September 25, 2011 - 10:19am
Vollkornbrot keeping qualities
Hi TFL,
I've been running quite a long 100% rye run baking different kind of recipes and lately the Hamelman's Vollkornbrot recipe.
After baking about 30 loaves (2 at a time, twice a week) and waiting 48 hours before slicing as Hamelman suggests I see that the keeping quality of the bread is not as good as I expected. This means that after 24 hours in a plastic or bread box the bread feels old and kind of dry. Moreover, when trying to freeze the sliced bread something I do with other breads and trying to defreeze a few slices a few days later by just taking it out of the freeze and wait for 10-20 minutes the slices are dry and tend to crumble.
Any ideas, comments and suggestion? You guys were always a great help.
All the best,
David Zonshine
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Hi David,
I wonder if you may be over baking these loaves. 2kg Pullman will bake in just over 2 hours at 160*C with a bowl of water to keep the gentle supply of steam.
Also, I would advise you cut down the time before you cut into the bread. 48 hours seems too long to me, try 24?
I think something is not right in your process if the bread is crumbling as you describe.
And I wonder if you really have to freeze the bread...you should easily manage 7 days shelf life for this type of bread, and 10 should be attainable.
Best wishes
Andy
David,
I regularly make Volkornbrot and find that the ambient humidity is a big factor in the life of the bread. During the Summer when it is quite humid, I leave the bread on a cooling rack for 24 -48 hours and then store it in the refrigerator in a sealed plastic bag. It keeps very well this way. When the humidity lowers in the Fall, leaving the bread out for 48 hours is too long and the bread will be somewhat dry but not crumbly.
I put the loaves into a 300*C oven with a pan of water for steam and immediately lower to 160*C. The loaves bake covered for 3 hours.
Jeff
I will try that out and update with the results. Thanks a lot. David