February 25, 2022 - 3:24pm
home solod too light
This is my second attempt at home solod (unroasted this time).
- Soak and sprout rye until the sprout length is equal to the length of the rye berry
- Keep solod in mini incubator at 105 F for 6 days (1st day in multi-cooker before moving to incubator)
- Partially dry slowly on baking sheet at 115F, then overnight in strainer with fan
- Grind with mortar and pestle
I stopped it after 6 days as the berries were plump, malty, and popped with rye goop when pinched. I had read reports of mold and didn't want to keep it going much longer. This was a wild fermentation, and perhaps kickstarting it with a rye starter is necessary. I had already started the process before reading [this] thread, that suggests kickstarting it with sourdough culture.
It is reddish, but not nearly as dark as the photo of solod in this [thread]. If "light roast" coffee is an option, then perhaps "light solod" is an option.
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Congrats! It's solod!
Is it acidic to taste?
Why did you stop processing it at 115F and switched to blow drying it? You haven't completed melanoidines formation, that's all. This part is very long, takes a long time in the oven.
Naturally, solod comes in a range of colors, just like rust can be orangey or deep dark red. So, yes, you can use it in borodinsky. Borodinsky's dark red crumb color is not due to solod anyways, but to its own dough fermentation at high temperature and then baking.
Darkness of solod depends on rye grain itself, white rye cultivars (rye kernels with white or light yellow colored bran), for example, will not make dark red solod, dark skinned rye with greenish bran will, on fermentation until reddish or orangey, and then on prolonged slow low heating to dry it out.
> Is it acidic to taste?
It tastes mildly acidic. For reference, the pH is 4.65.
> Why did you stop processing it at 115F and switched to blow drying it
I believe my lowest oven temperature is over 250F. Achieving a sustained lower temperature would require a lot of manual cycling. The best hot dry heat option I thought of with a large surface area was the stove top. I used a baking sheet buffered by tiles and flame diffusers. I could keep the temperature at about 115 F, but it did require some supervision. I stopped at the end of the day when the berries were dry, but still felt chewy in a bite test -- not dry enough for milling. I figured time and fans could finish the job. I also ended up over-roasting the previous batch while attempting to achieve a darker color, so I was more cautious with this one.
> So, yes, you can use it in borodinsky
That is reassuring. Now I need to fine rye malt or a suitable alternative.
> Darkness of solod depends on rye grain itself,
These rye berries are from Farmer Ground and I believe they are grown in upstate New York somewhere. They do seem to be a little on the gray side of the spectrum when compared to the results of an image search for "rye". I just realized I can probably name a dozen wheat varieties, but don't know any specific rye variants.
Did yours have a strong chocolate smell? I’m in the middle of following the Rusbrot directions for solod an it wasn’t until i raised the temperature to 140F (12 hrs later) that I started to smell the characteristic solod smell. It’s been about 28 hrs now and the smell from my basement has made its way into my house.
At 140F the starches in rye start to gelatinize and the enzymes start to turn those starches into sugars. I’m pretty sure the higher temps after that are to stop whatever enzyme activity might be left. I’m thinking of skipping the very last step since it was the flavor (aroma) seems to be almost there after the 140F marathon.