Danish Rye, a la Ginsberg

A month ago (Christmas Day, actually), Tony (CalBeachBaker) posted his bake of the Danish rye bread from Stanley Ginsberg’s The Rye Baker.  I commented that it looked like a great choice for a high-rye bake that I was contemplating.  So, I made it this week.

My first deviation from the ingredients list was the substitution of pepitas and chia seeds for the sunflower seeds, since we were out of sunflower seeds.  The second deviation was to substitute whole rye flour that I can easily mill for medium rye flour.  I followed the instructions to make a single loaf in a 9x4x4 Pullman pan, which means I have a very hefty hunk of bread on my hands.  Because of the size, half is in the freezer while we enjoy the first half.

As Tony noted, this is a very easy bread to make.  I mixed the soaker ingredients on Thursday night.  On Friday morning, I combined the soaker with the rest of the ingredients for the final dough and gave the resultant paste/goo/mortar a 10-12 minute ride in my Kitchenaid mixer.  The mass was transferred from the mixing bowl to a greased Pullman pan and tamped down to prevent voids.  I used a wet spatula to smooth the top and coax it into a slight dome.  
Since our kitchen is cool this time of year, I fermented the “dough” at 75F in my proofer.  In the recipe text, Stan states that there will be little to no expansion at the end of the 45 minute proof.  What I found was something different.  The pan started out about 3/4 full.  At the end of proofing, the dough had expanded enough that it was cresting just above the pan rim.  Apparently, 20g of dry yeast feeding on 240g of malt syrup is enough to power the 960g of rye flour, rye chops, and cracked wheat, plus 200g of seeds.

With the oven up to temperature, I docked the dough and put the pan in the oven.  And then something happened—oven spring!  The bread rose until it was nearly an inch above the rim of the pan:

That was completely unexpected for this type of bread.  Thank goodness I hadn’t put the lid on the pan.

Now, I’d be lying if I said this bread had an open crumb.  However, it isn’t exactly a brick either, though I wouldn’t advise dropping it on your foot.  Here’s a picture:

About that tunnel.  Remember I said that I had docked the loaf before baking it?  Here's proof:

It appears to me that the tunnel formed just below the area that was penetrated by the skewer I used for docking.  Which suggests that the docking was at least partly successful, in that the whole roof isn’t ready to fly off.  
The flavor is outstanding, with plenty of molasses-y notes coming through from the malt syrup.  The crumb is firm and moist, with plenty of chewiness from the cracked grains and the seeds.  My wife, who isn’t usually a fan of high-rye breads, said “Put a check mark next to that recipe so you can make it again.”  I had my first serving in a ham and cheddar sandwich, which played very well with a crisp lager.  She accompanied hers first with some marinated cheese and second with some orange marmalade, declaring that both were delicious.