036 - Sourdough #11

Rye and Wholemeal Bread

June 3, 2011

[250RY - 250WM - 175LE - 350WA] autolyse 25 minutes (2100-2130)

[11SA - 50WA] mix, bulk ferment for 2 hours folding every half hour, bench rest for 25 minutes (2130-2355)

Retard dough in refrigerator for 12 hours in loaf tin - shape, slash, spray, steam, bake. 

Used Dove's strong wholemeal flour (new for me) and Bacheldre rye flour. After mixing salt and additional water, texture was surprisingly similar to 035, though the dough held together and stretched slightly better. The texture of the dough did not change too much throughout the bulk fermentation, and it was left to retard for about 12 hours. 

There was a surprising amount of oven spring considering that the dough hadn't really expanded during fermentation and that it was a rye and wholemeal mix. This might be an indicator that my starter is really coming into its own now. Baked for about 1:15, which, at first taste, thought might have been a bit long for this particular dough. 

After cooling, it was much easier to get a good impression of the taste. Though pretty unremarkable otherwise, the crumb was soft and moist with smallish air bubbles scattered around, and the crust was very thick and crunchy as expected - I cut the inside of my mouth a few times after taking a greedy bite from this loaf. It made for a great simple sandwich with some hummus and canned mackerel (I figure I get a pass on eating canned goods because I'm still technically a student). Not a bad result, but I think I may try to duplicate Crunchy Bottom's aforementioned rye and raisin bread the next time I bake with rye.