Rye Bread

I started this bread last night in the midst of the Friday Night Baking Event. This is too easy not to make. Just mix the ingredients and let it rise for 18 hours. The recipe is from the Jim Lahey book, My Bread. The week we will be having Corned Beef and Cabbage so this bread seemed to be the perfect match.

Like I said it is simple -
Mix together in a large bowl -
300 grams Bread Flour
100 grams Rye Flour
8 grams Table Salt
2 grams Dry Yeast

Next, add -
300 grams cool Water (55˚ to 60˚)

Stir using a wooden spoon until you have a wet sticky dough, about 30 seconds.
Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature for 12 to 18 hours. The dough should double in size and the surface will be dotted with bubbles.

Generously dust a work surface (a wooden or plastic cutting board is fine) with flour. Use a bowl scraper or rubber spatula to scrape the dough onto the board in one piece. Use lightly floured hands or a bowl scraper or spatula to lift the edges of the dough in toward the center. Nudge and tuck in the edges of the dough to make it round.

This is where I differ from the "recipe". I shape the dough into a boule and place it in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for 1 to 2 hours. The dough is ready when it is almost doubled. If you gently poke it with your finger, making an indentation about 1/4 inch deep, it should hold the impression. If it doesn't, let it rise for another 15 minutes.

Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 475 degrees F, with a rack in the lower third position, and place a covered 4 1/2–5 1/2 quart heavy pot in the center of the rack.

Using pot holders, carefully remove the preheated pot from the oven and uncover it. Very carefully place the dough seam side up into the pot. (Use caution—the pot will be very hot.) Cover the pot and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the lid and continue baking until the bread is a deep chestnut color but not burnt, 15 to 30 minutes more. Use a heatproof spatula or pot holders to carefully lift the bread out of the pot and place it on a rack to cool thoroughly. Don't slice or tear into it until it has cooled, which usually takes at least an hour.

Rye Bread

First Bread of the Fall. Sandwich Rye Bread. Recipe from King Arthur Flour. Dill pickle juice! I was hesitant but what the heck. The result was a very tasty bread. The dough was easy to handle and when baked the crumb was perfect.

This is my version of the King Arthur recipe -

Ingredients-
2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast or active dry yeast
2/3 cup to 7/8 cup lukewarm water*
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup dill pickle juice
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons caraway seeds
1 tablespoon prepared Dijon mustard
3/4 cup instant mashed potato flakes
2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour
1 1/3 cups Rye Flour

Method-
Combine all of the dough ingredients, and mix until clumps form; the dough may seem dry at this point. Let it rest for 20 minutes, for the flour to start to absorb the liquid.

Knead the dough—by mixer to make a stiff, but fairly smooth dough. It'll take about 7 minutes in a stand mixer at second speed, using the dough hook. The dough should clean the sides of the bowl; if it doesn't sprinkle in a bit more all-purpose flour. It is not recommended to knead this dough by hand, as it's hard to develop the gluten sufficiently.

Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover the bowl, and let the dough rise till it's puffy, about 1 to 2 hours. It may or may not have doubled in bulk, but it definitely will have expanded.

Gently deflate the dough, and shape it into a log. Place the log in a lightly greased 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan (for a stiffer dough), or 9" x 5" loaf pan (for a slacker dough). Press it to the edges of the pan, and flatten the top.

Tent the pan with greased plastic wrap, and allow the loaf to rise till it's crowned about 1" to 1 1/2" over the edge of the pan, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Bake the bread for 20 minutes. Tent it lightly with foil, and bake for an additional 20 minutes. When done the bread will be golden brown, and its internal temperature will register 190°F on an instant-read thermometer.

Remove the bread from the oven, wait 5 minutes, remove it from the pan, and allow it to cool completely on a rack before slicing. Store for up to a week at cool room temperature.

A little bit of baking...

In all fairness I must state that I started these breads on Friday and Saturday. But this is what I had to work with at this morning -

 And this is what I ended up with -

 Let me introduce you to the line up -

 

The Rye Bread is from the Jim Lahey book, My Bread: The Revolutionary No Knead Bread Method.

The Pain a l"Ancienne is from Food 52.

The Hot Cross Bun is a recipe I got from my sister who got it from.... my Mom! This dough is wonderful to work with it and just smells so good. And the finished product... well my sister and I make them every year so that has to say something.

And this is my entry for BYOB Bake Your Own Bread!

 

 Okay where's the butter?

 

Oh yes and I almost forgot about dinner. Last night I made extra Aborio rice to go with our dinner. I am making a casserole that you will see later this week. After preparing the casserole this morning (I do most my by cooking on Sundays for the upcoming week) I still had a bit of rice. So I made Rice Balls. I remember Julie, I work with her, saying she baked her rice balls instead of frying them. I gave it a try. I had some of the amazing sauce from the Osso Bucco that I did not want to waste so I combined it with the Rice Balls and dinner was served, along with a big salad.