Rye Bread

The saying goes that if Mama ain't happy, ain't nobody gets to be happy.  Well, Mama ain't been happy for a while now.  She likes rye bread, and I have been concentrating on classic sourdough for a while.  Recently, I decided to branch out.  I made a loaf of ciabatta to prove I could.  It was tasty, and the big holes sucked up lots of olive oil, but alas, ciabatta did not satisfy Mama.  For those wishing to catch up on my bread baking exploits, see my previous posts here and here.

So, Monday I announced that it was time to wake up Fred (my starter) and make some sourdough rye bread.  Mrs. PolyKahr seemed pleased, which always pleases me.  I did some investigating of rye bread, and rye flour.  One of my sources is a book entitled The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Berenbaum. There are other books on the market which other bakers swear by, and you can read about them on the various bread forums. Indeed, the flame war between deciples of Peter Reinhart vs the acolytes of Rose Levy Berenbaum rival the 9mm vs. .45 Auto wars.  And yes, they have forums on the Internet for bread bakers, both home bakers and professional and artisanal types.

Rye, like other grains other than wheat, does not have gluten.  It is therefore impossible to make a leavened bread with 100% rye flour, since the grain does not form the long strands of protein necessary to trap CO2 bubbles and make the bread rise. Rye is also somewhat bitter in large amounts, so I had to determine what the correct ratio of rye flour to wheat flour should be. According to Mrs. Berenbaum, she uses around 20% rye to total wheat flour in her sourdough rye formula. In her Jewish rye formula, the ratio is 41%. I settled on 24% since sourdough starter is less active than standard yeast, and the rye flour is whole grain.  Here is the formula I am using:

Bread Flour 100%
Rye Flour 24%
Water 76%
Starter 38%
Sugar 2%
Salt 3%
Caraway Seeds 4 TBS for two loaves

Combine 8 oz starter with 10.65 oz Bread Flour, 5.10 oz Rye Flour, and 16 oz Water to make the sponge.  Let rise until doubled.  10.25 oz Bread Flour, 1 TBS sugar, 2 tsp Salt and 4 TBS caraway seeds.  Knead with Kitchenaid Mixer and dough hook on speed 2 for 8 minutes.  Let rise until doubled.  Shape into two boules and let rise until doubled or until when dimpled it just barely returns.  If it doesn't return, place in oven immediately.  Bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes.

Now for some speculation.  Just how did ancient man decide to make bread out of other grains besides wheat, especially rye?  I think it may have been that rye was available, and used in small quantities, could help extend the wheat crop, and therefore feed more mouths.  But bread flavored with rye tends to go especially well with certain preserved meats such as pastrami.  Mrs. PolyKahr loves a good Reuben Sandwich, which traditionally contains corned beef. Both Corned Beef and Pastrami have a slightly sour flavor, which goes well with the flavor of rye bread.  Hopefully, Mrs. PolyKahr will have a hot pastrami sandwich tonight.

Toward a Lighter, More Airy Bread

I did a little baking over this Labor Day weekend, while Mrs. PolyKahr was away, and the grand kids were out camping with their parents.  I discovered something, and did a little experimenting.  I told you about my bread baking passion here.

The recipe I use for my sourdough bread was developed using King Arthur bread flour.  It calls for 6 cups of flour and 2 cups of water total.  The numbers above include the starter and the flour and water added to the recipe to obtain total hydration.  The starter itself is a 100% hydration starter.

So, 6 cups flour x 4.25 oz/cup = 25.5 oz flour.  2 cups water x 8 oz/cup gives 16 oz water.  Hydration, therefore is 62.75%  That is in line with most recipes which call for around 63% hydration.  I however, was using Gold Medal bread flour.  I find Gold Medal to be consistent, and at nearly half the price of King Arthur, it is hard to justify spending the extra dough (pun intended.)  How good can flour be, after all?Anyway, I discovered that Gold Medal has a density of 5.25 oz/cup, a full oz more per cup than King Arthur.  Could this difference make a huge difference in the bread?  Read on.

Using the same calculations as above, I find that I have been baking the bread with a hydration of 50.80%.  In order to have the same hydration as called for in the recipe, I would have to put in a total of 19.75 oz of water.  When I take away the 4 oz used in the starter, that leaves 15.75 oz or 1.97 cups.  Let's just call it 2 cups (as opposed to 1 1/2 cups in the recipe.  Remember that 1/2 cup is already in the starter.)

Well, I wasn't willing to go for broke, but I did add 2 oz water to the recipe.  The results were amazing.  The crumb is much lighter, with bigger holes.  The crust is much crustier.  All together, the bread is better.

And of course, I have learned a lot about flour that I did not know before.  So, for example, in my grand mother's (may she rest in peace) recipe for fruit cake, knowing what kind of flour she actually used becomes critical if I am to reproduce the flavor and the feel for my Dad.  Last year I used Gold Medal all purpose, but I have a feeling that she might have used Martha White.  I need to investigate the density of Martha White flour next.

Baking Your Own from Scratch-Literally

If you have been following my blog, you know that I bake bread. I have previously posted about it here. Now I find that there are others.

Who knew?

Gardenserf has a post up that asks the question if baking bread will become a revolutionary act?. I would note that there is currently a bill in the Senate, S510 that could potentially make it much more difficult for the small producers of food to remain in business. Senator Burr, whom I have supported in the past is a sponsor. Grrr.

I have not actually ground my own wheat, and at my age I probably never will. In any case, this area is not known for growing wheat, so I buy Gold Medal Bread flour.  King Arthur and Pillsbury Bread Flour are also good, but I find Gold Medal to be an excellent value that makes a very tasty loaf.  I substitute part of that for rye flour if I want to make rye.  I would also substitute a part if I wanted to make a bread with a more wheaty character.  I substitute only a portion of the bread flour for whole wheat because it is difficult to make a decent loaf out of pure whole wheat, and what you are likely to get looks a lot like the loaf Gardenserf made.  Such bread tastes good, but it is a very heavy.  Rye, barley, millet, and other grains do not produce gluten, so are not suitable for bread making, except as additives for flavor.  I substitute part of the bread flour with all purpose flour if I want a softer loaf.  The only difference between all purpose and bread flour is the mix of wheats used in them, with the bread flour having a higher portion of high gluten wheats.

Now there, you probably know more about flour than you ever wanted to know.