It's been a while since I baked some bread so it was good to get back to that. I've been with my Dad who was back in the hospital and then moved to a rehab center. In all this his appetite is way down and for a while I thought I'd missed my window. But happily he reports that now he's off the bad cancer drugs, his appetite is coming back. Yay!
So as soon as I got home, I wanted to try the pumpernickel again. My cuisinart did better with a single loaf and got it partially kneaded. But it bogged down again. Luckily at a much later stage. This time it may have been my fault for not adding enough flour prior to trying to knead. I seem to have misjudged when one can consider this dough to be riding the blade and cleaning the sides of the bowl. The recipe called for a 15 minute rest before kneading and after that the dough no longer seemed like it had enough flour. I also used less wheat bran but I'm not sure how much impact that had.
Anyhow I just finished it up by working in the remaining bread flour as I kneaded it by hand. Had a very nice rise. This time the texture was different. Can't decide if it was better. There was more gluten development and the bread was more open and less grainy. So I don't think I really need to try the recipe adding vital gluten. I just need to make sure and knead it fully and allow a full rise. It didn't have that problem with feeling like there was too much bran, but it also seemed much more like a generic pumpernickel rather than a black russian bread. Possibly that was because I reduced the onion powder (i found it a little overpowering before). Probably because I cut the wheat bran in half. I think it would still be worthwhile to try it using All Bran cereal, rather than the plain wheat bran.
On to round 3.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Diving In
How many of you thought I'd nail the perfect pumpernickel on the first try? Just me? No, not even me. But all things considered it was not bad. I predict 3rd time will be the charm. :)
I was worried that the recipe might be too big for my food processor and that proved to be true. When the kneading should have been starting, my cuisinart was grinding to a halt. It was still very sticky as you can see from the dough left in the work bowl when I pulled the dough. Had to knead it by hand! As you know, I haven't been doing any hand kneading. So the odds that I underkneaded it are very high.
Despite that, the loaves turned out pretty well. Got an ok rise, with a medium crust. The flavor is pretty good too.
I would prefer more chewiness which was mentioned in the recipe intro. Also I think it has too much bran. I felt like I had traces of residual bran in my mouth after I ate it.
Next time...
1- Halve the recipe to make one loaf at a time. My cuisinart should be able to handle that.
2- Reduce the amount of wheat bran.
Next next time...
1- possibly play with adding some gluten
2- maybe try All Bran instead of straight wheat bran
But I'm open to suggestions! If you have ideas about what to play around with, I'm all ears. But I'm no longer a pumpernickel virgin.
I was worried that the recipe might be too big for my food processor and that proved to be true. When the kneading should have been starting, my cuisinart was grinding to a halt. It was still very sticky as you can see from the dough left in the work bowl when I pulled the dough. Had to knead it by hand! As you know, I haven't been doing any hand kneading. So the odds that I underkneaded it are very high.
Despite that, the loaves turned out pretty well. Got an ok rise, with a medium crust. The flavor is pretty good too.
I would prefer more chewiness which was mentioned in the recipe intro. Also I think it has too much bran. I felt like I had traces of residual bran in my mouth after I ate it.
Next time...
1- Halve the recipe to make one loaf at a time. My cuisinart should be able to handle that.
2- Reduce the amount of wheat bran.
Next next time...
1- possibly play with adding some gluten
2- maybe try All Bran instead of straight wheat bran
But I'm open to suggestions! If you have ideas about what to play around with, I'm all ears. But I'm no longer a pumpernickel virgin.
Rye Flour Revealed
As I'm getting things organized for my black bread baking, I decided out of curiousity that I would check out my pumpernickel flour. I opened the bag up and thought, huh, that looks just like the stone ground rye flour that I have. So I went and got that bag to compare. Yup, they look and feel almost identical. In fact the pumpernickel seems a bit more finely ground than the stone ground rye. Hmmm.
So then I decided to open up the medium rye flour for comparison. Wow, what a difference. Much less grainy. About half way between a white flour texture and the other two. That explains why some the rye recipes I tried that were intended for medium rye didn't do too hot with the stone ground rye. Big difference.
Maybe I'm getting a little more understanding of the baker blogger who said there were no standards for rye flour and it varied by brand quite a bit. My pumpernickel and medium rye is from King Arthur and my stone ground rye is from Hodgson Mills. I'm sure there could still be real differences in how the pumpernickel and stone ground rye bake up (i don't think i can tell the difference between bread flour and all purpose by look and feel). For now though, I'm just going to hope I have discovered a way to effectively get pumpernickel flour without mail order!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Psyching up for Pumpernickel
That's right, I'm getting ready to try pumpernickel. Actually I'm getting ready to try making russian black bread. That's really my Dad's favorite. Not that he cares.
I was visiting him for Easter and thought I'd mention the bread project. I hoped to get some feedback about preferred flavors and textures of bread. I told him what I was doing with the project and he was totally unphased, uninterested, and inappropriately lacking a reaction. Kind of a deflating response really. But I guess my Dad's never been a big talker, and maybe actual bread will get the reaction. I really hope I haven't missed my window of opportunity on that too. He seems to have lost his appetite over the last month. Maybe this will tempt it back?
I did manage to confirm...
1- Yes, black bread is favorite
2- Prefer heavier breads
3- Don't like anything too sweet
4- Prefer more rustic texture to even
I had to persevere when he tried to change the subject to closed-end bond funds, but I got the info!
Now I've worked this first black bread attempt a bit too much in my mind. Been searching for alternative recipes but all online recommendations seem to lead back to two recipes, one of which is in my Bernard Clayton book. So that's the one I'm going with. All the shopping is done for the gajillion ingredients. The mail order pumpernickel flour arrived. Only one ingredient question remains - what does he mean by "whole bran cereal"? I've seen adaptations that use All Bran, and ones that seem to just drop the word "cereal" and use "wheat bran". Hmmm. Well I won't give up on this recipe if it's not the great success the first time around. I'll blame it on being a bran novice.
I was visiting him for Easter and thought I'd mention the bread project. I hoped to get some feedback about preferred flavors and textures of bread. I told him what I was doing with the project and he was totally unphased, uninterested, and inappropriately lacking a reaction. Kind of a deflating response really. But I guess my Dad's never been a big talker, and maybe actual bread will get the reaction. I really hope I haven't missed my window of opportunity on that too. He seems to have lost his appetite over the last month. Maybe this will tempt it back?
I did manage to confirm...
1- Yes, black bread is favorite
2- Prefer heavier breads
3- Don't like anything too sweet
4- Prefer more rustic texture to even
I had to persevere when he tried to change the subject to closed-end bond funds, but I got the info!
Now I've worked this first black bread attempt a bit too much in my mind. Been searching for alternative recipes but all online recommendations seem to lead back to two recipes, one of which is in my Bernard Clayton book. So that's the one I'm going with. All the shopping is done for the gajillion ingredients. The mail order pumpernickel flour arrived. Only one ingredient question remains - what does he mean by "whole bran cereal"? I've seen adaptations that use All Bran, and ones that seem to just drop the word "cereal" and use "wheat bran". Hmmm. Well I won't give up on this recipe if it's not the great success the first time around. I'll blame it on being a bran novice.
Just a little bit of rye
I've been a bit remiss in posting about my success with rye. Maybe that's because it was only a little bit of rye. I went for a recipe that specified stone ground or dark rye, and only a small percentage of the flour at that. It also used a sponge which I got to try for the first time.
For anyone not familiar with a sponge, it's really a quicker, single use starter. Or at least that's how I think of it. You put a small amount of flour and water together with your yeast and you let it ferment for several hours. It's supposed to look quite bubbly when it's ready to be used in your recipe and it comes together faster than building a true starter that you can continue to grow. It kind of reminded me of the technique for the no knead bread; as if the whole dough for the no knead bread is kind of treated like a sponge to develop the flavor and gluten.
The bread was called an "old fashioned rye" which may be a bit of a misnomer. It's from a whole grain bread book with lots of other rye breads. This one was really more like a very flavorful country boule. Texture entirely like a light french style bread with soft interior, with the rye really just adding extra flavor. Makes sense since it was mostly bread flour.
Of course I don't have pictures; again. This is extra pathetic because I even moved the digital camera down to a drawer in the kitchen to avoid this. At least the bread was good.
For anyone not familiar with a sponge, it's really a quicker, single use starter. Or at least that's how I think of it. You put a small amount of flour and water together with your yeast and you let it ferment for several hours. It's supposed to look quite bubbly when it's ready to be used in your recipe and it comes together faster than building a true starter that you can continue to grow. It kind of reminded me of the technique for the no knead bread; as if the whole dough for the no knead bread is kind of treated like a sponge to develop the flavor and gluten.
The bread was called an "old fashioned rye" which may be a bit of a misnomer. It's from a whole grain bread book with lots of other rye breads. This one was really more like a very flavorful country boule. Texture entirely like a light french style bread with soft interior, with the rye really just adding extra flavor. Makes sense since it was mostly bread flour.
Of course I don't have pictures; again. This is extra pathetic because I even moved the digital camera down to a drawer in the kitchen to avoid this. At least the bread was good.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Rye = FAIL, take 2
This was actually worse than the first rye failure. The first failed rye at least had a nice flavor. This time, not so much. I could describe the fail in detail, but too depressing. So I've been trying to determine what the big problem is. And I've got a theory.
As I've been looking at different recipes etc. I've learned that there are different types of rye flour. One good description can be found on The Fresh Loaf, a community site for serious home bread bakers. Sometimes recipes specify what kind of rye flour to use, but the recipes I was using didn't. I've been using stone ground rye. As someone explained in that post, it's the most commonly available in the US. However, it may not the be most commonly assumed in recipes. Once I started exploring a bit more, I realized that Bernard Clayton seems to mean medium rye when he says "rye flour". And only rarely does he specifically indicate stone ground rye. This seems to be very personal based on what brands of flour the recipe writer buys. Apparently there are no standards for rye flour. So medium rye or stone ground can vary a lot by brand.
So I'm going to try two things. First i'm going to try some recipes that specify stone ground rye. Second I'm going to buy some medium rye and some pumpernickel flour so I can start experimenting. Ok, I already have ordered them from King Arthur with my lovely gift certificate. Maybe I should just try a recipe for pumpernickel using pumpernickel flour. No screwing around with more vague rye recipes. When the pumpernickel flour arrives anyhow.
As I've been looking at different recipes etc. I've learned that there are different types of rye flour. One good description can be found on The Fresh Loaf, a community site for serious home bread bakers. Sometimes recipes specify what kind of rye flour to use, but the recipes I was using didn't. I've been using stone ground rye. As someone explained in that post, it's the most commonly available in the US. However, it may not the be most commonly assumed in recipes. Once I started exploring a bit more, I realized that Bernard Clayton seems to mean medium rye when he says "rye flour". And only rarely does he specifically indicate stone ground rye. This seems to be very personal based on what brands of flour the recipe writer buys. Apparently there are no standards for rye flour. So medium rye or stone ground can vary a lot by brand.
So I'm going to try two things. First i'm going to try some recipes that specify stone ground rye. Second I'm going to buy some medium rye and some pumpernickel flour so I can start experimenting. Ok, I already have ordered them from King Arthur with my lovely gift certificate. Maybe I should just try a recipe for pumpernickel using pumpernickel flour. No screwing around with more vague rye recipes. When the pumpernickel flour arrives anyhow.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Cheater Rye Success
Despite the advice doled out by friends on what to expect from a rye dough, I decided to see for myself. So I kind of cheated and used a rye mix from Hodgson Mills. It's intended for bread machines but can be used for oven baking. And all the proportions of flours are pre-measured for you. I suspected that might be one of my problems, since I'm not measuring by weight. And it's sized for one loaf, so that might also be a bit easier on my food processor motor.
I adapted the instructions to the typical method employed with my food processor recipes. I put all dry ingredients into the food processor, including the yeast. Cut the butter into the dry. Then poured in warm/hot water until the dough formed a ball that cleaned the sides, then 45 seconds of machine kneading. When the dough came out it was stickier than a white bread but still totally manageable as a ball of dough. Tada. Mission accomplished?
The bread turned out nicely. In fact I really like the flavor. Although it was marketed as having the flavor of deli rye, I have to disagree. It had neither the texture or flavor of deli rye, but it had a really nice multi-grain flavor with good rye notes and a teeny bit of sweetness. Definitely no rye sour flavor. It was not chewy really, so perhaps could have used more kneading, but I think the texture is fine for a heavier whole grain bread.
The ingredients were different than my first take at rye bread... unbleached white, a little malted barley flour, whole grain rye flour, whole grain wheat flour, sugar, vital wheat gluten, soy flour, caraway seeds, and salt. I guess that explains the flavor profile. I did also buy some vital wheat gluten since it seems to keep popping up in whole grain recipes.
Well now that I've had a successful rye dough experience, I'll try going back to recipes that will lead me soon towards pumpernickel. But I'd use this mix again - the marketer in me would just rename it.
I adapted the instructions to the typical method employed with my food processor recipes. I put all dry ingredients into the food processor, including the yeast. Cut the butter into the dry. Then poured in warm/hot water until the dough formed a ball that cleaned the sides, then 45 seconds of machine kneading. When the dough came out it was stickier than a white bread but still totally manageable as a ball of dough. Tada. Mission accomplished?
The bread turned out nicely. In fact I really like the flavor. Although it was marketed as having the flavor of deli rye, I have to disagree. It had neither the texture or flavor of deli rye, but it had a really nice multi-grain flavor with good rye notes and a teeny bit of sweetness. Definitely no rye sour flavor. It was not chewy really, so perhaps could have used more kneading, but I think the texture is fine for a heavier whole grain bread.
The ingredients were different than my first take at rye bread... unbleached white, a little malted barley flour, whole grain rye flour, whole grain wheat flour, sugar, vital wheat gluten, soy flour, caraway seeds, and salt. I guess that explains the flavor profile. I did also buy some vital wheat gluten since it seems to keep popping up in whole grain recipes.
Well now that I've had a successful rye dough experience, I'll try going back to recipes that will lead me soon towards pumpernickel. But I'd use this mix again - the marketer in me would just rename it.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Get moving
I've spent the last few days at the Brandywine Hospital. My Dad suddenly was going to the hospital on Sunday morning and I drove up to be with him. Luckily it wasn't life threatening. All that time sitting around waiting, doing nothing at the hospital gave me time to think.
I had better get this bread project moving towards pumpernickel pronto. By the time I come up with a really enjoyable loaf, I still want time to replicate many times for my Dad. And given the unpredicable nature of things, that means I should speed things up. Not that I'm going to skip lots of steps. Just lets get those steps going in rapid succession.
I had better get this bread project moving towards pumpernickel pronto. By the time I come up with a really enjoyable loaf, I still want time to replicate many times for my Dad. And given the unpredicable nature of things, that means I should speed things up. Not that I'm going to skip lots of steps. Just lets get those steps going in rapid succession.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Rye, take 1
As I said, it was time for rye. And my confidence was bolstered by recent successes. But the wisdom of my "work up to the pumpernickel" philosophy was brought home to me with my attempt at onion rye.
I got the recipe from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. I was drawn in by the description of it as an easy rye bread recipe. It did not turn out as I hoped. The flavor was a nice oniony taste. But it had an incredibly tough crust and it didn't produce a good rise. The slash marks I put on before putting it into the oven didn't budge at all and looked exactly the same when the loaf came out.
As to what went wrong...so many options, so little time. Might have kneaded too long or too little in the food processor. This recipe was written only for the food processor so I didn't think I'd run into that type of problem. Might not have let the dough rise long enough?
I don't think I'll try this one again right now. Chalk it up as a learning experience and move on. I'm pretty sure that it will be a learning experience once I have a more successful rye experience to compare it to. What does a good rye dough feel like?
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