My First Danish Rye (Rugbrot)
Today I baked a Danish Rye from Chad Robertson's formula. It was a long time coming as I have been trying to get a rye starter up and living (Thanks again Mini!). Finally, it is healthy and alive. This means I was able to bake this bread that has been on my mind for 3 weeks. With a few pointers from Jorgen (breaducation) and Phil (PiPs), I think it turned out a success. Of course the proof will be after the painful wait of 24 hours that this bread needs to rest. I couldn't help but cut a few slices off the side after 6 hours of rest just to get some crumb shots - and a greedy taste. Tastes great so far, but I think it needs to set up. Still a bit on the damp side. Also, the one mistake I made was to dust the top of the bread with ground up sunflower and flax seeds instead of just simple flour. I guess the seeds dried out during the long bake and now have a tough and hard/crunchy texture. The other three sides of the crust are fine, just the top is a problem. Next time I will simply dust with flour.
Couldn't resist trying out an authentic way of enjoying this bread. You know the saying, if in Vancouver, eat as the World eats. A few Smorrebrod, Danish sandwich variations.
Herring with pickled shallot, creme fraiche and fresh cracked pepper.
Alder smoked salmon with cream cheese and dill yogurt
I am hooked on this crazy Danish sandwich. So many possibilities, so little bake time.
John
Hi John,
I love the golden hues this loaf casts off. Looks very wholesome and delicious with all the goodies tucked inside. I say you did great with this loaf and the crust looks okay despite your description. How did the crust taste?
Janet
Thank you Janet. Actually I was hoping the topping mix would give it a nutty taste, but it just tastes wheaty. The taste doesn't matter when you hear crunching in your teeth as you bite. Too hard. Still edible, just won't use it next time.
I am SO looking forward to eating this as Danish style open faced sandwiches. I am more of a cook than a baker, and the combinations of toppings are running wild in my head.
John
By the looks of your addition of the sandwiches you have made for yourself I can see you and dabrownman have a lot in common.
You have well stocked kitchens and eat very well!
By the way, couldn't help notice the creme fraiche and the cream cheese on two of your creations. I just made a batch of cf a couple of days ago. Do you make your own too? Pretty easy and fun to do. My 16 year old actually tasted some last night on his taco which really surprised me....otherwise it goes into breads because he is usually scared to try anything new that I concoct in the jars I have around the house.....a cautious eater :-)
Thanks for posting these and making me very hungry despite the fact that I just ate my lunch!
Janet
Janet. Yes, I am a major foodie. However, I do not and have never made home made cream cheese or creme fraiche. Only home made buttermilk. Here in Canada we have extremely good quality creme fraiche so I just buy it when needed. I try not to stock my fridge with that stuff as it is so high in fat. Same with cream cheese. But for special occasions such as this bake, I go nuts with it :)
When I make mexican food at home, such as Tacos, enchiladas, etc., if I do not have creme fraiche or sour cream in the house, I simply take some yogurt and drain it in a 2 ply coffee filter placed in a fine mesh sieve and let it drain for an hour. It thickens up and voila, low fat sour cream substitute. Just don't put it directly on anything too hot. It turns to milk fast. I kind of just spoon it on as I eat, like East Indian raita.
John
of Rugbrot. I can feel those teeth crunching through those baked hard berries - builds stronger enamel I suspect. Still a beautiful bake and it will get better. Shouldn't cut into it for 48 hours though!! Now that you have gone to the dark side you won't see the light side of Chad for awhile :-) Love that crumb and there are some nice large holes for a light interior.
Nice baking John.
I know, I know man. I am 40 hours too impatient! You are right, I am definitely on a dark kick right now. I miss a SF Sourdough, but this dark stuff is just too much fun.
John
Oh, man, that looks so good! I can imagine the flavours... the wheatiness, the nuttiness, and perhaps a good, modest tang.
Congrats on a fine bake.
Zita
Thanks Zita. You have the flavours down pat because that is exactly the way to describe this bread. Also, moist, filling, dense, satisfying. All of the above and more.
Thanks again :)
John
:) I want one of those right now!
Nice touch the seeds on top, with a bagging the moisture corrects itself.
Ya can bite and still have crunch.
I hope to have a cool day so I can bake!
Mini, hope you got your cooler day for baking. You were right, the topping has turned to a more hard chew instead of a hard tooth breaking crunch. It is edible now for sure. I believe with it's weight, I can probably throw it about a third of the way to Chile.
John
John, That first picture looks like a beautifully encrusted meatloaf. I'm stuck on white flours right now but this may move me over to the darker side.
very nice.
Angelo
Hi Angelo and thank you for your comments. I would suggest this bread for a switch over to the dark side. It is extremely easy once you have all the ingredients and levain made. There is only a 15 minute mixing, which if you do by hand can be a short work out. But aside from that, barely any shaping needed. In fact I didn't even shape. Just poured into the baking tin and let it proof. I was thinking it would be much more difficult than it was! Finding the rye berries was the hardest part.
Good luck if you do try it, and feel free to ask me any questions about it in preparation.
John
Why this, of course!
Sorry, I couldn't resist... just happened to have this beer last night.
:-)
Mike
Hi Mike. How perfect! I used a dark stout and it worked perfectly. I love off the beaten path worldly beers and this one is a nice one. Thanks for sharing!
John
that crazy Danish sandwich particularly with some of your Rugbrot. Hurray for your new starter and wonderful bake. -Varda
Thank you Varda. Well, there you go! Now I want to see you bake it :)
John
John,
Congrats on such a great looking bread. Your crust may cause you to have a root canal, but the crumb looks perfect. What I wouldn't do for a slice of your bread about now along with some from DA's latest creation too! Good bread is hard to come by in China so for another week I need to live vicariously through the posts on this site.
Regards,
Ian
China?? Ian, you shouldn't be thinking about bread when you have all that authentic dim sum and pulled noodles right at your disposal! I was going to say, what I would do for some authentic dim sum right now....but I forgot I live in Vancouver. Dim sum is on every corner.
Have a safe trip back and thanks for the review and comments :)
John
Ha...if only I had time to search out for some good Dim sum. Unfortunately many of the place I travel to in China are not exactlythe culinary capitals of China :). I did get to go to my favorite Thai place last night and stuff myself, but today I travel about 3 hours away into a place that has limited food options. MFC will be our lunch....with MFC being a knock-off of KFC and not even as bad as KFC!
Regards,
Ian
Thai and fried chicken while in China?? Wow! There must be SOME good dim sum around no? Or Szechuan. Mmm.
John
Also....I might add I also think you did a great job with your photography. Like you I love photography as well and I'm always trying to make my shots look as good as I can. One of these days I want to get some strobe lights so I can shoot at night, but now that I'm working from home mostly when not traveling to China I can actually shoot during the day when I have some daylight.
Best,
Ian
Thank you Ian. Strobe lights to shoot at night? I only know of adjusting the aperture and iso settings to shoot at night. I should look into that :)
John
Oh I can just taste the salmon with the cream cheese, and I love your photos. Please tell me your camera and lens ? A macro ?
Congrats!
anna
Thank you Anna. I have to admit, I took inspriation in the photography from Phil aka PiPs. He or his wife, take amazing photography of their bakes/cooking. I am still learning how to optimize through post editing such as Photoshop. I have been intested in photography for a few years now, but only now started to delve into food photography.
My camera is a Nikon D5000 with a 18-55mm VR lens. For the close up photos, I used the macro setting on the camera. I have been wanting a macro lens for some time now, but as you can see, it takes pretty good close ups with the standard lens.
Let me know if you have any other questions and thank you again :)
John
I bought a used D3100 last year and have been eyeing the 105mm f/1.8 macro lens. But, alas, at $894.00, is a bit high for just an occasional shot.
And you are right, you shot perfect close-ups with the 18-55mm. Very nice !
Anna
Wow that is steep for a lense for occasional use. My camera didn't even cost that much. I knew that this photography thing can be quite pricey. I have also learned that you can work with minimal and if you learn certain techniques and post editing programs, you can come up with quality photos. Thanks again for your kind comments.
John
Okay that is one beautiful looking loaf!!! This has just gone up WAY HIGH on my to bake list. Your sandwiches look great and are making me really hungry for some of that!
Brian
Thank you so much Brian. Good to see another fellow Canadian on here.
If you bake this bread, you will only need two slices to keep you going for hours on the Canmore slopes.
Good luck :)
John
Hey John,
Welcome to the dark side :)
The rye turned out great ... and the sandwiches look divine! (Hope you have lots and lots of butter on them)
Storing the bread in a plastic bag in the fridge has the added bonus of softening the crust which is a bit of a bonus sometimes :)
Now that it has been a few days are you still nibbling your way through it? I have a bottle of stout still sitting my fridge just longing to be made into a dark rye loaf :) ... just have to find some free time.
All the best,
Phil
Hi Phil. Looks a little familiar I bet. Thank you for the initial inspiration and comments.
There is about 30% left. I believe it will be gone in 2 more days. It is such an easy bread that I plan to make it again next weekend.
Hope it has cooled off a little down under so you can get some more inspiring bakes done for me :) Oh and for you and your wife, of course. :)
John
makes great smørrebrød (what about Danish leverpostej and lingonberries?)
Instead of ground sunflower seeds, next time try just unground ones - they look pretty and you don't have the issue with the gritty crust.
Happy Baking,
Karin
I will try that Karin thanks! Also makes a great granola bar if you just need some energy. I am in love with this bread now.
John
:) on vollkornbrot
Actually, I have never tried one yet. I was going to try breaducation's vollkornbrot with sprouted seeds but I chose this Rugbrot instead. I haven't sprouted seeds before so I didn't want to screw anything up.
Vollkornbrot just means Whole-grain-bread. This loaf looks very much like one.