(as) Authentic Tzitzel (as I can make)
Over the last year I have been trying to make a Rye bread called Tzitzel, which I remember from a bakery in my home town - University City, Missouri. The bakery is still there and still makes Tzitzel, but as I don't have much (any) reason to go back to U. City, I figured I'd better learn how to make it myself. After many attempts, I finally felt that I managed to make a respectable Jewish Rye with a nice crust and flavor http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/20506/jewish-corn-rye but it still didn't taste anything like the Tzitzel I remembered. Recently I took advantage of the brief free shipping period at King Arthur, and ordered White Rye and Sir Lancelot flour, neither of which I'd baked with before. I tried making Jewish Rye with these two flours instead of Hodgson's Mill Stone Ground Rye and King Arthur Bread Flour. I started to feel I was onto something despite the fact that the white rye flavor was much too mild, and the loaves puffed up like a white flour wheat loaf, which is very un-Tzitzel-like. Today I tried again with a rye sour made with 2/3 white rye and 1/3 Arrowhead Mills organic rye, which is a whole rye flour, but much less gritty than Hodgson's Mills. This time, the shape (broad and squat) flavor and texture were much more on target. So now I have one more thing to add to my long list of baking lessons that I've learned this year - the flour matters. If I want to get any closer to the original Pratzel's tzitzel, I am going to have to find out what kind of flour they use, and that's that.
Comments
I've not heard of Tzitzel rye before, Varda, but yours sure looks tasty!
Beautiful looking loaf, Varda.
I haven't had the corn rye from your MO bakery, but yours sure looks delicious.
You may get closer to your target using First Clear Flour for the wheat flour. Just a guess. First Clear is traditionally used in NY Corn Rye.
BTW, as I understand it "tzitzel" means "seeds," referring to the caraway seeds in this type of bread.
David
Thank you all. David, I will try the First Clear. I did order it when I started this little quest, and I couldn't tell the difference. But that was many breads ago, and it's certainly worth another shot. -Varda