The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

sour rye

Franko's picture
Franko

The first time I made and tasted a rye bread with toasted sunflower seeds I was hooked. It was based on Jeffrey Hamelman's 80% Sour Rye with a Rye Flour Soaker from his book 'Bread' . I adapted it slightly by adding some toasted seeds to the mix and ended up with one of the most delicious breads I've ever made. As much as I enjoy eating a high percentage rye bread it's not something I like having on a regular basis. With this bake I wanted to see if a 25%-30% rye would do as well as a high ratio rye in terms of complex flavours. I was happy to discover that this bread is every bit as flavorful as the 80% but with a lighter texture, making it more suitable for my everyday bread. Quite often now I find with lean breads such as this one, that Chad Robertson's 'Tartine' method for making his Country Bread gives me the kind of crust and crumb that I prefer. I don't always use a Dutch oven for the baking, but on this bake I did, hoping to maximize as much of the flavour from the toasted seeds as possible as well as have that lovely burnished crust typical of Dutch Oven bakes.

Procedure:

The hydration and salt percentages were kept close to Robertson's Tartine Country Rye however I changed everything else in the original formula, but basically kept to Robertson's procedure as much as possible. The dough was hand mixed, then bulk fermented @ 76F-78F over 3 hours with stretch and folds in the bowl done every 30 minutes for the first 2 hours. The last S&F was done on the counter before a 30 minute rest and eventual shaping. The final rise was done in a floured banneton over a 3 hour period and then baked in a 500F pre-heated Dutch Oven for the first ten minutes, then at 470F for the remaining 45 minutes bake time. After 30 minutes I took the loaf out of the DO and placed it on the baking stone for the last 15 minutes of the bake, then turned the oven off and propped the door open for an additional 20-30 minutes before removing it to rack for overnight cooling.

 

Evaluation:

The final proof was more than it needed by 20-30 minutes to give it a higher profile, but the crust is fine with a good crunch to it. The scoring is a bit wonky I'm afraid and I really have to remember to keep to a few straight slashes when the dough has a high percentage of seeds like this one. The blade simply catches on too many of them during slashing to get any good, clean cuts for an attractive pattern. Cosmetic sins aside, the crumb I like...a lot, and the flavour is wonderful with a long lasting medium sour tang and a rich nutty taste from the toasted seeds that goes well with everything I've pared it with so far.

 The bread matched particularly well with a smoked salmon and shrimp pate that I'd made the day before, one of the results of my new interest in charcuterie. To my surprise our normally aloof feline has suddenly become my new best friend when the salmon pate comes out of the fridge for a snack. I'm not sure which of us enjoys it more spread on a piece of the toasted bread, but I know our dog is not happy with this turn of events one little bit.

Formula below and a link to the spreadsheet for anyone who'd like to download a working copy for themselves.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AjicIp92YPCTdHlSZm5nSEd4R1l4S1o0LUc2TXBRcnc

Cheers,

Franko

25 % Sour Rye Bread with Toasted Seeds%Kilos/Grams

 
Ingredients  
   
Levain  
Organic AP Flour50.00%29
Dark Rye Flour50.00%29
Mature Rye Starter -100%12.50%7
Water-75F100.00%58
Total weight212.50%124
DDT- 65-70F 12-16hrs  
   
Toasted Seed Mixture  
Sunflower Seeds80.00%77
Pumpkin Seeds20.00%19
Total weight100.00%97
   
Final Dough Weight
 1200
Final Dough 
Organic AP Flour75.0%403
Dark Rye Flour25.0%134
Levain23.0%124
Toasted Seed Mixture18.0%97
Sea Salt2.3%12
Water80.0%430
Total weight223.3%1200.00
DDT-75-78F BF- 2.5 hrs with 2-3 S&F  
   
Overall Formula Kilos/Grams
Total Flour100.00%596
Bread Flour72.56%432
Dark Rye Flour27.44%163
Mature Rye Starter-100%1.22%7
Toasted Seed Mixture12.99%97
Sea Salt2.08%12
Water81.95%488
Total weight 1200

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Franko's picture
Franko

This bread took a few weeks from first concept to final bake but I'm glad I hung in there to get what I think is a good bread with a savory flavour and aroma. I'd been wanting to make a sour onion rye bread for a while but couldn't find any recipes that really appealed to me. As I was leafing through Jan Hed's 'Swedish Breads and Pastries one day I found a recipe for a Pain Dijonnaise that included mustard in the formula, something I hadn't considered using till this point but thought that adding some mustard along with caramelized onions in a sour rye would be an excellent flavour combination. I had a bake planned for the following day of a Pain de Campagne using a wheat levain so I decided to split the mix and use the onion mustard combination in one loaf to see how the flavours worked in a finished loaf. While it turned out OK it didn't have quite the punch I was looking for, lacking the intensity of overall flavour I was after, but promising nonetheless.

If I was going to make this properly I needed to start a new rye sour from scratch since the one I had wasn't a pure rye sour anymore from letting wheat based sours gradually creep into it over the last year. It took a few tries to finally get an active starter going, but that eventually worked out by keeping it wrapped in towels on top of the hot water tank, the one consistently warm spot in our house during the day while we're away at work.

When I got home from work this past Saturday I mixed the levain/sour for the next days mix leaving it to ripen over 17hours, and then getting the caramelized onions prepared as well as roasting some mustard seeds to include in the mix. The formula I'd worked out would use a dark rye sour, combined with medium rye and bread flour in the final mix, not wanting to overpower the final flavour with any more dark rye and hopefully allow the onion mustard combination to have it's say. Once I had everything in the mixer and started mixing I realized right off that I'd have to add more bread flour to get any sort of a workable mix, using an additional 100 grams to achieve a wet but manageable dough. The rest of the mix went fine after that resulting in a soft but developed dough. Formula, mixing notes, and bake profile to follow.

Once I had the bread out of the oven I had some serious doubt as to whether it was fully baked since it just didn't sound right when I tapped the bottom of the loaf. I don't normally check the internal temperature, but because of the size of this one I thought it would be wise. The reading showed 209.5F from the center so I put my trust in that and hoped for the best. When I sliced it this morning I found that it was fully baked except for one very small area in the bottom center that's barely noticeable. The crumb is chewy and moist, with a solid flavour of sweet onion, a bit of sharp from the mustard, and a pronounced sour character overall. The onion itself seems to have almost completely dissolved into the dough, but now and again you hit a pocket of lovely roasted onion flavour ...which I wish there was more of. Next time I bake this I'll increase both the onion and the mustard percentage, but for now I'm fairly satisfied with the result.

Franko

If anyone was wondering what this bread might be used for, the photos below show what I had in mind for it right from the beginning.

Montreal smoked brisket sandwich

Vancouver Island smoked sockeye salmon on toasted onion rye with onion and capers....and yes, no cream cheese!

PROCEDURE:

  1. Mix the levain/sour and let sit for 16-18 hours at 70F

  2. Add all the ingredients of the final dough *except the levain/sour to a stand mixer bowl and mix on 1st speed for 2-3 minutes until combined, then add the levain/sour and continue mixing for 2-3 minutes longer, scraping the bowl down as needed. The dough will be sticky, and show little development.

  3. Transfer the dough to a large mixing bowl and begin folding the dough over itself, rotating it a 1/4 turn for each fold and continue till the dough is cohesive and moderately developed. The dough should be soft and supple.

  4. Turn the dough out onto the counter, and using a minimum of dusting flour continue working the dough, kneading it for 3-4 minutes until the dough can hold a shape without slumping.

  5. Place the dough in a lightly dusted bowl and cover. Bulk ferment at room temp of 68-70F for 2 ½ hrs. Stretch and fold twice in the first two hours.

  6. Gently preshape in a ball, cover and let rest for 15 minutes.

  7. Shape as desired , cover, and final proof for approx. 1 ½ hrs at room temperature.

  8. Preheat oven and baking stone to 485F and have steaming system prepared in advance of loading the bread.

  9. Slash as desired, *note: if making a batard, a chevron style of slash will help give the loaf a higher, rounder, finished profile.

  10. With steaming system in place, load the bread onto the preheated baking stone and bake for 20minutes at 485F. Remove the steam system and lower the temperature to 440F and continue baking for 20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 400F for an additional 15-20 minutes. Check for an internal temperature of 210F. Turn off the heat and leave the bread in the cooling oven for 15 minutes. Remove and cool on a wire rack for 8-9 hours or overnight before slicing.

Notes:

Caramelized Onion

Two large sweet onions, coarsely sliced and mixed with the olive oil, then baked in a covered pan at 250F for 30 minutes. Remove the lid, stir the onions and continue baking for 30 or more minutes until the onions are a medium brown colour. For a future bake of this bread I would increase the ratio of onion to 35% and the mustard to 10% of the overall flour in the mix for a more pronounced flavour effect.

 

Sour Rye with Caramelized Onion & Mustard

 

 

Ingredients

%

Kg

 

 

 

Levain/Sour

 

 

Dark Rye Flour

100

140

Water

83

115

Mature rye starter-100%

10

13.9

Total

 

268.9

 

 

 

Final Dough

 

 

Medium Rye flour

18.75

150

Bread flour

81.25

750

Levain

29.8

268.9

Sliced sweet onion-cooked

25

270

Olive oil

2.1

22.8

Sea salt

1.8

19

Honey

4.9

52

Grainy mustard

6.2

65

Mustard seeds-toasted

1.4

15

Water

65

590

DDT- 72-74F

 

 

Total kg

 

2202.7

Total flour weight

100

1046.9

Total Hydration

67

705

dmsnyder's picture

Craving crackly crust (Sour rye bread)

February 24, 2008 - 6:10pm -- dmsnyder

Norm (nbicomputers), in response to my question in his introduction topic, suggested I start a new topic. The question is: How do you get a crackly crust on a sour rye bread?

The sour rye I bake is based on George Greenstein's formula in "Secrets of a Jewish Baker." The formula below is what I actually made, though. The changes from Greenstein are: 1) I used instant yeast rather than active dry yeast, 2) I used whole rye rather than white rye to feed my rye sour, 3) I used 1T rather than 1/2 T of caraway seeds and 4) I used 2 1/2 tsp rather than 3 tsps of salt.

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