The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

"Fragrant and chewy" rye suggestions?

ifaey's picture
ifaey

"Fragrant and chewy" rye suggestions?

Hi bakers,

I have a friend on my subscription list who asked me for a rye loaf every week. "Sure!" I said. "No problem. I love ryes. What kind of rye do you have in mind? Rugbrod, dense and seedy? 20% rye sourdough? Deli rye?"

"Fragrant and chewy" she says.

What does that say to you guys, can you recommend any good formulas?

IceDemeter's picture
IceDemeter

formula is here, from Mini Oven: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/15736/mini039s-favorite-rye-ratio

If you include her "bread spice" mix, then you cannot beat it for "fragrant" --- and totally delicious!

I also like to include some rye malts - diastatic (white) for the enzyme activity, and non-diastatic (red and chocolate) for their flavouring.

For a light "treat" bread that still would meet the requirements, I also have enjoyed this one: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/27666/banana-light-rye-and-banana-quick-bread 

I have changed that one up to include 35% rye, and also include the chocolate rye malt and some toasted almonds since they seem to all work well together.

Seriously - use Mini Oven's formula as your base and you can come up with additions and mods for ever and always be sure of a great "fragrant and chewy" bread.

Enjoy!

ifaey's picture
ifaey

that's a great base formula! Where are you getting your malts, and how do you add them? I've never worked with malt before.

IceDemeter's picture
IceDemeter

purchased the diastatic (white) malt from my local home-brewer supply store (it was about $6 for 2kg - which should last me approximately forever).  The white (diastatic) is essentially just whole grain that has been sprouted to the point of high enzyme activity, and then dried at less than 130 degrees F (to keep the enzymes alive and active).  I mill / grind it in to a fine powder at home (you can use a mortar and pestle, or a coffee grinder, or your home mill) and just add it to the flour with the autolyse.

For red malt, it is just a matter of heating (toasting) the white malt kernels at above 130 degrees until they turn red, and then cooling and grinding in to flour (this kills the enzymes and makes it purely a sweetener / flavouring agent).  If you keep toasting it past the red point to the dark brown point, then you'll hit chocolate (it really does smell and taste like chocolate).

Of course, you could always sprout the grain berries yourself, as Lechem is doing right now: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/51571/its-amazing-how-quickly-grains-begins-sprout and has been done by dabrownman in the past, such as he documented here: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/27954/making-red-rye-malt

I chose to toast mine in a dry skillet on stove top to be able to better monitor it visually instead of using the oven, but it works out to the same end.

Oh - just a word of warning though - the enzymes are active in the diastatic, so be careful how much you add!  I do no more than 5g in a dough with 750g flour.  There are no active enzymes in the red or chocolate, so how much you add is personal preference on the flavour (I usually keep it around the 5g each mark - but sometimes will increase the chocolate if I want a deeper colouring to the crumb and a stronger chocolate tinge).

Hope this helps!

Lazy Loafer's picture
Lazy Loafer

Emmanuel Hadjiandreou has some really nice whole rye sourdough recipes in his book "How to Make Sourdough". At the moment I've got his Pumpernickel rising, and the starter going for an Orange Coriander loaf (crushed coriander seeds and orange zest). The pumpernickel is lovely as it includes white malt (Maris Otter; diastatic), crystal malt and a beautiful dark chocolate malt that looks and tastes like tiny coffee beans. I too get these from my local brew shop (and in return I supply them with bread!). This time I used freshly sprouted rye berries in the mix instead of simply soaking them, so we'll see how this turns out.

ifaey's picture
ifaey

You tell Lucy she is one hell of a baker. How does she manage it, without opposable thumbs?

This looks right up my alley, though I could never put it into production (at least not this year, not working alone). Where do you add the scald? Is it 1) levain 2) add levain to dough water, then dough flours 3) add scald to dough and work in, then proof?

And a question for all of the rye lovers: I'm hearing a lot about malt, and enzyme activity in the white malt. Practically speaking, how do the enzymes affect the dough?

edited to add: and where do you get your baskets? Are they just regular old baskets, or some special brotform? I love the pattern with the rice flour.

pmccool's picture
pmccool

Here's a recipe from Hanseata.  There are plenty of others to be found on the Web, differing primarily in the spices.  My personal favorite is a mix of fennel and anise, with a dash of caraway.

Paul

ifaey's picture
ifaey

And might work a little better with my production schedule. I especially like the orange zest- the spices and the zest are a lot like how I make buttermilk rye crackers. I rarely if ever bake with added fats, I'm excited to give this one a try. I bet this would sell like crazy at the market.