Well, I have finally decided it was time to stop flirting with higher and higher Rye percentages and just go head first into 100% Rye. Excited and optimistic I come up with a recipe similar to vollkornbrot and I'm off! ...............As you can imagine I have a dense but tasty loaf. My goal is to make a moist Rye with a tight but not dense crumb. So here are my questions;
1. I used 40% preferment, should I go higher?
2. I only used a one stage build, if I use a 2 or 3 stage a la Detmolder will I get more loft?
3. I basically followed the formula in Hammelmans book for the timing 10-20 min bulk, 50-60 min proof, bake 475 for 15 min then 360 for 1 hour 15 minutes
Do you have any thoughts on a better schedule?
Thanks in advance!
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I went through a "wheat free" phase last year and ate only 100% rye. I'm not sure of all your terminology but this is what I did.
I used 80 gms of starter to build 180 gms of "preferment". My starter is active in as little as 6 and I can drag it out as long as 12 hours, though it starts to deflate by then.
I mix 500 gms rye flour, 2 tsp salt and anywhere from 360 to almost 400 gms of water for a 75% to 80% hydration. Mix to a "ragged mess", rest for 10 minutes, and then knead two or three times at 10 minute intervals before spooinging into a loaf pan. Depending on my scedule, I would then let it proof at room temperature for 6 to 8 hours or so, or leave it overnight in the fridge and then let it warm up for 4 hours or so. I bake it at about 430 for almost an hour. I don't have a good picture of the crumb but it is dense and chewy but with good flavor. The crust can be pretty hard. I am eating mostly wheat again but will look forward to your experiments here.
Check out the pictures in this link http://sourdough.com/recipes/scandinavian-rye-bread-authority
Is this the sort of crumb you are looking for?
I have made this bread successfully (the cracked rye can be omitted). Note that the bulk ferment is overnight, followed by around 5 hours of proving, with baking in the evening.
By comparison, your timings are very short, especially for a rye loaf which is never going to be very airy.
John
Thanks for the comments. Yeah I figured that the rising times were very short. I guess thats what I get for followig a recipe and not my instincts. I think the next time around I will substantially increase all my rising times. The picture in the link above looks good to me.
I'll post my next try this comeing week hopefully with some pictures
Thanks
J
Well It went better this time around. I used a 3 stage build for the starter with about 9 hours in between. I was planning on letting it rise for 6 hrs plus but it had risen about 40% in 2 ours so I went ahead and baked it. The curmb is nice and tender without being dense. I still want to work on the add-ins and their proportions. I used rye berries, rye flakes and sunflower seeds. Thanks for reading!
J