The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Fresh Off The Presses

DoughBoyFresh's picture
DoughBoyFresh

Fresh Off The Presses

OK, so for all my dedicated fans, of which I'm sure are numerous, I apologize for my negligence in updates. You might have though I was outta the game forever, but you were so wrong. That is to say, I have recently concocted some delish-ass bread. The inspiration came from my long time friend and college Armun Liaghat, to whom this loaf is dedicated. Enough with the babble lets dabble.

This is a 25% Whole Dark Rye, 75% white loaf. I used some of that chronic Red's Mill Whole Dark as night Rye and some regular Trader Joe's AP. I also added about a cup of flax seeds. Usually, I DGAF about a bread flour, but this time it ended up biting me in the ass (more on that later). I made about a cup of preferment with rye flour, a little water, and finished up the hydration with my all time favorite beer.

Yes that's right. It's not from Michigan, it's not an IPA, it's California Ale. Side Note to all the beer snobs: check it out. At this point, my starter was looking like some chunky diarrhea. Let that sit for 24 hours feeding every 8. Then I mixed up my dough, autolyse, and blah blah blah. Bang! Super dank loaf.

Well, almost...

While the crumb is acceptable as a sandwich bread, it was not at all what I was aiming for. With the hearty pre-ferment, I was hoping for large gelatinous bubbles, but instead got what amounted to the crumb of under kneaded WW:

I will try the guy again, only with two differences. I will substitute in bread flour, and add a ~24 hour retarded fermentation in darkest corner of my fridge.

So I ask my devoted readers; Do you think this aught to help my crumb? And with that, I say goodbye from Doughboy Fresh and stay crispy.

Comments

hanseata's picture
hanseata

did you put into the dough? It will soften it. With the AP, I don't know how much protein Trader Joe's brand has. King Arthur's, for example, contain as much protein as some bread flours, so it wouldn't be a dramatic difference.

To me the crumb looks pretty good (and everything with beer has to be good, anyway!) I bulk retard almost all my doughs overnight in the fridge, and, though it certainly enhances the taste, and is very practical, I don't think it would make the crumb airier.

Happy baking,

Karin

 

Isand66's picture
Isand66

The bigger holes are affected by the hydration level and also how you handle the dough.  What is your hydration level?  If you manhandle the dough when shaping that will also affect it.  For a bread with this percentage of rye your crumb however is not that bad.