I had these L11 pans for a while but didn't really use them. Wasn't sure what to expect as they look small but I must say I'm really happy with the results. The slices are just the right size for this bread. And if one didn't have enough? Just cut another slice! All delicious!
I pretty much followed Hamelman's recipe (scaled for three of the recommended L11 pans so 1500 grams of dough) with two changes. One is that I used first clear flour instead of the all purpose and I inoculated the sourdough with 10% instead of 5% starter. It is curious to me that this is the only sourdough recipe in this chapter that specifies this smaller amount of starter for the same fermentation time and temperature. I just felt it would not ripen enough. Hamelman does not provide the reason for that. After 4 hours of bulk it was time for dividing. The dough was somewhat sticky but nothing that a little flour wouldn't fix. I used the Polish T720 rye flour for that and it worked very well for that. The proof was right on schedule as the loaves looked ready after the 2 hours so in the oven they went! Pretty hot, too, at 500°F. Then lowered, and lowered again as I noticed the loaves come out a touch too dark on top if I bake at the specified temperature for the specified time in my oven. The most difficult part was waiting before slicing the loaf. It came out excellent!
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What a mouth watering bake, bz. what %age rye is it? -- Rob
This one is 66.2% whole rye and 33.8% first clear at 80% hydration. It also has 7.9% red rye malt (I used Fawcett's), 1% ground caraway and 11.5% honey. That ground caraway gives it a nice aroma (it smelled really great during the bake) but in a somewhat different way than the Jewish deli ryes from the store.
The deli ryes don’t usually have nearly as high a % of rye in them. Your crumb looks perfect and this must have tasted awesome especially with some good pastrami or smoked meats 😆.
As it happened I had some smoked turkey that I enjoyed with it. That was very good. But for me, rye goes well with almost anything. One of the favorites is just a pat of butter. Such a simple pleasure, though I sometimes feel decadent and smear some honey on that butter. Somewhere along the way I also discovered I really like nut butters on my rye slices even if my wife looks weird at me. And me? I just smile as I sink my teeth into it.
Wow those are just perfect!
Benny
I'm always happy when a bake turns out well but I still have a lot to learn. A lot of the posts here are an inspiration and yours are some of the best.
Thank you, that is very kind of you to say.
Benny
Beautiful breads, inspiring me to bake some high rye loaves again. Guess it is better if you can get real Polish rye too.
-Jon
a grin on my face and it makes me happy the forum members are enjoying it.
While it's true that I'm happy if I can get the Polish rye flour from the local Polish store when they get a batch I'm not partial to it as I enjoy baking with the American flour which is also very good. However, amazingly enough, from what little information I was able to find, it appears that Danko rye, a Polish variety, is very popular stateside. Especially with the whiskey distillers but apparently quite a bit makes it into the flour form and it looks like the rye flour from Farmer Ground Flour, which I find locally in some Whole Foods stores, is ground from that variety so I wouldn't be surprised if it's more wide spread than I suspect. I also think I saw some vendors advertising Danko Rye Flour specifically but most rye flour doesn't specify the grain. In any case, I didn't do any comparisons but the breads all taste good to me. I want to try other varietals, such as Wrens Abruzzi, and I'm sure they also make stupendous loaves. As far as Danko itself, even if grown from the same seed, it wouldn't surprise me if it comes out slightly different in either location due to the differences in soil an climate but still great. And, for what its' worth, some people prefer American flour as evidenced in this post by Karin. So, is it better? I guess it's in the eye of the beholder. For me, I haven't baked a rye loaf that I didn't like as they all sit somewhere on the rye spectrum; Danko or otherwise. Well..... with one exception. But that's a story for another time.