Any recommendations for a soft rye dinner roll? I made Rye Bites from Stan Ginsberg's book The Rye Baker and thought they were delicious! And easy! But my audience for dinners like softer, enriched rolls with rye flavor. So any recommendations for a recipe?
Initially I went to "The Rye Baker" for rye roll recipes and found that most are either rather hearty and dense (the way I like rye to be) or too involved for my time frame. The guests I was having are fans of softer bread but I definitely did not want to buy commercial rolls. I have a reputation to maintain, afterall!
I dug deeper and found txfarmers post from MANY years ago. For some reason I couldn't fid it the first time around.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/24906/30-rye-sourdough-sandwich-loaf-yes-even-rye-breads-can-be-fluffy-and-soft
Great discussion about fats effect on loft of bread.
So this is my next roll experiment.
Where she says oil, 28 g, softened I'm positive she meant butter not oil. Although both would work, butter would be better. Just make sure that the water has been incorporated first before the fat and sugar goes in.
I think it would be fun to see what would happen to the softness and lightness of the rolls of the entire 30% whole rye was in the levain and the levain was stored for a day or two in the fridge after it had doubled.
Happy baking
Further down in the post she talks about using oil instead of butter with rye. I think she adapted this to rye from another recipe that used butter and just didn't take out the word "softened". She talks about having less loft with oil than butter.
What do you think the effect of having all the rye in the levain? I am in favor of doing this because the rye "flour" I have is Hodgsen Mill -which is very much more like a fine meal than a powdery flour consistency. Putting all the coarse rye in the levain and giving it a good, long soak would help with hydrating it.
What other effect would that have?
levain for sure. Rye needs acid to make the crumb light and lofty a=nd putting the bran in the levain will give you more acid and it will soften the bran since it will be wettest the longest plus the acid in the levain will work to break it down too - giving you the softest loftiest crumb possible. I do this for most all of my levains when any whole grains are in the mix. Whole grains tend to mute the sour since their flavor is so powerful, especially rye, and this also gives you a nice tang over the powerful grain flavor.
Thank you!