021 - Rye Bread #1

Rye Bread

March 1, 2011

This was my first bread using rye flour for anything other than dusting - I used Bacheldre rye along with the usual wholemeal and strong white flours from Shipton Mill. 

[200g strong white, 200g rye, 100g wholemeal, 400g warm water, 5g yeast] MIX and Autolyse [10g salt, 50g warm water] Added and mixed thoroughly in bowl - did not knead this dough whatsoever. During bulk fermentation I folded the dough over in the bowl every thirty minutes for a total of five folds over 3 hours. With each thirty minute interval the dough developed more and more, becoming less sticky and holding shape better. By the end of the bulk fermentation, the dough quite easily separated from the bowl.

Shaped into a round and bench rested for 30 minutes - dough exhibited good tension and was not as sticky as expected of a 90% hydration dough, did not pancake flat during bench rest. Folded over several times and left in dutch oven for final rise for 4 hours. Sprayed water on top of dough, closed, lid, and put the entire dutch oven into a pre-heated oven for 1 hour and 45 minutes. 

Despite spending so much time in the oven, I think the crust was underdeveloped for my liking. It was crunchy and did not taste at all burnt, though the bread smelled slightly burned towards the end of baking, and the rye flour used for coating was thoroughly toasted as the pictures show. The crumb was very moist and possibly undercooked at least immediately after baking - it was very gummy and quite dense. However, the crumb was not at all rubbery, retaining quite a bit of air from the proving stage and maintaining a decent bubble structure. Surprisingly (based on the fermentation) the dough did not demonstrate any oven spring, and I'm tempted to say that the dough even shrank somewhat.  Next time around I'll try using a different mix of flour with more emphasis on the rye to bring out the flavor. I'm curious to see how the texture of a rye/strongwhite compares to Daniel's previous rye/wholewheat bread (guest bread, February 8, 2011).