rye

....or my "tinkered with" version.  I love Eric's bread but needed to refrigerate the dough for time sake and chose to do that after shaping.  I shaped two loaves (used 1/2 recipe), placed in a couche, covered with oil sprayed plastic and refrigerated immediately.  The next morning I removed the loaves, placed on the counter while the oven preheated (about 30 to 45 minutes) and baked on a stone with steam for 12 minutes.  I rotated the loaves, and baked (I guess) another 30 minutes at 375F.  

Other variations were molasses vs sugar (about the same weight) and an egg glaze.  I've not got the cornstarch glaze method working right now.

We have a big pot of borscht to eat and wanted some hearty rye bread to go with it, so last night I mixed up the soaker and wild yeast starter for Rye Sandwich Meteil.  I had read on TFL that the bread had come out quite sweet for some, so I used only half the sweeting called for in the formula.  The bread 'rose' more sideways than anything else, but is still very tasty. 

I'm also wondering if some of the lack of rise was not letting it proof long enough (45 min instead of the full 60).  In any event - here is the loaf.  Any comments on how to achieve a better rise upwards are appreciated.  (Maybe I really do need to add some vital gluten?)Thanks.

It's Carnival Time Again!   And, as I've been on a roll, baking everything I want (ok, I haven't tried Filo dough yet, but come on...)

So, for our Super Bowl party, I decided to attempt an Almond Brioche 'Bostock' inspired King Cake using my homemade Buckwheat/Rye Brioche dough.

The King Cake is light and fluffly, and has a great flavour of almonds from the paste and extract with a hint of citrus from the Meyer Lemon and a subtle nuttiness from the buckwheat. I don't like large amounts of icing on my cakes, so I went with a finishing glaze of lavender honey.

The next time I make it I may include more cinnamon to evoke more of the classic flavor, maybe even incorporating it more heavily into the almond creme, or making a cinnamon creme, or rolling it into the dough before flattening it out. Any suggestions are welcome!

Ingredients:

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2 lbs "Buckwheat-Rye Brioche Dough" (Recipe Follows) or another brioche dough would work fine, I guess

4tbsp unsalted butter

1/2 cup almond paste

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 (duck) egg

1/2 tsp rose water (or citrus water like sweet orange water)

1/4 tsp almond extract

1/4 cup caster sugar

Zest of Orange, Satsuma, or Meyer Lemon

1/2 cup of sliced unsalted almonds

egg wash (1 egg w/ 1 tbsp of H2O)

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Almond Crème:
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Cream butter, almond paste, flour, duck egg, floral water, and almond extract in a food processor until uniform and smooth.

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Assembly of the Cake:
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There are two strategies possible for assembly of the cake, and I opted on the less traditional, but possibly more visually appealing.

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Traditional Method:
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Form Dough into 2 balls and roll them into two rectangles of approx 24"x12" and 1/8" thick.

Smooth Almond Crème onto the rectangle of dough, and then proceed to roll up the dough from one of the longer sides of the rectangle (jelly-roll style).

Braid the two strands together and join at the ends by pinching and using a little water.


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My Method:
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Form Dough into single ball and then into rectangle.
Roll Into a long rectangle, approx 26" x 8".

Visually divide the rectangle into thirds, width-wise and spread the Almond Crème on the center 1/3.

Create 'fingers' on the opposing sides by cutting opposing 1/2" width strips with a pizza cutter.

Place red bean inside. (I don't put plastic in my baked goods...)

Paint inside of fingers with egg wash, and fold over each other carefully (fingers on bottom only) in a criss cross pattern to create a braid, alternating left over right, lightly pressing together as you move to next pair of strands.

Carefully bend into a round 'crown' shape and seal on edges, preferably by braiding together and using a little water and pinch.
Allow the crown/braid to rest for 40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350F with baking stone in center 20minutes before baking.

Immediately before baking, mix together sugar, zest, slivered almonds, and a little juice of the citrus and sprinkle over the top of the cake.

Bake without steam for 35-45 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.

Drizzle with a light coating of lavender honey and serve warm with French Roast café au lait!

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Buckwheat Rye Brioche Dough

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*Makes Approx 4lbs of dough

1.5 cups of 105-115F water

1.5 tablespoons of granulated yeast or 1/4 cup of sourdough starter, and adjust water appropriately given hydration level

1.5 tbsp. of Granulated Salt

8 eggs, beaten lightly

1/2 cup Local Honey

1.5 Cups melted unsalted butter

4 cups unbleached bread flour ! (or KAf, we need the protein)

3 cups buckwheat flour

1/2 cup Whole Rye Flour

Egg Wash

1) Mix starter or yeast, salt, eggs, and melted butter with water in a 5 quart+ container which isn't airtight.

2) Add flour without kneading, with a spoon or spatula or a food processor or stand mixer with a dough hook. The dough should be loose.

3) Cover and allow to rest and room temperature until the dough rises and falls. (approx. 2h at 75F)

4) Refrigerate briefly and it is now ready to use.

Use within 5 days, or freeze in 1lb portions.

Ingredients:

• Whole grain
• 150g whole grains
• Feel free to combine different sorts: wheat, rye, barley, spelt
• Dough
• 450 g water
• 150g sourdough
• 5g fresh yeast
• 10g honey
• 10g malt syrup
• Seeds and the alike
• Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, sesame seeds
  Just a small handful
• 150g stale bread
• 25g salt
• 600g flour
• 300g rye
• 50g semolina or durum
• 250 other flour
• Graham
• Spelt
• Wheat

I've been baking a lot of sourdough as of late, and since I'm stubborn I don't ever refrigerate any of the starter and maintain it exclusively on the counter. While this lends to a vigorous starter it also encourages (ok, demands!) frequent baking, or you're going to either end up with the starter that ate your kitchen, or be exceptionally wasteful by refreshing the starter so frequently.

I have a little bit of a sweet tooth, and love blueberries so this was a natural next step.

I have adapted this recipe from this recipe at Sourdough Home:
http://www.sourdoughhome.com/index.php?content=blueberrymuffins

I made some adjustments as to my taste and added a crunchy Streusel topping!

Ingredients
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1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup oil (EVOO works great here)
1 cup 100% rye sourdough starter at 100% hydration!
2tbsp of Greek Yogurt (adds a little more acidity, good fat)

1/2 cup whole rye or wheat flour if you must
1/2 cup of organic buckwheat flour
1/3 cup of ground flax seeds
1 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup sugar or fructose
3/4 cup frozen blueberries

Streusel Topping

2 cups pecans or walnuts (8 oz.)
½ cup packed light brown sugar (I combined molasses and caster sugar)
⅓ cup old fashioned rolled oats
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. salt
2 Tbs. vegetable oil (I used more EVOO, though next time I may be decadent and use coconut oil)

Method

Preheat oven to 425F. (I use a convection oven, so actual temp was 400F)

Prepare streusel by combining nuts, sugar, oats, cinnamon and salt in food processor and pulsing a few times until a coarse mixture is achieved. Slowly drizzle in oil taking care to stop before creating a paste. The ideal consistency will be damp, but very crumbly. Set aside.

Combine dry ingredients in small bowl and then stir in blueberries. Combine wet ingredients in medium bowl.
Add dry ingredients to wet ones.

Place muffin cups inside tin and oil and dust them.
Oil a large dough or ice cream scoop and spoon batter into cups.
Sprinkle a liberal amount of Streusel topping over each cup such that you can no longer see the batter.

Bake at 425 for about 20 minutes or 16 min for convection

Allow to cool for 5 minutes in tin and then transfer to rack to cool to room temperature!
This should yield about a dozen full sized muffins. Enjoy!