Rye Flavor Help
I am trying to develop a mostly rye recipe to go with the limburger cheese I always purchase for the holidays. This is 370g Bob's Red Mill Dark Rye flour, 125g Trailblazer Bread flour, 340g water, 10g salt, and 400g preferment. After mixing I bulk fermented about 40 minutes until it had increased in volume about 30%. I then formed it and placed it in a banneton for about 1 hour before baking. Both processes were at 74ºF. It is heavy and dense which I kind of expected but it has very little flavor. I began to wonder if I forgot to add the salt so I sprinkled a little on a slice and it is much better. I will probably try again and make sure I add the salt but I was also considering whether I should increase the amount of salt a little. Would leaving out the salt cause the bread to lack flavor?
Increase the rise - longer than yours by a time or 2 depending on the starter. Salt increases the perceived flavors so should be added - how much is up to the user. And I forgot - reduce water. Enjoy!
I don't think most people would describe the flavor of bread as salty, but bread without salt has an entirely different flavor. One of my grandmothers avoids salt at all costs and would make white bread in a bread machine but leave out the salt, and it didn't click with me for many years that the reason it tasted like that was because it didn't have salt. If your preferment is 100% hydration and doesn't have any salt of its own, your total salt is only 1.4% (in baker's %). If you bake again making sure that you add the 10g salt and still find that it lacks flavor, I would go up to 14g for the standard 2% salt.
I have very little experience with rye, so feel free to disregard this advice if it doesn't meet your goals, but I would be looking at lengthening the fermentation time, either by reducing the amount of preferment or retarding the proof.
how long was your preferment, and at what ratio of starter, flour & water.
Rob
Preferment was about 12 hours. 1:5:5