Bread.001 - Rye w/ Caraway
I wanted to make a quick loaf yesterday, so I whipped up a recipe based on the Saturday White Bread Recipe from Ken Forkish (Flour Water Salt Yeast). I love rye bread with caraway seeds, so I put that spin on it. I also halved the recipe, since I don't eat a ton of bread.
Ingredients:
As you can see, this is a pretty simple recipe. The water should be fairly hot, but I didn't measure the temperature. I usually just use hot tap-water that's hot to the touch, but not scalding. The thermal mass of the bowl and flour usually reach equilibrium at about the right place, leaving the dough in the mid-70s.
My procedure:
Mix flour and water by hand in a large bowl, until everything is just incorporated.
Let the dough sit for 5 minutes, then fold-- usually about 4-6 folds/rotations will do (it will get stiff).
Give it another minute or 5, then sprinkle your salt, yeast, and caraway seeds onto the top.
Fold in these ingredients, then use the pincer technique to distribute throughout the dough.
Cover the bowl, and let the dough rise!
The recipe recommends two folds within the first hour-and-a-half of the rise-- I did mine around 20 minutes in, and 1 hour in. This helps develop gluten, which will in turn trap the CO2 within the bread as it rises, and will ultimately improve the crumb of your bread. The temperature should also be remarked upon-- you can alter the course of your dough's life by controlling the temperature at which your bulk ferment takes place. As in beer, temperature in bread fermentation is a factor. I wanted my bread to be done in a reasonable period of time, so was expecting to bake in 5-6 hours. I actually put my dough in my house's furnace room (it's probably 76 degrees in there), since the ambient temp in my kitchen was closer to 68-- his helped to catalyze things a bit. I had plans that evening, so after doing my last folds, and letting the rise/bulk ferment occur (probably about 3 hours), I put the dough in the fridge to retard the ferment until I got back home to shape and bake. Once you understand the relationship between temperature, time, and rise volume, you can sort of give and take to compensate as necessary, to fit your schedule-- which is very handy!
Upon returning home (about 3.5 hours later), I removed the dough from the fridge, and shaped the loaf. I put it in a floured banneton for a quick theoretical proof for the duration of time it took for my Dutch oven to preheat within in the oven (maybe 30min). I baked the loaf seam-side up, and gave it a few scores for good measure (I still don't have a lame, so I just used the sharpest knife I had). The boule was baked inside the Dutch oven at 475 for about 35 minutes, and an additional 10-15 minutes with the lid off.
I was pretty ok with the quality of the crust, and the amount of oven spring achieved.
I will try to hone my blogging technique as I continue to do this-- in hindsight, I would've taken an additional of the photo of the crumb in the same lighting, etc. Alas, I did not have this foresight-- I was too keen to cut into the bread to enjoy and share!
Ingredients:
- 400g all-purpose unbleached flour
- 100g rye flour
- 360g water
- 11g salt
- 2g active dry yeast (while I like the idea of sourdough better, sometimes short and simple is nice)
- 1tbsp caraway seeds
As you can see, this is a pretty simple recipe. The water should be fairly hot, but I didn't measure the temperature. I usually just use hot tap-water that's hot to the touch, but not scalding. The thermal mass of the bowl and flour usually reach equilibrium at about the right place, leaving the dough in the mid-70s.
My procedure:
Mix flour and water by hand in a large bowl, until everything is just incorporated.
Let the dough sit for 5 minutes, then fold-- usually about 4-6 folds/rotations will do (it will get stiff).
Give it another minute or 5, then sprinkle your salt, yeast, and caraway seeds onto the top.
Fold in these ingredients, then use the pincer technique to distribute throughout the dough.
Cover the bowl, and let the dough rise!
The recipe recommends two folds within the first hour-and-a-half of the rise-- I did mine around 20 minutes in, and 1 hour in. This helps develop gluten, which will in turn trap the CO2 within the bread as it rises, and will ultimately improve the crumb of your bread. The temperature should also be remarked upon-- you can alter the course of your dough's life by controlling the temperature at which your bulk ferment takes place. As in beer, temperature in bread fermentation is a factor. I wanted my bread to be done in a reasonable period of time, so was expecting to bake in 5-6 hours. I actually put my dough in my house's furnace room (it's probably 76 degrees in there), since the ambient temp in my kitchen was closer to 68-- his helped to catalyze things a bit. I had plans that evening, so after doing my last folds, and letting the rise/bulk ferment occur (probably about 3 hours), I put the dough in the fridge to retard the ferment until I got back home to shape and bake. Once you understand the relationship between temperature, time, and rise volume, you can sort of give and take to compensate as necessary, to fit your schedule-- which is very handy!
Upon returning home (about 3.5 hours later), I removed the dough from the fridge, and shaped the loaf. I put it in a floured banneton for a quick theoretical proof for the duration of time it took for my Dutch oven to preheat within in the oven (maybe 30min). I baked the loaf seam-side up, and gave it a few scores for good measure (I still don't have a lame, so I just used the sharpest knife I had). The boule was baked inside the Dutch oven at 475 for about 35 minutes, and an additional 10-15 minutes with the lid off.
I was pretty ok with the quality of the crust, and the amount of oven spring achieved.
I will try to hone my blogging technique as I continue to do this-- in hindsight, I would've taken an additional of the photo of the crumb in the same lighting, etc. Alas, I did not have this foresight-- I was too keen to cut into the bread to enjoy and share!
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