Korn bread from Artisan Baking Across America
Hi all,
I've made a few attempts at the korn bread (basically an ultrahearty vollkornbrot) in Maggie Glazer's Artisan Baking Across America, and I consistently run into a handful of problems. For reference, this is an unusual dough (if you can even call it dough): 86% cracked rye, 10% whole rye berries, 4% dark rye flour, plus some sunflower seeds. Mixed wild and commercial yeast. It starts out as a granular mess and is mixed until the pentosans develop and it becomes sticky and cohesive, then given a three hour bake at 300 F (150 C).
My problems are twofold:
- Even after a 24-hour post-bake rest, the bread is unstable. I have an excellent bread knife that is able to handle crusty whole wheat hearth breads without complaint, and yet I cannot cut this loaf without tearing some part of it.
- The crumb is slightly gummy, and after a few slices the knife is covered with a layer of thick rye paste. This increases friction with the blade and makes the cutting process even worse.
If it were in another book I would just write it off as a bad formula with too many very coarse ingredients, but this is supposed to be a downscaled version of a bread made by a professional bakery in Dallas, and I can't see them making much money off of what I've been baking. Any advice for fixing this?
Thanks!