Caraway Rye Bread with Black Strap Molasses.

Hi Shiao-Ping,

Good to hear from you.

I didn't take a final dough temperature before baking, but I did take one at second S&F, which was 23*C.   A good estimate would be 25*C.   Our kitchen was down at 13*C this morning.   We have a cat, so the house is basically open-plan, by default.   So while our stove blasts out the heat, it is not enough for my doughs to get too warm.

Regarding setting the bread; I have 3 bricks on the shelf in my oven, with a baking sheet set on top.   I pre-heat the sheet and then set the bread on to that and put this back on the bricks.   Main reason is so the base of the bread is nice and smooth, and the dough doesn't drip into the cracks between the bricks!   other reason is so I don't burn myself reaching into the oven to set the bread directly on the bricks.   I move the bread directly onto the bricks after about 15 minutes, when it has sufficient structure to it.  Life must be so much easier with a pizza stone and a Brisbane climate!   Still in the depths of a cold winter over here!

Best wishes

Andy

In Shiao-Ping's current blog entry: http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/16213/mr-nippon039s-baguette-formulas#comment-104998 we were discussing the empirical hydration affect on the dough from using a sweetener such as molasses. For moisture content alone, I went back to the manufacturers, and received a swift reply stating moisture content in the molasses was between 20 and 28%. This is exactly as I would expect. However, Shiao-Ping was really more interested in how the use of the sweetener in the dough actually creates a much softer, stickier dough, which therefore has the appearance of a greater water level in that dough. I have been thinking about this, and discussed it just now with a lecturing colleague, to confirm I had the right ideas.

1. Sugar is hygroscopic; ie it takes up water. So, the potential remedy of cutting back on hydration to compensate can never work. Sugar will always beat protein in the competition for available water. This is why I dissolve my sugar into the water when making products such as scones and sweet pastes. This way, the sugar has already taken up the water it needs, meaning the rest is available to the flour. This allows easier and more effective hydration of the flour in the final stages of mixing, after the flour and fat have been crumbed together. I also dissolved the molasses in the dough water when mixing the caraway rye bread. Syrups are always difficult to deal with in processing doughs and confectionery mixes; I needed very warm water to make this dough, as the rye sour, flour and ambient room temperature were all cold, cold, cold [between 13 and 18°C!] So weighing the warm water and dissolving the molasses into it was the obvious way to start the mixing.

2.Sugar induces flow in a dough. It has a tenderising affect on the crumb, it enriches and provides pleasant eating qualities and textures, it softens the dough and it works as an Improver. It does this as follows: just like protease, or, l-Cysteine Dihydrochloride, or Sodium Metabisulphite the sugar starts to breakdown the protein structure in the dough. It has a softening effect on the gluten which the homebaker generally achieves through the wonderful [now, scanalously, somewhat old-fashioned in the UK commercial sector!] concept of fermentation. This enables the dough rheology which sees the strength of elasticity gradually replaced by the all-essential extensibility in a dough. Incidently, without sufficient hydration, the protein is incapable of being fully developed. This is why a tight dough always calls for extra mixing.

Best wishes Andy

Hi Shiao-Ping,

From the outside, a very similar looking loaf, but, yes, there are those small differences you are quite right.   I got to thinking about why.   Maybe I have the answer, maybe not?

I don't come from the "slap and fold" school.   I like "stretch and fold", but I also like to work the dough first; especially if the protein is 13.2%.   This is not essential; just remember I generally had a spiral mixer sitting next to me that could fully develop dough like this in a way impossible to comprehend using side by side comparison with hand-mixing.   Imagine, also, that the task in hand was to deposit 120kg of dough on the bench for 2 skilled bakers to work off by hand: slap and fold won't work; but it's fine at home, for 1 -2 kg, yes?   But I think the use of both rye and wheat gives the game away here.   The white streak in the dough looks like some wheat that has not been mixed with the rye sour properly.   That is picture 3.   For all that, picture 4 suggests a really lovely bread, and I love the crust expansion seen in the first 2 photos.

Some other things to bear in mind: my dark rye flour is very coarse, and dark.   The molasses is pretty rich and heavy.   Combine these 2 features, and my bread is heavier than yours.   Then add in the more vigorous work input I use and I think that explains the difference in finished breads from a similar formula and method.   In the end, flour at 13.2% gives the essential result, if properly hydrated, as the formula is.   But slap and fold does not "mix" the dough how I want it to.   Time and hydration do all the important things to create  the highest quality of dough; exactly it: extensibility is the key!!!

The other thought I'm having as I close these remarks is very obvious: a tighter culture [stiffer] will ferment slower, and be less ripe.   Therefore the acid content will be lower, so the dough structure will be stronger, and will break down slower: so you will indeed achieve a loaf of greater volume, yes?

Best wishes;

Andy