Rye Bread Artisan Style

Hello loyal follower(s),

      I would like to talk about the kitchen wars here at our peaceful domicile.  Yesterday I started a loaf of Rye Bread  Artisan Style which meant that I would need the use of the oven this morning.  Also, as we soaked in the Hot  Tub last night around midnight my lovely wife (Cyndy) and I decided we would work together to make Pepper  and Tomato soup TOGETHER.  When it was close to the time to bake the Rye bread, Cyndy said she needed to roast the red peppers, and “ it will take only a FEW minutes”. About twenty minutes later I was able to heat the oven for the bread. End of battle number one.  I admit that Cyndy did the hard stuff with the soup recipe; blanching and peeling the tomatoes and preparing the peppers as mentioned above.  But she said, “the rest is up to you”, and she left me with a recipe written by a woman for women in a font too small for me  to read without the aid of (“cheaters”) reading glasses.  End of battle number two.  I survived with the knowledge gained from Cyndy.

        About ten years ago, while we were entertaining a family from Grenoble France where the father was a architect, we examined several houses under construction.  One house had two kitchens, one for the man of the house and another for the ruler of the house.  At the time it seems a bit much, but now, it seems like a good idea.

     Back to the Rye bread and the battle over the oven.

I had only enough Rye flour for one loaf, but that was all I needed for the recipe for next week.

It is called Reuben Casserole and it came from a dear friend Ruth Sarrica.

The dough was just right, very workable.

You will notice that I reuse the parchment paper.

The dough was removed from the 18 hour fermentation bowl and just inverted onto the parchment  paper. No deflating of  the dough.

After thirty minutes of baking in the Dutch oven, the loaf was placed upon the aluminum foil to bake about another 30 minutes.

The texture of the crumb was good, nice and heavy which was what I expected.

Now for  the Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup; abandoned and left to fend for myself with a recipe written in a very small font, I struggled on.

Yes, Cyndy did what I considered the hard part with the blanching and peeling of the tomatoes and the roasting and peeling of the peppers.

Having been thrown into this activity without the benefit of reading the almost unreadable recipe, I got out a ten inch skillet to sauté the onions and garlic. Then I put on my "cheaters" and sort of read the recipe.  A ten inch skillet was not appropriate, so I got out the high sided twelve inch skillet.

The peppers and tomatoes were run through the food processor and then dumped in with the onions etc.

Here I became a little more confident as to what was  suppose to happen.   The cooked mess was to be separated into liquid and solids.  I was in the process of doing the separating.  I knew I could not just pour the mixture into the strainer without getting most of it on the floor, so as you can see, I scooped it into the strainer.

The finished products:  Cyndy thought the soup was too "hot" , I thought it was great. 

The Rye bread was very good with a proper amount of chewiness. 

Recipes follows:   I will add the soup recipe tomorrow as a separate blog, after I translate it so anyone can follow it.

À bientôt,

Mr Nut

Rye (33%) Bread; Artesian Style

October 13, 2012

European style: (Crisp-crust; large air spaces

Inspired by Jim Lahey’s book; My Bread 

Using a Cuisinart stand mixer, with speeds from 1 to 12

Yield two seven inch round loaves

     This recipe provides the ultimate freedom of choice with timing and techniques. It is possible to start this bread anytime of the day and modify the fermentation time to meet your schedule.

   Rye flour doesn’t contain the proteins needed for making gluten. Vital Wheat Gluten was added to help compensate for the lack of gluten producing proteins.

    The following (optional) natural healthful ingredients are added to improve bread volume or taste.

           Salt: Sea Salt, which contains additional minerals for better gluten development.

           Dough Enhancer: See April 5, 2011 blog for ingredients and an explanation of    

           their function. 

     Long fermentation at room temperature eliminates kneading and allows for the yeast to work its magic.

Ingredients:

 5 1/2 cups (28 oz; 770 g) bread flour. 

2 cups ( 289  g) Rye flour                              

1 teaspoon instant dry yeast.

1 cup ( 5 oz 140g) Vital Wheat Gluten.                       

1/4 cup Dough Enhancer.  

1 teaspoon of each;  fennel, caraway seeds and dill seeds; OR 1 tablespoon caraway seeds.                                               

About 2 1/2 cups  water.

1. Dry Mix:

In the mixer bowl using the Chef Whisk on speed 1, mix the Blue ingredients, minimize the mixing time. 

2. Switch to the Paddle Blade at speed 2, and slowly add the water. Add only the amount of water needed (about 2 1/2 cups) to yield a workable dough

3.  Divide the dough into two loaves and allow the loaves to rest for about five to ten minutes, then move the dough to two  oiled bowls. ( so the stand mixer bowl can be cleaned). Spray the top of the dough with oil, and cover the bowls. 

4.  First fermentation;  Set the dough out at room temperature 72-75℉ (use a heating pad if room is cool) for 12 to 18 hours. If convenient, vigorously stir the dough about halfway through the rise. 

5.  Second Fermentation: Move the loaves onto on 15-inch squares of baking parchment paper dusted with flour.  Dust the loaves with flour.  Cover each loaf with a large pan and let them ferment for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

6.   Prepare Oven: 20 minutes before baking time, put a rack in the middle of the oven with the Dutch ovens; preheat to 450°F. If you have a baking stone place it near the bottom of the oven it will act as a heat sink. 

7.  Final Dough preparation: Sprinkle or spray the dough top generously with water.  Using the parchment paper as a sling, carefully lift the dough into the pots; take care not to touch the hot pot. Immediately top the pots with their  lids.

8.  Baking: Reduce the heat to 425°F. Bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid. Using the parchment paper, lift the loaves from the pots and remove the parchment paper from the loaves. and place the loaves on a piece of aluminum foil on the oven rack in the middle position.  (If the top is well browned, cover it with foil.) Bake for about 35 minutes longer until the center registers 203° to 205°F on an instant-read thermometer). Then bake for 5 minutes longer to ensure the center is baked through. Note: the appearance of the loaf is more important in determining the doneness of the loaf than the internal temperature (from Cook's illustrated magazine, May-June 2011 page 31).  Cool  thoroughly on a wire rack.