blackbird's blog

1st try croissants
I used the "short method" from the Sunset book but next time I'll use the layered way as in the Sunset book or Jacque Pepin's "The Art of Cooking, Volumne 2".  

I think the oven should have been hotter (such as 425F instead of 325F).  I should have made more folds to try to get better layers but they are crunchy, chewy, and tasty........and like a magician, they  dissappeared.

1st try poolish
I think I got some oven spring, didn't over proof, I'm certain, must be doing something right, even if I'm not sure how I did it or what I did.  That's the fun part, eh?

Sunset's Sponge-method Peasant Rye Bread formula was the idea I based my loaf on, with a few changes.  I reduced the quanity by one-third.

One cup rye, one cup water, a little instant yeast, make the sponge (or poolish).

The basic idea was to compare the formula in an old Sunset bread book and ideas in Peter Reinhart's BBA book.  The Sunset book starts the mixing with a sponge but this seems to be matching the description of a poolish in Peter's book.  After 6 hours the aroma was very faint but pleasing.  At 24 hours the aroma was wonderful.

After 24 hours, two-thirds cup rye flour, one cup water, caraway seeds, are added along with a little salt, mixed well, and about three cups AP flour are added slowly. 

Knead for about ten or 15 minutes until smooth, adding AP flour as needed (pun intended).

Next a little oil to cover the dough, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  Let rise till doubled, or so, then knead (I did stretch and fold 2 cycles).

I tried a banneton for the final rise which didn't take long while the oven was pre-heated to 450F.  Two deep scoring cuts were added.

A small pan of hot water went into the oven, then the loaf, then fine water spray, close the oven for 40 minutes maximum for an internal temperature of 202F.

I'm a hopeless loafer, always have been a loafer. hope to be a better loafer, when I grow up. 

Nothing fancy, just basic baking.

AP flour unbleached, overnight cold fermentation in the fridge, spray and steam pan at the start of the bake, came out of the oven making cracking sounds.

Reinhart's crackers are facinating.  I made a basic variation of the whole wheat with sesame seeds.

 First try with wet dough.  Should have used more steam.

After reading in Reinhart's WGB pages 205-209, I made up my mind to give it a try.  I discovered my very nearby microbrewery gives away their spent grain so I dropped by to gather up a few plastic containers of rather warm steaming fresh spent barley grain.  Using white bread flour, a little rye, salt, instant yeast, water, and caraway seeds, I made a free standing loaf.  I'm not good at free standing loaves despite some years of baking -------not that I was baking in great amounts-----but ever so rarely in free standing loaves.

Next time I'll use whole wheat and try to follow the book more closely.   I'll try to make progress in scoring while I'm at it.  My new round banneton will get much use. 

An old favorite for over 30 years, walnut cinnamon lemon bread is simple, crunchy and chewy.  The basic recipe is flexible rather than perfectionist.  I used frozen orange juice, thawed and room tmperature, back in those days. 

3 cups AP flour

instant yeast perhaps a big pinch

pinch of salt

1 maybe 2 ounces oil

8-9 ounces water

cinnamon as you like, I like it so I may use more than you

walnut pieces as you like, say 3/4 cup

lemon by lemon extract or lemon juice and or zest to your taste ----or you can use orange instead

No sugar or sweetening needed.

Mix all well, you can do some kneading at this mixing time.  I knead in the bowl with my mixing plastic spoon giving 5 minutes or so between a few spoon kneading efforts.

Let rise to double or so, then divide to fit pans, up to three mini pans, kneading is minimal or not at all.   The dough will be a bit wet and clay-like.  I use wet hands to handle it.   Or one big bread loaf pan. 

 Let rise, then into preheated oven at 425F, no steam, cover with alum foil loosely, decrease heat after 20 min to 375F, remove foil.  Baking time depends on your oven and how many times you open the oven.  Say 30 minutes total.  Let cool, or eat warm if it suits you.  Previously I wrote 45 minutes but my mind was thinking of a big bread pan loaf which requires a bit more time.  It is good to check on it so it does not get too dry. 

The simple recipe can be changed by adding eggs when mixing the dough for example. 

I tried a mold but got plenty of spring so it leans.

This is a blog entry of a rye sandwich loaf.  Rye content is only one-third cup rye and two and two-thirds cup white bread flour.  My blog on a little rye is the opposite.

I'm using Eric's sandwich rye recipe to make larger loaves for sandwiches of normal size.  I have to make some changes due to my lack of experience and personal preference.  The recipe is a good starting point for me and I'll try to get closer to the original.  

I am not using any kind of starter at this point although I hope to improve as I have no real experience with starters. 

Overnight cold fermentation in the fridge is the main technique plus stretch and fold kneading which I'm learning.  I've learned my oven bakes unevenly so I'll rotate the loaf on the next bake.  My first loaf had caraway seeds.   Great oven spring.

I've obtained a spray bottle, a better thermometer instead of the large meat thermometer I've been using, and a dough scraper for my 2nd loaf of this type.  All nice to use.  I'm learning and will soon make my 2nd sandwich loaf.

Robert

Hi,

New here, thought I'd try a little blog to see what happens, learning wonderfully, hearty thanks to generous people, and I hope I can be as helpful.   

 This is a small rye in the "cocktail" size.  A cube of butter is shown next to it.   There must be a better name?  It slices very thin.  The crumb is a bit dense and moist due, I suppose, to so much rye flour in the dough.  I think I started baking with rye in 1975 but I'm quite primitive with rye.  Eventually this rye became my easy little rye.  It has little resemblance to the more complicated ryes I'm reading about nowadays, especially the sour ryes.

It makes tidy tiny sandwiches, eh?  Hahahaha.  Anyway, I have enjoyed a slice of red radish and a tiny bit of lettuce leaf for one example but no need to limit the imagination.

I usually do not dust with flour nor do I score the top crust.  But I did to see what would happen.  This one was baked in a metal baguette form although little mini-loaf bread pans work very well especially if I cover them with aluminium foil while baking.

The dusted rye is the object now.

Seeds of your choice if you want them.  The one shown has fennel and anise.  Choose your seeds to suit you as to type and quanity.  I suggest you soak seeds in water for some time and use the water for the dough.  I don't like hard seeds in bread.

The baking was at 400F and about 40 minutes with a water pan for steam although that isn't so much for crust as to help keep the loaf moist.  Using mini-loaf pans will change the time depending on how many mini-pans you are baking.  Internal temperature reached 200F.  Covering with aluminium foil firmly helps to keep moisture in the loaf.

A little salt, a little instant yeast, seeds and the water plus flour, a little oil if you want it.  A basic measurement is 2 cups rye flour, 1 cup white bread flour, 9 or 10 ounces of the water for a start.  Add a little water if needed.  Mix and rest, let ferment for quite a while --- in the fridge covered in the bowl overnight if you like but several hours at room temperature is my usual method.  Long fermentation changes the texture and taste of the crumb.

The dough can be a bit wet but a little white bread flour will do when kneading which is basically a stretch and fold but there is no need to knead the daylights out of it. 

I set the dough in the form, a bread mini pan or a baguette pan, for the final rise and finally into the oven.  It doesn't rise greatly so it is more like a rest.

While this is a guide and not a recipe of precise amounts it can be changed easily to suit anyone's prefered precision or adding other ingredients such as molasses, orange, nuts, etc.  I don't add much but will see about orange.  Others may add the works if they like.

The point, if I'm making one, is that it is a simple, small rye.  For me, it is easy and dependable.  Your conditions will vary.  This type of rye isn't complex. 

Peter Reinhart in Whole Grain Breads on pages 219 to 223 writes about Vollkornbrot also known as a schwartzbrot ---"black bread" ---and my little simple rye may be an example somewhat distantly similiar but without the complex magnifance of a proper Vollkornbrot.   I can't recall how I found a recipe for a rye nor how this managed to evolve. 

I shall try to make a more precise recipe and technique comment in the near future.

Robert