The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

This weekend's baking: Sour Rye, SFBI Miche and Vienna Bread with Dutch Crunch

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

This weekend's baking: Sour Rye, SFBI Miche and Vienna Bread with Dutch Crunch

This weekend, I returned to my roots, tweaked a new favorite and baked a new bread.

When I started baking bread again after a 25 year hiatus, my motive was to make two favorite breads I was unable to obtain locally – Jewish Sour Rye and San Francisco-style Sourdough. My initial achievement of these goals was with the Sour Rye formula from George Greenstein's Secrets of a Jewish Baker and with Peter Reinhart's Sourdough Bread from Crust & Crumb. These remain among my favorite breads.

Yesterday, I baked Greenstein's Jewish Sour Rye. The “authentic” NY-style deli bread is made with a white rye sour and first clear flour. As my taste for heartier rye breads developed, I began using whole rye flour rather than white rye and found I preferred it. For this bake, I used KAF Medium Rye though, and found it a very good.

Greenstein's recipes all use volume measurements. Some time back, I converted a couple of my favorites from his book to weights. (See Sour Rye Bread from George Greenstein's “Secrets of a Jewish Baker”) Although I'm a firm believer in weighing ingredients and do so even when feeding my stock sourdough starter, I have to confess I feed my rye sour by feel. The sour I built for this bake must have been firmer than usual or the medium rye thirstier than the BRM dark rye flour I've been using, because the dough ended up drier than usual. The effect was the cuts opened up much more than they usually do. The loaves were also under-proofed, and they had major bursting.

The flavor of this bread is wonderful. When tasted right after cooling, it was intensely sour. It was less sour on the second day. I believe I'll stick with medium rye for this bread for a while.

 

The miche we baked during the SFBI Artisan II workshop (This miche is a hit!)  is a new favorite. I've made it four times now, I think, each time with a different flour mix. Today, I picked up on brother Glenn's bakes using half Central Milling's “Organic Type 85” flour and half one of CM's baguette flours. I used CM “Organic Tye 85” flour to build the levain and KAF AP flour for the final dough. This results in 13% high-extraction flour and 87% white flour in the total dough. I scaled the miche to 2 kg for this bake.

I was inspired by Breadsong's scoring of her Teff miche (SFBI Teff Miche - 1.5kg) and attempted to do something similar. I bow to her superior artistry, but I'm not unhappy with my result.

SFBI Miche crumb

SFBI Miche crumb

I left the miche wrapped in baker's linen overnight before slicing. The crust remained crunchy. The crumb was moist. The aroma was quite wheaty. The flavor of the crust was dark and sweet. The crumb was moderately sour but with a complex wheaty, sweet flavor. 

Recall that all the high-extraction flour in this bread was pre-fermented. I really like the effect. The higher ash content results in more active fermentation and acid production, both of which I appreciate. The impact of the Type 85 flour on the flavor profile was greater than one might expect from its 13% presence in the total flour. In the original SFBI formula, the whole wheat flour is also in the levain, and constitutes only 3.33% of the total flour. This bread was very good made entirely with high-extraction flour, but, at least at the moment, I believe I like it best using the original formula. It's a hard call, because all the flour mixes I've used have made delicious breads.

 

The new bread I baked was the “Vienna Bread” with Dutch Crunch from BBA. The TFL members' bakes of this bread (Latest Bake: Dutch Crunch) really inspired me, especially the rolls, since we planned on making hamburgers for dinner.

Vienna Bread with Dutch Crunch Bâtard

Vienna Bread with Dutch Crunch Rolls

Reinhart's Vienna Bread formula makes a lovely dough, and the Dutch Crunch topping is visually striking on both larger loaves and rolls. I really had no idea how thick to apply the topping, so I “laid it on thick.” From the results, I think I got it about right.

Vienna Bread with Dutch Crunch at start of proofing

Vienna Bread with Dutch Crunch at finish of proofing

Vienna Bread crumb

As advertised, the crust is crunch and slightly sweet. The crumb is very light, delicate and tender with a lovely balanced flavor. The flavor is like brioche but much more subtle. Words like "delicate," and "finesse" come to mind. I anticipate that this will make outstanding toast and French toast. Actually, I think I could just sit down right now and eat the whole loaf as is.

So, would "delicate" and "subtle" bread be your choice for a hamburger bun? No?

Caramelized red onion with balsamic vinegar and roasted New Mexico Green Chile hamburger on Vienna Dutch Crunch roll

David

 

 

Comments

Franko's picture
Franko

Hi David,

Looks like a good weekend bake you've made. It's too bad about the rye splitting but the crumb looks great, as does the crust. What kind of glaze did you apply on the rye, an egg wash or a rye and water glaze? Whatever you used gives it a beautiful shine, very appealing.

Regards,

Franko

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

I used a cornstarch glaze on the rye breads. It's applied before and after baking.

David

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

I especially like the finish on the rye.  Looks like lacquer.  

I hope you like the mixed miche.

I baked spiced breads today: cinnamon-raisin-nut and curry-cheese.  Blog to come tomorrow.

Glenn

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

The rye is very good. I need to make it again with medium rye flour and pay more attention to the dough hydration. 

The miche is still awaiting tasting.

We had a very international breakfast for Susan's birthday: French toast made with Vienna bread with Dutch Crunch and, of course, cappuccini. 

David

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

Your photo of the miche hadn't loaded on my computer yesterday, but it did today.  Gorgeous!  OK, you're not Breadsong, but Miro was not Picasso.

Glenn

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Couldn't get any better, David... All very Inspiring... If only i could get hold of some wheat germ..

 

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

David

breadsong's picture
breadsong

Hello David, Your rye, miche and Vienna bread/rolls all look very nice - and that burger!
I'm not sure how hot a New Mexico chile might be, but that sounds like it would be delicious sweet-hot topping combination, with the caramelized balsamic onion.
I was so happy to see your miche scoring and thank you very much for the kind mention!
I must put the Vienna bread and Dutch Crunch on my bake list, seeing your very pretty result, dvuong's, Glenn's and others here on TFL.
:^) from breadsong

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

New Mexico green chile varies from hot to very hot to incendiary. These were very hot. The spicy and sweet is a nice combination.

The red onions with balsamic vinegar were also great with the oven roasted potatoes too.

I do recommend Reinhart's Vienna Bread with Dutch Crunch. It tastes as good as it looks.

David

ananda's picture
ananda

Hi David,

a lovely selection of breads here.

I agree with your conclusion on rye flour absorbency.   Rye is notoriously unpredictable in terms of the moisture it will take up.

All good wishes

Andy

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

David

proth5's picture
proth5

you make lovely breads.

I am so buried in trying to get the game up to be worthy of the next few classes I am taking that I get buried - seriously.

But I'd like to say "nice bread." Pain tigre is something I must try...

Regards,

Pat

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

The Vienna Bread with Dutch Crunch is a wonderful bread. If I remember my intention, I'll make it next time as a pan loaf. That is the only way I remember it from my childhood. What I remember is a less enriched bread though.

David

Syd's picture
Syd

Great breads, David.  That burger looks delicious.  Can't stay away from that SFBI miche myself.  Have one bulk fermenting as I type.  You did a great job with the scoring.  You nailed your proofing perfectly for the score marks to open just the right amount. 

Best,

Syd

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

David

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

I will have to put the Dutch crunch on my to do list..I made Shiao Ping's tiger bread and I vaguely remember something about having to apply the nice thick coat to get the right texture...yours looks lovely.  I've got medium rye on stock..hope to get some rye bread made one of these days, yours always look so great! Hey, and the burger is making me hungry!  The men in my family make the burgers, we just had a birthday party with burgers...omg...I should have brought the buns ; )

Sylvia

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

The buns were very good. They stood up to the burgers well. We make hamburgers so seldom, and there are several tempting roll formulas I would like to try. This one has been on my "to bake" list for some time: Buns for Sandwiches, for example.

David

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

David

Mebake's picture
Mebake

Beautiful Miche Crumb, David!!

carluke's picture
carluke

Your breads look lovely, David, and somehow you make it sound so easy!

You motivated me to try the Vienna Bread. I'm afraid mine didn't come out as nicely as yours but my biggest problem was how on earth to proof the loaves with the raw dutch crunch paste on them? I tried using a big plastic bag (which is my normal practice) - goop all over the place! Then I tried to invert a bowl over them - same thing.

So, how did you do it?

Janice

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Thanks for your kind words.

As one of my photos illustrates, I proofed the breads on 1/4 sheet pans lined with parchment. I placed the pans in plastic bags and trapped enough air in the bags so they puffed up. Some paste did stick to one of the bags, but not enough to do any real harm.

Did your goop stick to the covering or just fall off? If the latter, it may have been too thick.

David