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Home made pickles and rye bread?

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

Home made pickles and rye bread?

It’s been getting cold at night and my lone surviving cucumber vine was giving up the ghost so last weekend I collected the few remaining cucumbers (fingerlings) and threw them in a quart jar with some salt and spices. Last night around 6PM I took about 2 TBL of liquid brine from the quart jar (the cukes are now crunchy pickles) 2 TBL of some CLAS from last week, a cup of water, half a cup of sprouted whole rye flour, a little onion and half a teaspoon of ground caraway.

put it in a proofer at 85 F.

When I checked it at 10PM it had doubled, but being lazy I left it for the morning. At 6 AM it had collapsed, so I added 1.5 cups of the rye and another 1/2 cup of water.

Will check in on it again around lunch time.

If it’s doubled, I’ll make some bread with most of it and put a bit in the fridge.

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

Well it only rose 50%. Smells great! Sour, with hints of caraway and onion. New plan, will let it go till this afternoon and start a 30% rye bread for baking tomorrow AM. I’ll include my recipe after I mix it, since I won’t know what I’m gonna do till I start.

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

3:00PM thought I’d have a look and it’s doubled. I figure it’ll keep till 5 or 6 when I get around to making the dough for tomorrow’s bread. It’s been fermenting at around 80 degrees for most of the day.

Yippee's picture
Yippee

to your 🍞🍞🍞.

Yippee 

Abe's picture
Abe

And the homemade pickles. Now you need the homemade salt beef. 

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

This project tests something Mini posted about a few years ago. Back then, it was organic, naturally fermented sauerkraut. I've read that it doesn't matter what vegetable you ferment. The brine can be used to kickstart sourdough.

Now I think I should have refreshed it last night after it doubled. It would have been doubled again this morning and ready to bake at lunchtime. But as I said, I was sleepy and couldn't be bothered at the time.

While I understand the appeal of keeping a sourdough pet and the enjoyment it brings, I'm just not there yet. So... I am experimenting with quick ferments that reproduce what I used to get when I actually had a mother (sourdough mother, that is ;0) ).

I want to know how loosely I can string these ferments and still get good results.  Ferments are really easy when you have airlocked jars (cheap) and don't mind waiting a week for the results. The final product can be kept in the fridge for weeks on end.

Anyhoo, I think anyone reading this can tell how nonchalantly I've scheduled this bake, and that is the point of this whole exercise. That sourdough rye bread can be made in a couple of days without much effort.

I may do another thread with pictures where I start a CLAS with flavorings on day one and bake the next day. Even simpler than this one.

The dough I'm going to make soon will go in the fridge, still haven't decided whether to try a bulk before I go to bed or add yeast and let it rise in the morning after a nice long nap in the cold.

 

alcophile's picture
alcophile

I hope no one calls the Humane Society…because I would be charged with neglect for the way I treat my SD pet. Vaal is lucky if he gets fed about every couple of weeks and once even had to wait as long as six weeks between feedings.

And unlike the Star Trek contraption he is named after, Vaal doesn't throw a hissy fit and attack me if I don't shovel watermelons into his gaping maw on a regular basis!

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

Got a locking door on the fridge?  Maybe i go sort out my top shelp in the fridge. The jars are taking over!

alcophile's picture
alcophile

LOL! When I was starting my rye sour culture, I set up two containers, one named Vaal, after a Star Trek entity that required regular feeding, and Audrey II, the man-eating plant from Little Shop of Horrors.

If I were you, I wouldn't turn my back on those jars!

jo_en's picture
jo_en

Clas with flavors-How interesting!

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

If you noticed, I added a little caraway and onion to the rye ferment. This gives the resultant ferment a wonderful aroma of fresh Jewish rye and imparts that flavor to the bread.

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

as wet spices tend to get stronger with time. I can literally reduce regular amounts in half if added to the sponge or levain.

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

I used a little over 8 oz of the starter with 12 oz of first clear flour and 2 additional ounces of sprouted rye. The starter tasted like it was around a 3.7 PH. Tart, but not lemon sour.

1 tsp of salt, caraway seeds and quick yeast. (I didn't feel like being at the whim of an unpredictable young starter)

And 8 oz of tepid water.

Mixed with my KitchenAid until it came together and let it rest for about 20 minutes.

The dough looks a little dry, so I may add a bit of water to the kneading, which will be just long enough to incorporate the extra water and form a nice dough. Not looking for a window pane, as the sprouted rye will make this a sticky dough.

Once the second knead is complete, I will leave it at room temperature ( around 70 degrees in my house right now) for an hour before putting it in the fridge for the night.

This dough will go in an olive oil-coated covered melamine bowl for the night.

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

Out of the fridge and into the oven @85F for an hour or so to take the chill off and finish the bulk ferment at around 90F. Shape for second rise and toss it in a steamy 450F oven before dialing back the temp to 360 for the rest of the bake. Will be ready just in time for lunch today.

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous
Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

Warm bread fresh from the oven!   Mmmmmmmmm!

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

Had it with some home canned black bean soup. Yumm.

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

I used sprouted rye, but in the past I’ve used whole grain rye with similar results. I’m finding a much bigger difference using the sprouted whole wheat than the sprouted rye. The sprouted whole wheat is more like baking bread with play dough than wheat flour, and the texture is very soft.

‘Don’t really notice much difference with the sprouted rye.

I’ve got over 20# of each I’ll be working through over the next couple of months. Much of the wheat will wind up as banana bread, froze a bunch of bananas yesterday 39c/lb.

jo_en's picture
jo_en

The bread looks so light and delicious and I have never tried using clas as you did!

Is sprouted whole rye the same as the malted rye berries (like used in making clas) that are from a beer brewer?

I am going to give your use of clas a try - only 2 TBSP!

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

I used naturally fermented pickle juice too (any naturally fermented veggies juice will work) and no sprouted rye flour is not the same as malt flour. It’s called malt when it is more fully sprouted and sprouted at the first sign of the roots emerging. I know, it’s confusing.

It is not necessary to use the sprouted flour (i just happen to have a bunch to experiment with) This works just fine with whole grain rye (the crumb is a little chewier with in whole rye) I’m surprised it was the sprouted rye you commented on and not the clear flour. I have no idea how this recipe will work without clear flour, I’ve never tried to make it with bread flour.

 

jo_en's picture
jo_en

I think clear flour is sifted whole grain(of whole berry)  flour - I would guess about 1/6-1/10 being sifted out.

Some recipes say to use half bread flour and half whole wheat flour but I 've never had to do that.

Is the above the same meaning you have of clear flour?

Thanks for the clarification on the malted vs sprouted.  I will save my malted grain for making clas.

 

==

On another note, as you had mentioned trying the whole wheat pasta with clas, I did try it with "flas", a liquid lactic acid starter ( I hope I am using the terms correctly!), but it did not turn out nearly as well.

 

rondayvous's picture
rondayvous

Until I read more about the milling process and ordered a 50 lb bag to experiment on. I even tried experiments were I did what you described and other variations. Not the same.

‘The best way I can describe it is: if I have a bacon cheese burger and you have a plain hamburger. A friend comes along with a cheese burger. We can’t duplicate his cheese burger by taking your hamburger and adding my cheese. My cheese has bits of melted bacon and crumb from the bun melted into it that will change the taste and texture of your “cheese burger”.

Not everyone appreciates the strong taste and chewier texture of first clear. It doesn’t rise as well as pure bread flour and despite the name it is considered a “second” or even “third” flour for baking purposes. It can only be made with the roller milling process, so is a relatively modern invention in the history of flour.

If you’ve ever tried to make rye sandwich bread and wondered why it never quite tasted the way you thought it should, clear flour is one of the answers. The other is the caraway/onion ferment I described above and in another post I made in the sourdough forum.