Vermont Sourdough w/Rye sandwich loaves
I used the recipe by J. Hamelman in Bread to make a couple of sourdough sandwich loaves. I just like roast beef on rye for lunch. For the most part I went by the book. Here are the exceptions:
home milled whole rye flour was used.
1 ounce additional water used.
20+ minutes of hand kneading the French way. (My mixer was drowned in a blueberry smoothie.)
baked at 375F for 35 minutes in loaf pans. (I like soft sandwich bread with a gentle crust.)
I noticed that when the loaves rose above the pans they spread a bit. Perhaps I should have folded the dough again.
The dough was smooth but pretty sticky. Unfortunately when kneading this was on my large bread board, the board slid about the counter quite a bit. My counter top is Formica or something similar so it might work better.
The recipe used more salt than I am used to. If I cut back the salt to about 1.5 to 1.75% what changes in the dough would I see and how would I compensate? In a regularly yeasted bread, I'd be tempted to cut back on the yeast a bit.
The bread turned out nicely if not too pretty. My slashes were anemic because the dough wanted to keep the blade. Sticky dough, dull blade? Probably both.
I cannot figure out how to get more than one photo here.
Mike
For the salt, you can cut back to 1.5 %without making adjustments. The fermentation might go a tiny bit faster but not much. If you prefer the taste with less salt then go for it. There has to be some salt in there, but typical ranges are 1.8 to 2.2%. You can go a little lower without much difference other than in taste.
For the sliding board, one trick is to put a wet towel under it. This keeps it from moving. Another is to use some rubber shelf liner underneath. The liner is inexpensive and works great.
I'll look for the shelf liner. Slip n slide board was not fun. I was fighting dough and the board.
I was planning on around 1.75 on the next sourdough. I had not realized that my weekly bread was so lightly salted. It works for us.
Thanks for the response.