The Fresh Loaf

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Recent bakes 6-7-15: A couple of Hamelman's wheat and rye sourdoughs

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Recent bakes 6-7-15: A couple of Hamelman's wheat and rye sourdoughs

Pain au Levain with mixed sourdough starters

Last week, I baked Hamelman's "66 Percent Sourdough Rye." Searching my TFL blog, I found I hadn't made this bread since 2008! This bread is leavened with a rye sour fed with Medium rye. It is interesting to make in that the dough handles like a high-percentage rye (very sticky with not much gluten development) yet the rye flavor is not dominent. It does have the advantage, shared with other high-rye-percentage breads, of brief bulk fermentation and proofing, which makes it a quick bread to make, assuming you have elaborated the sour the preceding day. This is a mellow, tasty, "all-purpose" bread, to my taste. Good fresh and toasted. It's a great bread for sandwiches. 

Well, I had made way too much rye sour for that bread and had a lot left over which provided a perfect excuse to make Hamelman's "Pain au Levain with mixed sourdough starters." This is also a bread I had made before, but not for some time - not since 2011. As the name implies, this bread uses both a wheat flour fed liquid levain and a rye sour. But it is basically a white bread with 84% bread flour, 8% rye (all in the sour) and 8% whole wheat. This formula is also remarkable for using only 16% pre-fermented flour. Yet, with that mix of levains, the bulk fermentation is very vigorous and takes no longer than Hamelman's usual 2.5 hours for his Pains au Levain, and that is without any commercial yeast.

I chose to cold retard the formed loaves overnight (about 16 hours, actually). They had about 45 minutes of proofing before refrigeration and about 2 hours at room temperature before baking.

The crumb was typical for a 68% hydration large loaf. On tasting a slice after the loaves had completely cooled, the crust was crunchy. The crumb was moderately chewy. The crust flavor is sweet and nutty - very flavorful as anticipated with a bold bake. The crumb flavor was quite complex. The flavors have not yet melded, and the rye and whole wheat flavor tones are identifiable. There is a late-appearing sourdough tang that is quite prominent. All in all, this bread is delicious with many discernible flavors which I expect will have mellowed by tomorrow morning. 

Anyone who enjoys any of Hamelman's Pains au Levain should be sure to give this one a try. I like them all, and I hope I remember to keep this one in my "rotation."

Happy baking!

David

Comments

MichaelH's picture
MichaelH

Beautiful loaves David, you have done it again.

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

David

alfanso's picture
alfanso

that your breads never fail to amaze me.  But I'd be lying.  Since the consistency is so high, I have trouble being any more amazed at your handiwork that I initially was!

Of course, there are the never-to-be-mentioned-again postings like the output from your first WFO outing, but you didn't read that here!

Now, darn it, I'll have to find the formulae for these breads and add them to my own rotation.  I'll be trying my hand at my first Jewish Sour Rye later this week, so I'll make sure to have some additional rye sour on hand.  Good luck to me with finding First Clear (other than mail order from KA, etc.), but I did find a post about creating something similar using white bread flour and vital wheat gluten in combination employing something called a Pearson's Square, mentioned here, and its usage described here.

Now, please stop posting things that I will want to make!

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Losing your sense of amazement sounds awful! Mine keeps me going. Anyway, I gratefully accept the compliment.

If you have never worked with rye before, be prepared for a bit of frustration. It's a very different critter from wheat flour. There is a learning curve, but it is totally worth the struggle to master the techniques. And there is plenty of support available on TFL.

Regarding First Clear flour: Besides KAF, I know you can get it from Stan Ginsburg's nybakers dot com web site. It is not totally necessary. I often substitute KA bread flour (12.5% protein). But there is no question First Clear contributes an unique flavor that makes the bread taste authentic.

Regarding what you want to make: Send me a list of that which you do not want to make, and I will consider posting from it. ;-)

Happy baking!

David

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

is very nice.  The whit ebread is also very nice for a 68% hydration.  Well done an

Happy baking David

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

David

ml's picture
ml

Hi David,

Your bakes are so beautifully blistered and bold!

Are you still using the SFBI method for steam?

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Yes. No change in steaming.

Thanks for the kind words!

David