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Jewish Sour Rye Bread

March 15, 2013

As some of the TFL old-timers may recall, I started baking bread again about 7 years ago, in part because I had a craving for Jewish Rye Bread, and I had no local source. One of the first baking books I bought was George Greenstein's Secrets of a Jewish Baker, and found that his recipe for “Jewish Sour Rye” produced just what I had hoped. However, Greenstein provided ingredients only in volume measurements. In October, 2008, after making this Jewish Sour Rye quite a few times, I weighed all the ingredients and have been using those measurements ever since.

Today, I baked this bread again. The formula I have been using makes two good-sized loaves of 750 g each. I am providing baker's percentages for the convenience those who might wish to scale up or down.

Notes: I have always used First Clear flour in the past. Today, for the first time, I used Bread Flour (14% protein). I did not use altus today.

Traditionally, Jewish Sour Rye is made with white rye flour. I found I much prefer the fuller flavor of medium rye flour.

If you have a rye sour, build it up to a volume of 4 cups or so the day before mixing the dough. If you do not have a rye sour but do have a wheat-based sourdough starter, you can easily convert it to a white rye starter by feeding it 2-3 times with rye flour over 2-3 days.

1. Dissolve the rye sour in the water in a large bowl.

2. Add the rye flour and mix well.

3. Cover the surface of the sour with a thin layer of rye flour.

4. Cover the bowl and ferment until the dry flour forms widely spread “islands.” If necessary, refrigerate overnight.

Method

1. In a large bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, dissolve the yeast in the water, then add the rye sour and mix thoroughly with your hands, a spoon or, if using a mixer, with the paddle.

2. Stir the salt into the flour and add this to the bowl and mix well.

3. Dump the dough onto the lightly floured board and knead until smooth. If using a mixer, switch to the dough hook and knead at Speed 2 until the dough begins to clear the sides of the bowl (8-12 minutes). Add the Caraway Seeds about 1 minute before finished kneading. Even if using a mixer, I transfer the dough to the board and continue kneading for a couple minutes. The dough should be smooth but a bit sticky.

4. Form the dough into a ball and transfer it to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl and let it rest for 15-20 minutes.

5. Transfer the dough back to the board and divide it into two equal pieces.

6. Form each piece into a pan loaf, free-standing long loaf or boule.

7. Dust a piece of parchment paper or a baking pan liberally with cornmeal, and transfer the loaves to the parchment, keeping them at least 3 inches apart so they do not join when risen.

8. Cover the loaves and let them rise until double in size. (About 60 minutes.)

9. Pre-heat the oven to 500F with a baking stone in place optionally. Prepare your oven steaming method of choice.

10. Prepare the cornstarch glaze. Whisk 1-1/2 to 2 Tablespoons of cornstarch in ¼ cup of water. Pour this slowly into a sauce pan containing 1 cup of gently boiling water, whisking constantly. Continue cooking and stirring until slightly thickened (a few seconds, only!) and remove the pan from heat. Set it aside.

11. When the loaves are fully proofed, uncover them. Brush them with the cornstarch glaze. Score them. (3 cuts across the long axis of the loaves would be typical.) Turn down the oven temperature to 460F. Transfer the loaves to the oven, and steam the oven.

12. After 15 minutes, remove any container with water from the oven, turn the oven temperature down to 440F and continue baking for 20-25 minutes more.

13. The loaves are done when the crust is very firm, the internal temperature is at least 205 degrees and the loaves give a “hollow” sound when thumped on the bottom. When they are done, leave them in the oven with the heat turned off and the door cracked open a couple of inches for another 5-10 minutes.

14. Transfer the loaves to a cooling rack. Brush again with the cornstarch glaze.

15. Cool completely before slicing.

The crust was chewy as was the crumb. I have never been able to get the classic crackly crust that Sour Rye should have. The flavor was very good, with a mild sour tang and just enough caraway flavor to my taste. However, there was a flavor note missing, again, to my taste, because of my having substituted bread flour for first clear. Although KAF sells first clear flour, Hamelman never prescribes its use, even in his formula he likens to Jewish Rye. I prefer this bread made with first clear, based on today's experience, but it is really good with bread flour too.

David

Submitted to YeastSpotting

Addendum: On March 7, 2014, I amended the baking temperatures and timing. The higher temperature and shorter baking time yield a darker, crisper crust which I prefer. There also seems to be less frequent bursting of the loaves.

Okay, I got rid of the baking soda in the bread.  It doesn't taste like baking soda anymore.  I added 1/4 cup honey to the bread instead of diastatic malt, added zest of one orange and one more cup of oatmeal substituted for about that much flour. 

Results- better but still not a loaf to write home about, rather bland in flavor.  My husband says it's not near as flavorful as the 100% whole wheat bread from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads.  Hmmm, what to do next? 

A little more salt? I'm using about 2 tsp. for 2 loaves.  I'm thinking of uping the whole wheat flour and doing a preferment of wild yeast starter like the WGB bread and putting together an oats soaker as well a la Reinhart.  Is it the oats that make the bread so ho-hum?

Or maybe just forget this recipe, because it seems like by the time I've tweaked it there won't be much left of the original.  Any ideas for improving the flavor profile of this loaf gratefully accepted.

Linda

My friend Eric was stopping by to go to lunch yesterday so I told him I would bake bread for him to take home.  He requested something simple and plain.  I don't do simple and plain...it's just not part of my DNA, so what I came up with is as close as it gets!

I had bought some Einkorn Wheat Berries and also some Soft White Wheat Berries from Breadtopia.com that I wanted to try grinding into flour.  I don't have an actual flour mill just yet so I used my coffee grinder and sifted the Einkorn flour once.  The soft white wheat was so soft that it didn't really have anything left to sift.

I made a 2 step starter build from some left-over Kamut/Bread Flour starter using more Kamut, European Style Flour and Pumpernickel flour.

For the main dough I added some rye chops, wheat germ, mashed roasted potatoes and some honey for a little sweetness.

I just received my Brod and Taylor Proofer for my birthday and used it for the first time.  I had already mixed up the dough and put it in the refrigerator for the bulk ferment but I let the dough sit in the proofer at 80 degrees F. for about 1 hour instead of my usual 1.5 to 2 hours.  The dough was nice and puffy after it's rest and I let the formed loaves proof at 80 degrees as well for about 1.5 hours before baking.  I have to play around with the proofing temperatures and see which is ideal.  I may try going a little higher for the final proof next time.

The end result of this bake was very satisfactory as you get just enough sour tang along withe the nuttiness and wheat flavor from the combination of flours.  The crumb was nice and open enough for this type of bread.  I will have to make bread with just the Einkorn flour in it to really taste it in the bread but it certainly added a nice flavor profile to this one.

Levain Directions

Build 1

Mix all the levain ingredients together for about 1 minute and cover with plastic wrap.  Let it sit at room temperature for around 7-8 hours or until the starter has doubled.  I usually do this the night before.

Build 2

Mix all the ingredients listed with the levain from the first build and let it set at room temperature for around 7-8 hours or until the starter has doubled or before it starts collapsing on itself.  Either use right away in the main dough or refrigerate for 1 day.

Main Dough Procedure

Mix the flours, wheat germ, rye chops and the water except for around 75 grams, together in your mixer or by hand until it just starts to come together, maybe about 1 minute.  Let it rest in your work bowl covered for 30 minutes to 1 hour.  Next add the salt, starter (cut into about 7-8 pieces), honey, and mashed potatoes and mix on low for a minute.  Add the rest of the water  unless the dough is way too wet.   Mix on low-speed for another 3 minutes.  Remove the dough from your bowl and place it in a lightly oiled bowl or work surface and do several stretch and folds.  Let it rest covered for 10-15 minutes and then do another stretch and fold.  Let it rest another 10-15 minutes and do one additional stretch and fold.  After a total of 2 hours place your covered bowl in the refrigerator and let it rest for 12 to 24 hours.

When you are ready to bake remove the bowl from the refrigerator and let it set out at room temperature still covered for 1.5 to 2 hours.  (I used my new proofer this time and it only took about 1 hour at 80 degrees).

Remove the dough and shape as desired.   Place your dough into your proofing basket(s) and cover with a moist tea towel or plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray.  The dough will take 1.5 to 2 hours depending on your room temperature.  (Again, I used my proofer set at 80 degrees and let it rise for about 1.5 hours).

Let the dough dictate when it is read to bake not the clock.

Around 45 minutes before ready to bake, pre-heat your oven to 500 degrees F. and prepare it for steam.  I have a heavy-duty baking pan on the bottom rack of my oven with 1 baking stone on above the pan and one on the top shelf.  I pour 1 cup of boiling water in the pan right after I place the dough in the oven.

Right before you are ready to put them in the oven, score as desired and then add 1 cup of boiling water to your steam pan or follow your own steam procedure.

After 1 minute lower the temperature to 450 degrees.  Bake for 35-50 minutes until the crust is nice and brown and the internal temperature of the bread is 205 degrees.

Take the bread out of the oven when done and let it cool on a bakers rack before for at least 2 hours before eating.

 Feel free to visit my other blog at www.mookielovesbread.wordpress.com for 100 of my other recipes.

For weeks I ventured into the herbal and spicy world of Southeast Asia. Cambodian mint, Thai basil, black and white peppercorns, cassia, cardamom, ginger, turmeric, galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, star anise, and so on...

For days I spent fine-tuning an Indian beverage called masala chai---a brew consisting of black tea, milk, sugar, and an assortment of spices and herbs.

Over the course of a month, I visited four separate Indian restaurants to order one thing: masala chai. Yes, I had other Indian dishes but my only concern was to imprint the flavours of the said beverage into my memory.

(Off tangent story: As a Canadian who's fond of Italian cuisine, I'm not too familiar with Indian food, and during my first visit to an Indian restaurant in Cambodia I requested "spicy" rather than "non-spicy"---BIG mistake!)

After taste-testing four different variations, I noticed that each masala chai possessed a few common traits: they were faintly to mildly sweet, fragrant of spices (namely cinnamon), and induced the sensation of burning warmth (not chili hotness) in the back of the throat and around the mouth. 

My version of masala chai was an adaptation of this photo-based recipe.

Through trial and error I learnt that 1) prolonged boiling and simmering of tea leaves results in sharp bitterness and astringency; 2) excessive amounts of ginger irritates the throat, which may incite bouts of coughing; 3) too much water dilutes the flavour; 4) milk alone cannot counterbalance the bitterness of black tea.

While kneading by hand, I found myself questioning the consistency of the dough.

"Why isn't it coming together!" I exclaimed

Then, my intuition alerted me to my mistake. Somehow, I ommitted the salt from my written recipe, as well as the dough. This negligent error was amended by adding a spoonful of salt---and just like that, the dough pulled itself inwards, tightening into a sticky, wet blob.

Enriched or sweetened dough aren't typically baked in a steamed oven, but I wanted to observe its effects. So what happened? Well, the crust was paler and thicker than expected, and it didn't set until much later into the bake.

For those of you who can instantly "read" the flesh of a loaf, you may notice that the pores are oddly arranged---blotches of open and closed crumb. During final shaping, I accidentally disfigured my batard and then hastily shaped the dough into a boule.

The above was the result. 

Flavour-wise, the bread was rather bland (due to a lack of salt), harboring a hint of sweetness and butteriness, accompanied by a faint tang. Interestingly, a very subtle cooling / numbing sensation was felt in the back of my throat while eating the loaf. Additionally, the crust and crumb wafted a distinct and pleasant smell of cloves and cinnamon.

If you're interested, you may find my recipe below:

White Sourdough Starter:

• White sourdough starter, 60% hydration [13 g]
• Mineral water [149 g]
• Type 55 French flour [259 g]

Soaker:

• Unbleached all-purpose flour [526 g]
• Masala chai, Iced, Strained (variation of this recipe) [361 g]

Final Dough:

• White sourdough starter [372 g]
• Soaker [801 g]
• Unsalted butter [60 g]
• Sea salt [7 g] (increasing salt amount is highly recommended)

1. Mix starter ingredients; rest starter at above room temperature for approx. 12 hours
2. Prepare and chill masala chai; when cool, add ice cubes, wait 10 to 20 minutes, and strain masala chai
3. Mix soaker ingredients; chill soaker for approx. 12 hours
4. After 12 hours, briefly mix starter and soaker until dough forms
5. French knead dough for 10 minutes; add salt
6. French knead dough for 20 minutes; add unsalted butter
7. French knead dough for 15 minutes or until medium gluten development
8. Shape (wet, sticky) dough into rough ball and place into oiled bowl
9. Bulk ferment (rest) dough at above room temperature for 2 hours or until double
10. Shape deflated dough into ball (add flour as needed) and place back into oiled bowl
11. Bench rest at above room temperature for 20 minutes to relax gluten
12. Shape dough into ball (add flour as needed), place onto parchment paper, wrap with flour-dusted cloth
13. Proof (rest) dough at above room temperature for 2 hours or until double (perform "poke test" every 30 minutes to prevent overproofing)
14. Preheat oven to 220C / 428F (convection mode off) for 1 hour, with steam (optional)
15. Lightly dust dough with flour and score / slash dough
16. Bake dough at 220C / 392F (convection mode off) for 10 minutes, with steam (optional)
17. Bake dough at 200C / 392F (convection mode on) for 75 minutes, without steam
18. Rotate dough every 15 minutes to ensure even heat distribution
19. Cool loaf for at least 24 hours to develop flavour

 Thanks for reading. Best wishes to all and have a happy baking. :)