Hello all! It’s been awhile since my last post but new things are in the works so stay tuned!
This post will be one of several in collaboration with talented wedding photographer and friend Eileen Marie Roche. You can(and should!) check out more of her work on her wedding photography site. Eileen took all the photos for this bread as well as several other breads that will be appearing here soon. So get ready, she has a knack for making me look good!
Now, picking up right where I left off, I present to you a rye bread. Usually I’m all about meticulously crafting breads with many add-ins and preferments to create interesting flavors and complexity but with this bread I stripped it down to it’s basics in the name of time and effort.
I wanted a great rye bread and knew that the Detmolder ryes from Jeffery Hamelman’s Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes(Probably my all-time favorite bread book) are particularly good. But I didn’t have the time to invest in doing the whole Detmolder process which involves progressively building the levain in 3 stages, each one held at very specific temperatures and times, in order to produce a balanced flavor profile.
I opted to turn the 3 stage levain process into one stage: simply create a rye starter, let it ferment until ripe and then throw it in some bread dough. This made the bread really simple and actually fairly quick. It also ended up being extremely delicious and I didn’t really miss the Detmolder method at all. Perhaps if I had done a side by side test between a true Detmolder rye and my rye I would have preferred the Detmolder but I don’t think I’ll be going back to it any time soon.
Formula – Lazy Detmolder Rye
This is my adapted version of Jeffery Hammelman’s Three-Stage 80 Percent Sourdough Rye. It is essentially the same formula but with only one sourdough build stage instead of three for those of us with time and effort constraints. I also employ a hand mix instead of using a mixer like Hammelman calls for.
Rye Sour
| Baker’s % | Ingredient | 1000g. Loaf |
|---|---|---|
| 100.00 | Med Rye Flour | 203.00 |
| 100.00 | Water | 203.00 |
| 10.00 | Liquid Starter | 20.00 |
| 110.00 | Total | 426.00 |
Final Dough
| Baker’s % | Ingredient | 1000g. Loaf |
|---|---|---|
| 68.00 | Med Rye Flour | 234.00 |
| 32.00 | Bread Flour | 110.00 |
| 68.00 | Water | 234.00 |
| 3.00 | Salt | 10.00 |
| 0.50 | Instant Yeast | 1.72 |
| 118.00 | Rye Sour | 407.00 |
| 289.50 | Total | 1000.00 |
Process(Hand Mix)
- Combine all ingredients in bowl with hands. Dough will be very sticky. Desired dough temperature: 80F.
- Bulk ferment for 10-20 minutes. The dough will already be plenty sour due to the high quantity of starter so there is no need to spend a long time fermenting.
- Shape the dough on a well floured surface into a boule. Place seam side down in a proofing basket.
- Proof for around 1 hour at 82F. The dough should be cracking a little on top when ready for baking.
- Bake in an oven set at 485F for 10 minutes with steam and then lower the temperature to 410F and bake an additional 1 hour.
- Let the finished bread rest for 24 hours before slicing to allow the crumb to fully set and enjoy!
Submitted to Yeast Spotting
