Sourdough onion rye
Ok, I'm officially a lurker these days, reading and soaking in others' bread adventures but mostly too busy to contribute or respond.
But here I grant myself an exception because I've come across a sandwich bread which is worth sharing IMHO.
I spent last Mother's Day with Mom (extra points here!) outside of Clearwater, Florida. We had a wonderful week together which included revelling in good food. The high point of that was a visit to William Dean Chocolates, a home to artisan chocolates that makes calories melt away in insufficiency to the joy of truly great chocolate.
One day we had simple ham and turkey sandwiches on an onion rye bread Mom had found at the local supermarket. The bread was wonderful! Not too much onion and a smattering of poppy seed. It made our sandwich and I decided to recreate it once I returned from vacation.
I've experimented with this recipe and tweaked it a couple times and I'm now happy with it and ready to offer it up to all comers.
It is, I think, a fabulous sandwich bread (unless you and onions aren't copasetic).
Here is the recipe:
I've made this with a small addition of yeast, as found above, and also as a wholly levain bread (without the IDY) retarded for about 21 hours. The latter achieves a slightly more sour flavor than that which has the IDY and is baked the same day. But both are delicious!
This produces two 1.5# loaves or one large 3# bâtard which is pictured.
The levain and sour are mixed and allowed to stand for 12-14 hours until ripe. At the same time mix dried, chopped onions with beer - my favorite is a dark beer, Negro Modelo - and allow to stand overnight. (I suspect that fresh onions, or caramelized onions would impart wonderful flavors as well, but I have a large jar of dried onions so I elected to use them and console myself with the need to rehydrate them in beer. In any case, if using fresh onions, adjustsments - downward - of hydration will be necessary).
For the final dough, mix levains, rehydrated onions and water to disperse the levains, and then add the flours, salt and yeast (if not retarding). I mix about 3 minutes on speed one and then crank up my Hamilton Beach to speed 3 for about 5 minutes. You should aim for a moderate gluten development - not windowpane but partially there.
Primary fermentation is about 2.5 hours, with folds at 50 minute intervals. After that, divide, pre-shape and allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes, then shape into bâtards. Final proof is about 1 - 1.5 hours. (If retarding, I proof for 1.5 hours and then refrigerate. NOTE: My downstairs refrigerator is old and holds a temp (whatever I attempt) of 40-42 degrees. So, with respect to sourdough, that effectively shuts down fermentation. If retarding in a hotter environment then you want to probably aim for a final proof of 80%-90% before retarding and then bake right out the retarder).
The bake for 1.5 # loaves with instant dry yeast is at 440° F for 35-40 minutes with steam for the first 15 minutes. For fully levain bread I preheat the oven for 1 hour to 475°, during which I allow the refrigerated loaves to finish proofing. In this case, I bake at 475° for 15 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 420° and bake for another 20-25 minutes (you may want to tent the bread during the last 15 minutes if the color becomes too dark).
The pics are of a 3# loaf I baked for a local restaurant, so baking times and temps were varied. But the result is the same - an enjoyable sandwich bread.
Add a little mustard, a little mayo and your favorite sandwich meats and you have sandwich satisfaction.
Larry aka Baker Bob
NOTE: Whoops! Just noticed I fat fingered by bread flour percentage in the formula: It should read 79.46%, bringing the overall percentage to 178.62. The rest of the figures are correct. Apologies.