The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Sour Onion Rye

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Sour Onion Rye

Yesterday I made 2 loaves of my favorite rye with caraway seeds and bread spices. I decided to skip the sugar and swap with Black Strap Molasses. It was delicious as usual and the party I brought it to devoured most until the puppy got his way when no one was watching. I'll take that as a complement I guess.

After staying up last night watching the late coverage of the Olympics (3:30) ugh, the last thing I did before closing my eyes was assemble the rye sour for the next day. Today I re-hydrated some dry onions in hot water and using the water from that process, mixed a batch of Onion Rye. The crust appears dark, partially because I baked it a little hard to crisp the crust and partially due to the dark sesame and poppy seeds. I use my everything seed mix usually reserved for bagels. There are garlic chips, salt white and black sesame and poppy seeds. All held in place with an egg wash.

This makes a great sandwich if it lasts that long. I gave the second loaf to a helpful neighbor for dinner.

Comments

foolishpoolish's picture
foolishpoolish

Awesome looking loaves Eric. You have lucky neighbours!

Damn it makes me hungry.

FP

 

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

Oh they look delicious and I know your neighbor had to love getting one of these babies!

Sylvia

hansjoakim's picture
hansjoakim

I'm loving the look of those ryes, Eric!

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

I could do with one of those myself!  Wow what a crust!

Mini

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Lovely .. lovely breads iam sure,

Eric, i was browsing through the threads in TFL, and couldn't help but notice your enthusiasm to the "No Preheat" or "Cold oevn Baking". Though 3 years back, are you still baking without Pre-heat? and how effective have you found it to be on your freuqent bakes? I need to try it soon.

Thanks

Mebake

 

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Mebake,

I still do a modified cold oven start with french style breads but not with the rye breads. However I bake most of my rye loaves free formed and on a sheet pan. I size them to get 2 large loaves on the sheet and they don't get done with a reasonable bottom crust if I start cold. So it's a compromise. A large rye loaf is more easily loaded on parchment paper resting on a sheet pan. No chance of ruining the shaping trying to get it loaded just right so I can get the second loaf in front. Shape the loaf and place it on the parchment. I then wash and top coat and cover it with oiled plastic film for a short 30 minute proof. Slash and bake as normal. The oven gets turned on to 450F after 15 minutes of proofing. The temperature is stabilized and the proof is done at about the same time.

I hope that makes sense.

Eric

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Thank you all for your kind words. It is a bold looking bake and the bread is a full flavor experience. As I get older and mobility has become a bigger issue with me, I have found those who help me do things I could once do easily, appreciate the things I can reciprocate with these days. I am blessed to have many friends who need computers nursed back to health and enjoy fresh bread. If you own your home, the need for repairs is endless so we all do what we can do.

I am encouraged by recent developments I saw in an old movie where Captain James Kirk was able to replicate his favorite foods at will. I'm hoping to get my own replicator soon and we all should be able to beam samples to each other! Lol

Eric

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Thank eric, only needed to reassure myself that you, among others, are still convinced about cold-oven baking and that it is worthwhile.

BTW, how modified is your cold-baking methods?

Mebake

ehanner's picture
ehanner

mebake, the procedure I use with sheet pans instead of a heavy stone doesn't require a long pre heat. That is the modification. Instead of running the oven for an hour to warm up a large stone, I bake on the sheet pan that quickly heats to baking temperature. As soon as the heat is up to temp, you are good to bake.

Eric

AnnaInNC's picture
AnnaInNC

Wonderful ...

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Thanks Anna!

AnnaInNC's picture
AnnaInNC

your recipe ?  :)

 

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Anna,

No sweet talk necessary but you are welcome to try. The base recipe is what has been come to be known as Eric's Favorite Rye. This is the recipe link from the front page.

If you look at the image at the top of that thread, Susan from San Diego did a super job the very first try.  I think she used white rye which is why it is so light colored. Never the less, it took me another year before I made one that beautiful.

For the onion rye I made yesterday, I used whole grain fresh ground rye from flourgirl51 at her Organic Wheat Products. You can make it with any whole grain rye but the flavor and aroma is so much better when the grain is freshly ground, I highly recommend getting some and see for yourself.

I add to the basic recipe, the onion re-hydrating water from a couple hours before, once it has cooled down. I strain the onions from the water and weigh the water adding additional if needed. Then I dump the soft onions into the liquid without any consideration for the water  they bring along.

Next I swap out the 1 T of sugar for a similar amount of Black Strap Molasses. I had been using regular molasses but Andy convinced me to try the more bitter Black Strap variety and I have to say I like the flavor.

The recipe calls for First Clear white flour but I have had great success with several strong bread flours including Gold Medal Better for Bread and recently Dakota Maid BF. The big visual and aromatic change is of course using the onion water and the seed combination's on the crust. You can use anything you like but for my gang, garlic chips and large course salt are the first two items on. Then come the sesame seeds, black and white and poppy. I also have a bottle of chopped anise seed that gets in there now and then.

That's it really. I make sure the bottom is browned up and the crust is hard. You want a good dark color and an internal temp around 195F or greater. Good luck

Eric

AnnaInNC's picture
AnnaInNC

sharing in detail your exquisite onion rye. It will take many moons before I become this accomplished but I will definitely give it a try.  Our temps are still in the 30s and dry and my breads don't seem to have the same umph as in the humid days of summer. (just lining up excuses, grin)......

Finding the right rye might be a bit difficult here in rural southern Maryland, but I might take your advice and order just the right flour.

anna

 

 

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Mighty fine rye, Eric!

You get a gold medal for making the rye sour before hitting the sack!  Those Olympics can be addicting.

Where did you find black strap molasses?  Is it something commonly found on the supermarket shelves?

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Aw Shucks Lindy, it was nothin. I am a sucker for watching the Olympics way into the night. I don't keep these hours often but this seems to be shaping up as a good year for our team. The hockey game was fun for us hehe.

Black Strap is on the shelf here in the Milwaukee area. It's worth finding.

Eric

ehanner's picture
ehanner

This is a good loaf to try if you have never baked with rye. It's got 40% rye and 60% wheat flour so it still handles similar to what you are used to. The wheat flour develops gluten easily and the dough can be mixed by hand or machine easily. I wouldn't worry about having the "right rye", I'm sure you can find King Arthur or Hodgeson in Maryland in any large grocery. You can do this in a bread pan the first time to get the hang of it. I hope you will give it a try and if you have any last minute questions shoot me a line.

Eric

AnnaInNC's picture
AnnaInNC

thank you, Eric :)

AnnaInNC's picture
AnnaInNC

Here is your recipe, alas without the eggwash, way too dull as compared to your beautiful loaves, but the taste is truly special !  PS: I did not have garlic "chips", is that just fried chopped garlic ?   Thank you !  anna

 

 

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Those look wonderful!

You know the garlic chips I get from Penzies spices. They are dried rough cut instead of ground. I like them because they are more of a flavor hot spot instead of a coating, if you know what I mean. The garlic is probably the dominate flavor or aroma on the crust. I have also used onion chips and that's great too.

I like savory breads and always look for ways to push the flavor a little more. I'd be interested in knowing what others do to top savory type loaves.

Eric

AnnaInNC's picture
AnnaInNC

I have to look for these Penzies spices, love garlic !

FWIW, fennel and coriander seeds are also yummy as additions to the dough.

In addition to the caraway and onion in this recipe, I also put some chopped celandro.

Best,

anna

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Sounds delicious Anna.

Here is Penzies web page. I'm fortunate enough to live where they are based so I go to the store. My family and many others all buy from the web site and have good luck. They have the freshest and best flavor of any I have tried.

 

Eric

wally's picture
wally

Eric - Those loaves have me drooling!  The seed topping mixture just looks wonderful with the bold crust you baked!

Larry

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Thanks Larry.