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Report on Rye Bites (Ginsberg pps 225-226):
This recipe makes 24 small rolls, about 1 1/4 ounces each after baking (36 grams). They're about 1.75 inches in diameter with a height of about 2/3 of an inch. They would probably make good slider buns if you make your sliders fairly small.
The dough was a little damp, so I wound up adding just a little more rye flour to get it to clean the bowl. They were easy to shape, and rose reasonably well. The bottoms may have gotten a little overbaked, even though I had them on the top rack in the oven, as recommended. Next time I might double sheet pan them.
This is probably the fastest recipe in the Ginsberg book, from start to finish was about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The absence of a bulk rise didn't seem to affect the final product, which was fairly light, though with a tight crumb. I've shown them sliced both horizontally and vertically.
They're a very mild rye roll, maybe almost too mild. A touch of ground caraway might give them a little more zing. I think they'd be good with a little cheese spread on them or with some corned beef; my wife thinks they'd be good with some apple butter. In other words, they're not going to be the star of the dish, but they'll complement a lot of things, making them versatile.
Report on Old School Deli Rye (Ginsberg pps 80-82):
The recipe appears to have some timing issues, it says to make the stage 1 sponge in the morning of the first day, then make the stage 2 sponge 12 hours later, in the afternoon, and bake about 6 hours later on day 2. I think stage 1 should be in the evening of day 1, stage 2 in the morning of day 2 and the final dough and baking in the afternoon of day 2.
It makes two loaves that I shaped as more of a batard than the football shape recommended in the text, they were 10 x 5 x 2 1/2 inches and weighed around 660 grams each (23 1/4 ounces). (My shaping method produces more slices that are similar in size, which I think is better for sandwiches.)
The dough seemed a bit softer than I expected at final shaping, though it rose reasonably well a stretch-and-fold might have tightened the dough and improved the height a little.
I think they could have been baked a little longer, the slice shows some dark areas that are areas of moisture that a little more time in the oven might have eliminated.
This recipe uses a cornstarch wash put on right after baking. I've never been a fan of cornstarch as a wash for bread, but it does not appear to have a major impact on this recipe.
The recipe uses both caraway seed and ground caraway, and they add a slight bitterness to the bread, but we like caraway in rye breads.
So far this is the best tasting loaf I've made out of the Ginsberg book, it lives up to the promise of being a New York deli-style rye. It toasts very well. I could see this bread making good Reubens, and it is likely to become part of the repertoire here.
Report on Salty Rye Rolls (Ginsberg pps 141-143):
If you're looking for a fast recipe for great tasting rye rolls, this is it, under 3 hours from start to finish. It made a dozen rolls weighing about 72 grams each after baking. (They were around 80 grams each after scaling and shaping but before the caraway and salt was added.) Because of the cut on the top, they split easily into two halves. I've shown both an interior and a bottom along with a picture of an uncut roll.
Dipping the bottoms in rolled oats was a trick I haven't seen before, it keeps the bottoms from getting over-baked and adds a little oat flavor and crunch to the roll.
Mine came out a bit lighter in color than the ones in the book, that might have been due to my baking time or to the color of my rye flour. The baking time (24 minutes) might have contributed to why mine weren't overdone on the bottom.
I think they might be even better with a little caraway in the dough instead of just on top, where they don't always stay stuck on, and you need to be careful putting the salt on. The dough is only lightly salted and if the salt is uneven on the top you can get one bite that has very little salt in it and then one that's much saltier.
This is a recipe I'll definitely make again. My wife said their biggest problem was that she wanted a second one right away. (I've had 4 already.) They reminded me of some rye pretzels I've made, I think the dough might work for pretzels as well as for rolls.
Report on Buttery Crispbread (Ginsberg pps 193-195):
These are 100% rye crackers, and fairly easy to make, though the recipe makes a lot of them, so I only did a half-recipe, which was one 12x18 sheet of dough. The coarse rye meal that I have might almost be a little too coarse for these, pieces of the meal get stuck in my teeth, as do some of the sesame seeds and caraway that I used.
I wound up with 24 crackers about 1/2 inch thick.
They're pretty good, and versatile. I've had several plain, one with some butter, one with peanut butter and one with pimento cheese on it, and all of the toppings worked well.
Because the rye meal is so coarse, it's hard to tell how the dough is developing. I was a little worried it was under-developed, it seemed pretty gummy for a while, but after it bulk proofed it rolled out easily, so it must have been sufficiently developed by then. (There's not a lot of gluten in rye flour.)
I used a carpenter's straightedge to trim the edges straight, you take the excess dough and roll it back in. I also used the straightedge to cut the dough into rectangles before baking them. This is a handy tool that we used a lot in chocolate school, so I picked up a 12" and a 24" one for home. They're reinforced so they're not likely to bend or warp. I've used them to cut anything that needs to have nice clean lines, including cinnamon roll dough. (These days I cut the dough into strips before rolling it up, a trick I learned a few months back.) Next time I make laminated dough, I'll use it to cut them into strips for schnecken and triangles for croissants.
Next time I make this recipe (or other crackers), I might use a little aluminum foil to tent the edges, they were threatening to get overdone before the center was fully done. After I broke them into squares, I put them back in the cooling oven to dry out a bit more overnight. Today they're pretty dry, and the recipe says they should keep well--if they last that long.
I was looking forward to this report, Mike. I had my eye on that recipe, but by the time I could try it, the butter content concerned me. I have a barley-rye crispbread that I like which uses a lot less butter. It comes from that Swedish baking book I've mentioned. However, I had to do so much guessing with the recipe, that I think the recipe as I use and bake it could be considered my own. I use sesame seed and sunflower seed on top of them. Mine are much thinner.
I admire your use of the straight edge. That's a nifty way to get the clean lines.
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