Cooking rye bread?

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nicodvb on 3 Sep 2009 at 03:12

Hi,

in many recipes I read the cooking is required to be made "undercover", that is with the pan enveloped in aluminum foil, while in others the envelope is not required and generally a much higher temperaturae is used.

I noticed that when I don't cover the pan the bread comes out with a gummy and tough crust, that I consider really annoying; moreover the crumb comes out lighter and less sweet.

 

I'd like to have some advise on the cooking method to use; at the moment I'm relying just on luck and on past experience rather than on a methodology.

BTW, how to decide when the bread is cooked? a stick inserted in the bread comes out _always_ wet, even after 6 hours.

 

Thanks.

I would say that if you are making a 100% rye bread that you want a long slow bake at about 300° F or 149° C.  Use a thermometer to check the temperature in the middle of the loaf to see if the bread is done.  The final internal temperature of the loaf should be 200° F or 94° C.  When the loaf comes out of the oven spray the top very lightly with water to prevent a hard crust.

This instructions apply only to a bread made with all rye or almost all rye.

Jeff

Profile picture for user Elagins

Elagins on 3 Sep 2009 at 13:05

i agree with Yerffej about the long low-temp bake. i also find that starting it off at around 400 for the first 10 minutes, with lots of steam (1 cup of water every 3 minutes) will maximize the oven spring, which is mostly steam-driven. also, rather than spraying the crust when the loaves come out, I generally brush them generously with water and then leave the loaves uncut for at least a day, preferably two, so that the complex sugar gel that forms the crumb has enough time to set; cut a high-percentage rye bread too soon and it gets very gummy. so that's my 2 cents ... Stan Ginsberg

You can bake it covered or not.  Try it both ways and see which you like better.  The total baking time at 149° C should be somewhere around 3 hours.  As Stan mentioned it is very important to let the loaf cool for a long time.  12 hours would be the minimum time to let the loaf rest after it leaves the oven.

Jeff