The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Plat du jour

hansjoakim's picture
hansjoakim

Plat du jour

Here's one of my favourite rye loaves:

70 percent rye with hot soaker

The loaf is a 70% rye with a hot rye meal soaker. The hydration is around 80%, and I put approx. 15% of the total flour in the soaker. The pre-gelatinized flour contribues to a very soft, moist and tender crumb, and gives the loaf excellent keeping qualities. The rest of the flour is whole rye (about 55%) and ordinary bread flour (30%). I make it with a firm white starter and a tiny speck of fresh yeast, about the size of a small pea (just under 2 gr.), so the loaf develops a nice, round flavour during a 2 hr bulk fermentation. Final proof is approx. 1hr 15 mins.

70 percent rye with hot soaker

This loaf is a decent compromise: It has the nice flavour of rye, and the added bread flour contributes significant strength and  lightness to the loaf. You could add different bread spices or herbs to it, but I think I prefer it plain.

 

For dinner, I opted for the feuillete with salmon tartar from Roux' pastry book. Well... I have been out of puff pastry for a couple of weeks, and I needed a good excuse to make some more ;-) Besides, I'd just seen a video of a chef making the quick/blitz/rough version of puff pastry, and I would like to have a go at it myself. I've made the classic version before (and I'm still blown away by the puffing power of classic puff), but never the quick version. The procedure is simple enough: Basically a buttery pie dough that is given turns, and brief rests in the fridge in between. One shouldn't do too many turns with quick puff, as that tends to break down the rough layers and diminish the volume of the end product. Enough of that... so I did four single turns on the pastry while the rye bulk fermented. No pain at all, and I was thoroughly surprised over how quick (and dirty) the method is.

I cut off a bit of the dough this afternoon to make dinner. The dough is rolled into a thin circle, and this is then rolled in granulated sugar. The sugar caramelizes in the oven, and adds a unique sweet crunch to the feuillete at each bite. Sweet sugar crunch, fresh salmon and buttery feuillete went down remarkably well in my book :)

Feuillete with salmon tartar

Roux writes that the rough version bakes up to about 75% of the volume attained by correctly rolled classic puff. Doing the rough version felt a bit like cheating, I'll gladly admit it, but for such savoury applications, I don't think it matters that much. I'll definitely go with the classic one for any ambitious dessert, but the rough version is very handy and comes together very quickly.

The inevitable: Left overs and scrap puff. Oh boy. What to do? Can't throw it away, can you? It's all butter and flour-y goodness, innit? My local grocery store had some perky raspberries the other day, so I thought a mille-feuille would finish off a long day.

Mille-feuille

 

Mille-feuille

 

Added June 27: I still had some of the rough puff pastry in my fridge, and figured I could use the rest to make some apple turnovers and a dessert this weekend. I picked up a nice batch of Royal Gala apples at the local grocery and made an apple filling. Instead of the usual vanilla/cinnamon flavoured filling, I tried a recipe flavoured with lemon juice and a liberal sprinkling of Calvados. *Yum*

Apple filling

So, for the turnovers, I sprinkled them with sugar and some chopped almonds just before baking. I think they turned out alright, but you can see that the rough puff version doesn't puff up as much as the classic one. Still tastes good, though.

Apple turnover

For the dessert this weekend, I opted for a recipe in Friberg's pastry book that I've been drooling over for a long time, but not had the opportunity to make before now. It's something he calls puff pastry apple points, and it's an interesting variation on the usual mille-feuilles. The puff pastry is baked as a thin sheet (i.e. weighed down by a second baking sheet on top for the first 15 mins.), and is cut into three consecutively thinner strips. The points are then made by stacking layers of puff, the Calvados apple filling and a Calvados cream. The whole thing is iced with ordinary whipped cream, and decorated with crumbs of left over baked puff. I think it turned out alright! It tasted great anyway, with a marked Calvados taste due to both the filling and the Calvados cream. By the way, here's how it's supposed to look: Photo from the book. Note that I took the photo before cutting into individual servings... slicing these mille-feuilles tend to become... messy. Pressing through the cream and cutting with a serrated knife through the pastry strips should do the trick.

Puff pastry apple points

Comments

xaipete's picture
xaipete

Hi Hans. Your rye loaf looks fantastic. I love the crumb and the look of the snow-capped loaf. Is the recipe your own creation?

Quick puff pastry: I've never tried the quick version. Thanks for mentioning it. Would you post a link to the video you watched?

Your dinner and dessert look very fine too. I bet you have access to wonderful salmon.

--Pamela

hansjoakim's picture
hansjoakim

Yeah, I got a bit carried away when I floured the brotform... ;-) The dough was misbehaving (being sticky and whatnot) when I did the final shape, so I ended up being heavy handed with flour in the brotform. Yes, it's one of my own recipes, but I guess the overall formula would be pretty similar to many of Hamelman's rye sourdoughs (e.g. his 80% with rye flour soaker). I could write up the recipe if you'd like it?

I'll post a link to the video when I find it again! Mind you, it wasn't very exciting or particularly good quality - it was just pointed out how quickly it could be done. I'll have a look and see if I can find it.

xaipete's picture
xaipete

Please write the recipe up. I'm always looking for ryes to make.

--Pamela

hansjoakim's picture
hansjoakim

I'm using a spreadsheet that's based on Suas' way of breaking down the recipes. If you're using the weights, the figures below will give you a loaf weighing roughly 790 gr. Note also that all of the levain below is used in the final dough formula (so you probably want to build up a bit more to keep your culture going).

Levain

Bread flour: 57.5 gr - 95%

Whole-rye flour: 3 gr - 5%

Water: 30 gr - 50%

Stiff starter: 48.5 gr - 80%

Soaker

Rye meal: 70 gr - 100%

Boiling water: 70 gr - 100%

Final dough

Bread flour: 61 gr - 22%

Whole-rye flour: 217 gr - 78%

Water: 228 gr - 82%

Yeast (fresh): 1.5 gr - 0.55%

Salt: 7.5 gr - 2.65%

Soaker: 139 gr - 50% (all of it)

Levain: 139 gr - 50% (all of it)

Optional: Bread spices (caraway, anise etc.): 3 gr - 1.20%

 

Prepare levain and soaker approx. 12 hours before mixing final dough. Bulk fermentation: 2 hrs. Allow a 10 min. bench rest, before a final proof of 1 hr - 1 hr 15 mins. Have a watchful eye over the dough during the end of the final proof! I try to stretch the final proof as far as I can - otherwise I often end up with a "rustic" loaf completely bursting at the seams... I hope the above figures make sense, Pamela, and do let me know if you have a go at it! I'd love to get input and suggestions for improvement!

xaipete's picture
xaipete

Thanks, Hans. It makes perfect sense. I'll let you know how it goes. I appreciate you writing it up for me.

--Pamela

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

Hans, you  have me drooling on my keyboard!  Beautiful rye bread, salmon on the puff pastry is devine..I think I would have to have a second helping!  I love your dessert !  We always like dessert after dinner!  If only I had some room in my freezer for pastry dough!  I have been craving the puff and danish pastry..they have so many wonderful ways to be used as you have displayed!

Sylvia

 

hansjoakim's picture
hansjoakim

Hehe! Thanks so much, Sylvia :)

Yes! Dessert should be a given, right? You know, if you need a pastry fix real bad, you could just keep the dough in the fridge. If you make a puff dough, it'll keep nicely for up to a week in the fridge. One would just have to cut off pieces and make up stuff as you go along.

On the other hand, apple turnovers every morning for a week could be a bit much, so freezer space might come in handy...

blackbird's picture
blackbird

Thanks, good idea, I'll try it soon, the rye bread.

LindyD's picture
LindyD

You're an artist, Hans.

But your desserts are my danger zone.  I love desserts, especially pastry!

 

hansjoakim's picture
hansjoakim

Thanks again!

I hope you're having a go at the rye loaf. If you do, I suggest that you wait at least 12 hours (preferrably 24) before cutting into it, otherwise the crumb might appear too soft and chewy. If you give it a day to firm up, I think it will be much better.

Let me know how it turns out!