Hamelman's light rye baked in a dutch oven
Here are some pictures of a batch of Hamelman's light rye that I made using a couple of dutch ovens simultaneously. I did the entire mixing/kneading process by hand just to be able to get a good feel for the dough. I doubled Hamelman's recipe and made 2 three pound loaves using 2 dutch ovens. We're talking "serious workout" by hand :-) I also did a a couple of stretch and folds during bulk fermentation (20 minute intervals). He calls for dividing the dough for a single batch into two 1 1/2 pound loaves but I decided, since I had doubled his recipe, I would bake 2 large 3 pound boules using 2 dutch ovens. I used 2 large parchment lined skillets to proof the loaves under 2 large clear plastic bins (Walmart), then holding each end of the parchment I lifted each loaf into a preheated 500 deg. F. dutch oven (oven mittens highly recommended for this procedure), put on the lids on placed them into the oven and immediately lowered the oven temp. to 450 deg. F. Baked them for 25 minutes, took off the lid and let them top brown for about 10-12 minutes. Then shut off the oven and cracked the door for another five minutes before removing them from the oven. At the end of the baking cycle the intermal temp. of the loaves was 205 deg. F.
I did not use carraway seeds in this interatation. I wanted to compare Hamelman's light rye with Leader's Pierre Nury light rye to see the difference. Hamelman's loaves turned out to be a very good without the carraway seeds. But without the carraway seeds it didn't have the pronounced taste that you get with good Jewish rye, which the carraway seeds impart. This recipe is slightly different from Leader's recipe, but very good. I think Leader's Nury rye has a bit more flavor as a result of the process and the ovenight retardation in the fridge for 12-18 hours. But overall they're both great recipes, only slightly different in taste and texture. The Hamelman recipe is somewhat easier and quicker (uses a bit of yeast in the dough) but I still think it's near impossible to top the Nury rye.
Anyway, that's my experiment for the week. I recently bought a couple of bags of King Arthur whole grain with my last flour order, which have been sitting in the refrigerator waiting for some "action". So, later this week I'm going to make some whole grain. Haven't done the soaker thing yet but after seeing Eric Hanner's beautiful whole grain loaves he recently posted I'm anxious to try Mark Sinclair's recipe.
P.S. The memory stick on my camera filled up and I couldn't get a photo of the crumb (yeah, likely story) but it was nice and open. Not as nice and open, with large holes, as Leader's Nury rye but still a very nice crumb.
Hamelman's light rye baked in a dutch oven: Hamelman's light rye no. 1
Hamelman's light rye baked in a dutch oven: Hamelman's light rye no. 2
Hamelman's light rye baked in a dutch oven: Hamelman's light rye no. 3
Hamelman's light rye baked in a dutch oven: Hamelman's light rye no. 4