gavinc's blog

80 percent Sourdough Rye with a Rye-Flour Soaker

Baked 22nd August 2024.

This is first time baking this recipe. I do not usually bake rye breads, so I did as much reading on what to expect and handle the rye as possible leading up to this attempt. I stone-milled the rye berries the day before so they would be as fresh as possible and have an abundance of microbes. My firm whole-rye culture as fully active when preparing the sourdough stage overnight for 14 hours. The hot rye-flour soaker was prepared at the same time.

I found that the whole-rye was very thirsty and needed the hydration to be adjusted until a moderately loose texture was evident. The mixing, bulk fermentation and final proof went quickly, much faster than wheat. Careful attention to the dough temperature gave me some prediction of time for each stage. The boule was proofed in the banneton with the seam down, so that the seams would be on top for the bake. This allows the cracks to open. Baked free form on stone with steam.

The picture was taken when I removed the loaf from the oven. I need to let it cool and sit for 24 hours before I cut it. I will upload a crumb picture then.

EDIT: Tasting notes and crumb picture.

Being a 80% whole-rye I expected the loaf to be dense, but to my surprise the weight against volume was better than expected.

The crumb has an even texture and is moist without any sign of gumminess, visually appealing. The hot rye-flour soaker gave the bread a smooth mouthfeel and a subtle sweet note. The crust was chewy but thin.  The pleasant taste lingered.

I thinly sliced the loaf to about 8mm slices for open sandwiches. A great affinity for cheeses, cured fish and meat, or butter and jam.

I would definitely bake this again.

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I’ve been making our favourite sourdough weekly for years and have not varied the process at all (don’t fix something that’s not broken). Same flours, same temperatures, same hydration, same process and same kneading technique, which is hand stretch and folds for 15 minutes, quite an effort towards the end. Recently, I broke four ribs and punctured a lung and therefore haven’t baked in four weeks. With the help of painkillers, I got back into the kitchen today. While convalescing I read that I can achieve good dough strength by kneading for 5 minutes and then rest for 15 minutes. Repeat the cycle until you get a windowpane. This simple advice has proven very helpful as it has saved me a lot of effort. I’ll continue with this method from hereon and I wish I had known about it years ago.

Cheers,

Gavin.

EDIT Todays result:

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Semolina bread. Two 750-gram loaves. 60% durum flour and 68% hydration. 15% of the total flour is pre-fermented in a liquid levain. Hamelman does not include an autolyzed stage and it appears that it is not required for the durum flour. I’m very happy with the result. The crumb was more open than I was expecting and the crust slightly chewy.  Eating quality excellent and very different from my usual sourdough.

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I love to hear the crust "sing" when first out of the oven. Lovely crisp cracking sound.

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Debra Wink’s English Muffins with Biga.

I’ve tried several different English Muffin recipes and keep coming back to these, magnificent flavour and crumb.

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I made some English muffins for lunch today. I'm tweaking the recipe and process as I go. These are great without too many enrichments like you see on some sites. I had one for lunch with home-made green tomato pickle, ham, and Smokey cheese.

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English muffins baked today. I haven't made EM's before so I used 1/2 recipe from King Arthur site to make 8 muffins. I hand mixed with a Danish whisk. Very slack dough much different from my regular sourdough bread dough and baked in a caste iron skillet on the stovetop. Looking forward to bacon and egg muffin tomorrow morning. Cheers.

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Sourdough with 10% Lupin Flour – test bake 1.

Date baked: 23rd April 2023.

First, a thank you to Debra Wink and Derek Hughes for their valuable advice.

This is a sourdough with 10% lupin flour. Lupin flour does not have any gluten, so experimentation is advised starting at a low per cent. The flour has a yellow colour and has high nutritional value.

I mixed a 1500-gram dough by hand for good gluten development @ 70% hydration. Bulk fermentation took 2 ½ hours with two folds at 50-minute intervals. The dough was shaped into two 750-gram batards and proofed in bannetons for 2 hours @ 24 degrees C. The dough felt light to the touch and scored each longitudinally.

Baked for 43 minutes free-form on stone. 238C for first 15 minutes with steam; 215C for 28 minutes. The oven spring was good and produced a nice ear. The loaves were visually appealing with a golden crust. The weight against volume indicated a light loaf.

The crumb showed a good irregular pattern with a cell structure that was not gummy. While a little tighter than my normal sourdough, was still very acceptable. The crumb colour was a light yellow consistent with the amount of lupin flour.

The taste had a nice nutty flavour that was slightly sweet with a lingering finish and pleasant mouthfeel. My wife commented that it had a wonderful nutty flavour nicer than my normal wheat version.

I will bake this again and will certainly go into the baking rotation.

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Pullman Sandwich loaf with 16% lupin flour – 2nd test bake

Date Baked: 17th April 2023. 

Changes for this 2nd bake:

 1       Pre-cook 5% lupin flour.

 2.      Add 4% wheat gluten.

 3.      Increase hydration to 70%

 4.      Slight increase of IDY to 1.1%

Correct procedure when trouble shooting is to adjust one element at a time. Being confident, I went for broke and adjusted four elements of my formula. Early signs during mixing and bulk fermentation were positive. The dough felt light and soft and had surface bubbles when pre-shaping.

The final proof took 90 minutes at 25 C and rose to near the top of the Pullman pan.

Baked at 204 degrees C for 45 minutes.

The dough colour was pale yellow like custard. I used a 330-mm (13”) Pullman pan with the lid to bake.

The finished loaf had a good profile for sandwiches and filed the Pullman pan. The crust colour was a dark orange.

The crumb was much softer than the previous bake. The taste was mildly nutty. The WG did not show through. 

I would I bake this again.

Suggested improvements for next bake:

I think this was a successful bake and it doesn’t need improvement, although I will await the critiques from my fellow baking enthusiasts.

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Bread Evaluation Notes - Advice welcome.

Pullman Sandwich loaf with 16% lupin flour

Date Baked: 16th April 2023. 

Tangzong method adopted (5% bread flour)

Weight against Volume

I mixed 1000-gram dough @ 60% hydration. The dough was very tight, and I should have added extra water but didn’t. It became more pliable and softer during the bulk fermentation and shaping.

The dough colour was pale yellow like custard. I intended to place into a 330-mm (13”) Pullman pan. I shaped the dough into a blunt cylinder suitable to the Pullman pan. The dough only raised about 1/3 height of the pan. I extended the final proof from 90 minutes to 120 minutes, but I was worried it would over proof.

Taste

The baked loaf had a long lingering finish. With a smooth mouthfeel and a slightly nutty flavour. The crumb was a pale-yellow colour with a nice sandwich density, not heavy or gummy. The aroma was sweet.

My chief tester and critic are my wife who liked the taste and picked up the nutty flavour introduced by the lupin flour.  We tried it fresh, toasted and with an aged vintage cheddar.

I would I bake this again.

Suggested improvements for next bake:

Increase the hydration. Use a fresh sachet of IDY. Investigate appropriate dough to pan size for this formula.

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