rye (I'm Jewish...therefore it's a Jewish Rye :0).  I have not used my yeast water starter in a while so I refreshed it with some oranges due to my apples having gone bad.  I also created a rye sour converting my AP starter in 3 stages including adding sautéed onions in stage 2.  Both starters were finished by bringing them from 100% hydration to 65% hydration.

I also picked up some interesting ale at the local supermarket which was brewed with lemon peels, ginger and honey so naturally I needed to use some in this rye bread.

The final loaf ended up being by far one of the best rye breads I have  made to date.  The onions combined with the 2 starters and the ale made this a wonderfully tasty moist bread perfect for a pastrami or corned beef sandwich or a smear of cream cheese.

Procedure

Yeast Water Starter Build 1

60 grams Pumpernickel  Flour (KAF)

60 grams Yeast Water Starter

Mix the flour and Yeast Water in a bowl until thoroughly combined.  Cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature for around 6 hours.  The starter should almost double when ready to proceed to build 2.

Build 2

Add ingredients below to starter from above and mix until incorporated.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 6 hours.

100 grams Pumpernickel Flour

100 grams Yeast Water

Build 3

Add flour to starter from above and mix until incorporated.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 4 hours or until bubbly and either use immediately or put in the refrigerator for the next day.

100 grams Pumpernickel Flour

10 grams Yeast Water

(Note: I made extra starter since I wanted to use this for another bake.  You can cut the amounts down to make the 125 grams needed in the recipe)

Rye Sour Starter Build 1

63 grams AP Starter

63 Pumpernickel Starter

75 grams Water

Mix the flour, starter and water in a bowl until thoroughly combined.  Cover the bowl and let it sit at room temperature for around 4-6 hours.  The starter should almost double when ready to proceed to build 2.

Rye Sour Starter Build 2

100 Pumpernickel Flour

100 grams Water

123 grams Sautéed Onions (sautéed in olive oil)

Mix the flour and water with the sour starter from build 1 along with the onions.  Cover and let sit at room temperature for 4-6 hours until doubled and nice and bubbly.

Rye Sour Starter Build 3

102 grams Pumpernickel Flour

Add the flour to the rye sour from build 2 and let it rest covered for 4-6 hours until bubbly and nearly doubled.

Main Dough Ingredients

300 grams Rye Starter from Above

125 grams Yeast Water Rye Starter from Above

400 grams First Clear Flour (KAF)

80 grams White Rye Flour (KAF)

50 grams Rye Chops (KAF)

30 grams Potato Flour (KAF)

357 grams Tenacious Traveler Shandy Ale

18 grams Seas Salt or Table Salt

8 grams Caraway Seeds

1 Large Egg (for egg wash only)

Procedure

Build your Yeast Water levain and rye sour starter the day before you are ready to bake.

The evening before you want to bake, mix the flours, rye chops, caraway seeds and the ale.  Mix on low-speed in your stand mixer or by hand for about 1 minute until the ingredients are combined.  Let the dough autolyse for about 20 minutes to an hour.

Next add both levains along with the salt and mix for 4 minutes on low.  The dough will come together and be slightly sticky.  Place the dough in a slightly oiled bowl and do a couple of stretch and folds.  Cover the bowl and let it rest for 10-15 minutes.  Do another stretch and fold in the bowl and let it rest another 10-15 minutes.  Do another stretch and fold and let the dough sit out in the covered bowl for another 1.5 hours.  Place the dough in the refrigerator until ready to bake the next day.

When ready to bake take the dough out and leave it covered in your bowl for 1.5 to 2 hours.  Next divide the dough into 2 loaves and either place in a banneton or from into batards and let them rest in floured couches for 1.5 - 2 hours.

About one hour before ready to bake, set your oven for 500 degrees F.and make sure you prepare it for steam.  I have a baking stone on the top shelf and the bottom and use a heavy-duty rimmed baking pan that I pour 1 cup of boiling water into right as I put the loaves into the oven.

Score the loaves as desired and brush each loaf with a simple egg wash using 1 whole egg and a couple of teaspoons of water.

When ready to bake place the loaves into your oven on  your oven stone with steam and lower the temperature immediately to 450 degrees.  It should take around 30 minutes to bake  until the rye breads  are golden brown and reached an internal temperature of 200 - 205 degrees F.

Let the loaves cool down for at least an 2 hours or so before eating as desired.

 

Comments

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Beauty beauty beauty!  Mind if I feature it for a bit?

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thanks Floyd.  I would be honored.

Joe Fisher's picture
Joe Fisher

Hubba hubba! Those loaves look magnificent.

-Joe

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thanks Joe.  I hope you give it a try yourself.

Ian

bakingbadly's picture
bakingbadly

If I had access to all of the ingredients required in your recipe, you bet I'd make a loaf or two. Absolutely gorgeous.

All in all, a spectacular tribute to a man who deserved nothing less.

Zita 

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thank you Zita.  Appreciate your kind words.

regards

Ian

FC Baker's picture
FC Baker

A question about the onion.

1. Saute until how browned?

2. 123 grams before or after cooking?

3. Size of onion dice?

They look good.

Isand66's picture
Isand66

I sauted the until they were soft and only slightly carmelized.  You don't want them too browned. I used olive oil but you could use butter if you desire.

The 123 grams was after cooking.

Medium dice.

Thanks for the questions.  Let me know if you give it a try.


Regards,
Ian 

txfarmer's picture
txfarmer

A great take on a great formula!

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thanks Txfarmer.  It's too bad we don't all live closer so we could have a rye tasting!

Regards,
Ian

Franko's picture
Franko

Nice post Ian, and a splendid interpretation of Eric's Favourite Rye Bread. I'm sure he would have enjoyed seeing it featured on the front page as much as I do. Great work Ian!

Cheers,

Franko 

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thank you so much Franko.  I sure hope he would have been pleased.

Regards,

Ian

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Eric would be proud of your tribute.  Well browned and the crumb is nice and open, moist and soft for this kind of bread - you can see the YW at work there.  I like the onions going into the rye levain to boost the sour.  The ale is a nice touch too.  A very nice bread all around. 

I'll take mine sliced, with a schmear and some lox - with some sliced red onion.

Eric is smiling!

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thanks DA...I know my version doesn't have quite the ingredient list as your masterpiece but it sure does taste good.  I have to say this is by far my best rye bread I've made and one of my favorites all together.  I will be done eating both loaves by tomorrow most likely and I have to start planning to make some more!  My wife is bringing home some potato latkes from the 2nd Avenue Deli in NYC that one of the dentists in her place brought in, so I can't wait to have a steak sandwich tonight on rye!  Some lox and a schmear wouldn't be bad either :).  I'm very happy thinking Eric would be smiling hearing about this bread!

Regards,
Ian

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

We make some pretty fancy do and delicious latkes using, God forbid,  our panini press :-) Rotate them 90 degrees half way through and the  crust pattern on the latkes is striking.   Makes them twice as fast too!  I'm making a 50% whole grain (25% whole rye similar to the last bake too (quite similar to yours again) but going to make it a fat batard like yours.  Am toning it down some, no rice or caramelized onions -  so not to frighten the guests.  My daughter gets home from college in about half an pour so she can help - just building the SD/ YW combo levain right now.

I'm going to out some of Eric's pastrami on it if i can find a brisket somewhere in the next couple of days.  Maybe have it for New Years.  I'll give you my pastrami new cure recipe once I try it out to make sure it is OK.  I still haven't found my ancient one :-(

Happy Hanukkah

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Happy Chanukah to you and your family as well.  Can't wait to hear how your pastrami comes out and your next bread.

Never heard of making Laktes on the pannini press but they sound great.  I will be making some for my Christmaka dinner next weekend along with homemade chicken soup with kreplach amongst other family favorites, or at least mine!

Regards,
Ian

varda's picture
varda

Beautiful bread and I would like some of that tenacious traveler.   Really touching to see all these loaves inspired by Eric.  -Varda

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thanks Varda...Eric was certainly an inspirational person and baker!

I used one of the Tenacious Traveler Ales last night to marinate a London broil and cooked it up on my grill with some charcoal and Hickory and it came out great.

Regards,
Ian

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Lovely, Ian! Much wholesome, and nutritious than the original recipe. The seemingly feeble dough inflated gracefully in the oven and met your expectations. Wonderful!

You have come a long way with your intuitive baking skills, Ian. An excellent tribute to late Eric, and a well deserved front page feature.

Happy holidays!

Khalid

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Thank you so much Khalid for your kind words.

I was very satisfied with the final results and looking back you are right that I have come a long way developing my baking instincts.

Happy holidays to you and your family as well.


Regards

Ian