What are You Baking the Week of March 12, 2017?

[BakerAunt]

I'll be traveling tomorrow, so I'm starting the thread for those of you who will start your weekly baking tomorrow.

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[aaronatthedoublef]

I made English muffins this morning (3/12). I changed the recipe and subbed in a half cup of KAF White Whole Wheat flour. It was a little heavier at the shaping but no one can tell when they eat it.

I'll work on pita this week and maybe a sweet or two.

[RiversideLen]

Today I made a rye bread. I made the starter yesterday. I wanted to give it some color so I used fresh brewed decaf coffee as the liquid and added a tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa. It just came out of the oven and looks good.

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[Joan Simpson]

Riverside Len that Rye bread looks awesome!I made another batch of cinnamon rolls again today.I'll post more later.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Len, that is amazing! I am about to begin making rye breads and I hope I can make mine look half as nice.

[RiversideLen]

Thank you Joan and Aaron. I don't make loaves too often as i usually opt for sandwich buns. One of the things I have to be careful about it letting the loaf overrise as that causes the crust to blow apart.

For many years I tried making a rye bread and the results were never satisfactory. Then maybe 8 - 10 years ago I ran across a recipe on a food site for a rye that uses a starter that you make at least one day before (up to 3 days). That turned out to be the key, I finally got a rye that had the proper taste and texture. To this day I bristle at rye recipes that don't use a starter, lol. Anyway, I tweaked the recipe a bit. For example, it called for using half the rye flour and water to make the starter. I figured the key to rye bread is the starter, the rye flour needs time to fully hydrate, so why only use half the rye for the starter? In my starter I use 100% of the rye and water. This bread has become one of my staples.

[Mike Nolan]

Peter Reinhart's Marbled Rye Bread in BBA is the one I make the most these days, though my own buttermilk rye bread is still the one I make specifically for Reubens. (Which may, or may not, have been invented in Omaha Nebraska)

When I remember it, I take some old rye bread out of the freezer, soak it in water for 5-10 minutes and use it as an altus. I think it produces a similar result to a sourdough, with a lot less effort (and my wife doesn't react to it.)

[aaronatthedoublef]

So I need to start with a good old rye bread to make a good, new rye bread. 🙂 I think I'll start with Jim Lahey's as it is the simplest. I'll see how it turns out and go from there.

I have BBA and I have a Marcy Goldman recipe and there are some interesting but involved ones on KAF as well. So there is no shortage of source material.

[Mike Nolan]

To be honest, I don't understand why an altus works, it's not like baked bread has any live cultures in it, but I can tell you from direct experience that it DOES have an impact on the flavor.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I'd never heard of an altus before. But when you mentioned it and I looked it up there are definitely people who swear by it. KAF has a two piece blog on making Jewish deli rye and the author also swears by an altus.

It's interesting who uses it and who doesn't. I can understand the attraction of Jim Lahey because he has a very simple approach to making artisan breads.

I think I will just make several different loaves and see what my friends prefer.

[aaronatthedoublef]

The other thing is, what rye flours... I have Arrowhead Mills, which is a pretty decent flour shop (I'd rather have KAF or Bob's because I am more experienced but Arrowhead will do). But I just have a light rye flour. After reading it might be good to use a couple of different ones.

No wonder it is so hard to find good rye bread. This stuff is complicated!

I do appreciate all the accumulated wisdom.

[Mike Nolan]

I used to buy a pumpernickel (coarse rye) flour from the Mennonite store in TN when I was down there on business, but now that I've retired and probably won't be going there again, I have no source.

A local 'gourmet' grocery store used to carry a medium rye flour, but it burned down and I'm not sure they're going to rebuild it. The owners have a second store with some of the items but I don't know if they have the medium rye flour.

I may have to buy a five pound bag of rye berries and make my own.

I have some rye chops (think cracked wheat), I've used them in rye bread. I think they're better if soaked for about half hour first.

Do you have charnushka seeds for the top?

[RiversideLen]

It's hard to find rye flour locally. I buy mine from King Arthur. I used to use a 50/50 mix of medium and pumpernickel but now I just use their pumpernickel.

[BakerAunt]

Bob's Red Mill gives free shipping for purchases over $50, and they have a variety of grains, flours, and dried beans. I like their dark rye flour in my Limpa bread.

[BakerAunt]

My younger stepson and my husband have birthdays only a couple of days apart this week, so they will share a birthday cake. Today, I baked the KAF Favorite Fudge Birthday Cake, which I've been baking for them for about five years now. I'll assemble it tonight.

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