Rye and Raisins

Just a quick shot of some recent rye sourdough with golden raisins and sliced almonds. Very soft and delicate despite the rough-ground local rye flour. 

The Eagle Has Landed

The eagle has landed. My new pot of brick clay has finally ended its travels and landed in its permanent home in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. It arrived in perfect condition and is doing just fine, thank you. Here it is with a loaf of wheat/rye bread with flaxseeds and wheatberries. Its flatter, wider shape also makes it a great breadbox. Thank you so, Judy. 

And don't think I'll be ignoring the original glazed pot. It's become one of my best rising vessels, and keeper for all sorts of things, and I still hope to bake beans in it someday soon. For those of you who have been asking me about the availability of these beautiful vessels, a new batch will hit the market shortly. Keep your eyes open at http://www.motzkin.com/.

Bread Baker's Apprentice: New York Deli Style Rye

John Thorne, writing about one of Reinhart's earlier books, Brother Juniper's Bread Book, noted that Reinhart particularly shines when it comes to specialty breads. After my seriously mediocre experience with his Basic Sourdough, I'm inclined to agree. This Deli Style Rye more than made up for any sourdough disappointments. It was a rye sourdough starter, into which was stirred that staple of Ashkenazi cooking, fried onions. That sat on the counter getting wet and grey for a few hours, then went into the refrigerator for 24 more. At the end of all that, I mixed it in with some more rye flour, some bread flour, and some buttermilk, sugar, caraway, yeast and oil. The resulting dough was hard to knead, heavy and somewhat unpleasant, but it baked beautifully, both in and out of the pot, and tastes perfect. The crumb is a good sandwich size, fine without being dense., and the taste is just made for deli meats (the dairy in it could be a sticking point for some, but not me). This might even beat out my former favorite, Rose Levy Berenbaum's Jewish Rye, which is a little lighter and softer. The onions, while they added their indefinable essence, were undetectable in the finished loaf.

Weekend Bread

Here are some of the breads that I made at the bakery and at home this weekend.

Hamelman's formula for 'Vermont' sourdough.

Caraway seeded rye. This one, one of my favorite breads, was soundly ignored, at least until around 2pm on Sunday.

I'm still having trouble with my loaves bursting, which very rarely happens to me at home. I had thought it might be a problem with too little steam (no freezer at the bakery means no ice to throw in the oven), but for the Vermont sourdough my hypothesis is underproofing, because I slashed it very nicely indeed.

I also made a little bread to have at home--Leader's buttermilk bread, which he makes with currents but I like with dried apricots. Matt took some up to the neighbors, and came down about 20 minutes later with a napkinful of sourdough waffles.

Daily Bread: Starry Polish Cottage Rye

That's more like it. Above is Leader's Polish Cottage Rye, a nearly perfect bread made from a combination of a rye sourdough and wheat bread flour. This loaf was everything I could have hoped for and more: crackly crust, deep flavor, and soft, moist, irregular open crumb.

The dough is wet enough to require proofing in a bowl, basket, or banneton, which will make it more difficult to do at the bakery, but I think it's worth it. This loaf proofed in a napkin-lined colander, which left an unexpected starry pattern even through the cloth.

BBA Update: Kaiser Rolls and Marble Rye

I've been holding off posting some recent Bread Bakers Apprentice breads that I've made, because I got a little out of order, but I decided that out of order is better than just sitting on the photos forever--and losing some. I made Reinhart's Kaiser Roll recipe over a month ago, and was really happy with the light, loose, flaky crumb of the final rolls. I somehow failed to save any pictures, though, so you'll have to imagine those until next time.

I did manage to get a few shots of my attempt at Marbled Rye Bread. Here it is, posing with my new toy, a left-handed slicer. I bought the slicer at a tag sale in Park Slope a few weeks ago, eliciting cheers from the crew running the tag sale. The slicer, they said, had been their long shot, almost a joke...i.e...''we'll know we're brilliant salesmen if someone buys that."Although I own a perfectly good serrated knife, I was tempted by the slicer's elegant wooden handle and by the giveaway price, and I bought it.

The rye bread was wonderful, and I'm looking forward to making it again next time I get my hands on some rye flour.

Weekly Bread: Polish Cottage Rye

This week's sandwich and toast loaf--a dark dense whole wheat version of the Polish Cottage Rye from Local Breads, with a handful of wheat berries tossed in. It could have baked about 5 minutes longer, but it was late and we were tired. This recipe always makes an exceptionally pretty loaf.

Pumpernickel Raisin Bread

I took another stab at Daniel Leader's Pumpernickel Raisin Bread from Bread Alone. Last time I made this, we found the molasses flavor too overpowering, so this time I upped the rye flour component, used about an eighth of the recommended molasses, and also used a bunch of stale bread crumbs, which I've heard is something that's done with pumpernickel. It was good. I still think the cocoa and molasses could be minimized a bit more (there's also coffee in it) but this is very acceptable toast bread. And Matt really likes it.

What do you see in the Rye?

Don't the markings on this loaf of Polish Cottage Rye just remind you of something...
Eyes and a nose? The fairy king brandishing a carrot? A tornado? Thoughts?

As I mentioned last time I made this bread, the dough is fairly sticky, so I decided that this batch would be best made in my new-old mixer. In retrospect, that wasn't the best idea, as I don't have a dough hook and so the mixture climbed right up the beaters and into their sockets. Cleaning job aside, though, the mixer handled the stiff dough very well, and the resulting product was easier to knead by hand. Definitely considering investing in a dough hook if I can find one that will fit this old mixer.

Success is a Fickle Mistress

After reviving my starter from its sullen, vacation-ignored oblivion, I decided to stroke its ego by having another go at the Polish Cottage Rye from Local Breads. This was going very well--the liquid levain is back at peak--until I got around to the actual kneading.

Because rye flour contains far less gluten than wheat, the book offers many tips to strengthen rye taste without sacrificing all rising. The first step is the creation of a special rye sourdough, in my case a spin-off of liquid levain, where the starter is refreshed with whole rye flour exclusively. Then the entire batch that is created is added directly to the dough, an unusually high proportion of starter to flour in the final dough, at least by French levain standards. But this is Polish rye, so French standards are not under discussion.

I mixed up all the recommended ingredients (substituting a cup of whole wheat flour for one of white) and was about to turn the mess out to knead when I noticed that it looked suspiciously wet.

...we interrupt this post to report in awe that it has just gone dark in my office, at 10 am, except for the ominous glow of clear skies far to the west. Weather is so much more extreme out here on the harbor, and the rumble I just heard confirms my hunch that we are in for a mother of a thunderstorm...

Here's the thing: these days, common wisdom holds that bread dough should be wet, the wetter the better, that's what helps it rise high and be full of light irregular holes. This is good to understand, but in this case, it screwed me up. I refused to recognise an unworkable dough when I saw one, and wasted a lot of time scraping dough off my hands in huge clumps and cursing. I ultimately wound up under-kneading, adding more flour, over-proofing, and coming out with an ugly but very respectable loaf. In fact, a really good one (curse you, wet dough). It's done a lot of duty already as bruchetta base and sopper of tomato soup. Incidentally, Alice Waters' tomato soup? Excellent, don't bother to strain.

The rain has just started sheeting down. I want to curl up in an armchair and stare out over the harbor. It's incredible.

Polish Cottage Rye

Now that's more like it. In fact, let me immodestly say that this might be the most beautiful loaf of bread I have ever made.

It so far surpasses the Silesian Light Rye that there is no comparison. Sometimes it's just luck, but here I feel like it is the recipe and luck, and good ingredients. It did the sourdough refreshment and the first major rise in the refrigerator, which in this weather is probably very good for it, and everything just went off perfectly. Ramona got to watch my ridiculous bread-dandling ritual, and I got to pull that sexy little loaf out of the oven. Unlike parenting, I imagine, there is a point when you can really just tell that it's going to be a good one. I still want to try making this from a german rye sourdough, but I'm not bothering with that light rye again. Might, might, try the darker Silesian rye, but quite honestly, this one being another of the triumphs from the mostly spectacular Local Breads, I could just keep on making it.

And the best part? No yeast. Just sourdough. That makes me feel so magical (not that yeast isn't magical enough, but there's something about a sourdough).

Silesian Light Rye (Chleba)

No pictures. The camera is still in the shop. You'll have to rely on my brilliant powers of essay*. The oven, however, works just fine, and turned out a very nice batch of Silesian Light Rye from Local Breads on Saturday. This rye is very light indeed, more of a rye-tinged sandwich bread (it's also fluffy from a mid-process addition of yeast).

I'm starting to warm up to work on the Czech and Polish rye section of the book, but I haven't made a rye sourdough yet, so all my breads are a little less intensely rye than the book suggests they might be. For now, I'm just refreshing my stiff levain with rye according to the instructions in the individual recipes.

This batch was two short fat free-form loaves, kind of like spread batards, topped with caraway. I forgot to score it until they'd been in the oven a little while, so the score marks were more like slice marks, as the top crust had already formed. Still, it spread some. The loaves were golden, pleasant, and unremarkable. I have a batch of the Polish Cottage Rye in the refrigerator now, hopefully it will have a bit more character, although, as noted, it's partly my fault for refusing to get a rye sourdough going.

*I'm thinking of writing some book reviews. Would that interest anyone?

Two Yeast Breads

Many of you may have noticed that serious bread baking seems to take place largely on Wednesday and Thursday, the days I don't go in to work in Red Hook. Yesterday was no exception, I came home early in the morning and set up two (moderately) quick yeast breads, a version of Rose Levy Berenbaum's Jewish Rye Bread and a raisin Semolina Sandwich Bread from Local Breads. Both are soft, sweet, forgiving breads, good for breakfast and dinner and for eating by the fistful. They are a tribute to the pleasures of having a few hours around the house, basic methods, basic ingredients, big return.

Popovers, Pies, & Rye

One giant post to sum up Thursday. I baked all day, not without meltdowns, but the net yield was 12 popovers, 8 pies (2 berry/nectarine, 2 banana cream, 2 chocolate cream, 2 sweet potato), 2 mini sweet potato pies and a basin of sweet potato pudding, and a couple of loaves of Rose Levy Berenbaum's Jewish Rye.









Consumed by me: 8 popovers, one mini sweet potato pie, a few slices of bread, 4 cucumbers, fistfuls of pastry cream and chocolate pudding, and some spaghetti with garlic, oil, & parmesan. One of the pies was burnt to a crisp. Tip: never put a finished pie under broiler hoping for prettier color. The rest were packed up for The Team's benefit tonight. Rumor has it that one of the boxes is going home with Mandy. (Update: He first requested just a sliver. Within ten minutes, he had relented and requested the rest to take home, for seder. 'NO! It has CRUST!,' I burst out without thinking when this was relayed to me. Then I decided that he and his lovely wife can take care of themselves, and that if they want chocolate pie at their seder, who am I to stand in their way. I'm just the flattered baker.)
It was a stressful day, and most of the results weren't as pretty as I could have hoped, but I very much enjoyed all the planning and puttering. Special thanks to Jake, for being my partner in pie. I don't have pictures of his pies, but they were outstandingly beautiful, with perfect crusts, fluted and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar.

Sourdough Rye with Caraway Seeds

Sticky dough, perfect bread. Now I'm getting more aggressive in giving it away, so as to be able to continue baking almost daily. Rob moved in yesterday, and I sent poor unsuspecting Steve, who moved him, away with a steaming loaf of fresh rye. He seemed slightly bemused, and suggested he might use it as a missile to hurl at annoying other van drivers.

Rose Levy Berenbaum's Jewish Rye

A companion bread for Thursday, my second attempt at this recipe had a long fermentation in the refrigerator, which left it very cold and slow to rise, and ultimately contributed to a meatier, chewier loaf, with better crust. For the first attempt, see the banner. It's incredibly good in either incarnation.

Cooking today: Corn Chowder, Grapenuts Custard with Maple Syrup

Cookbooks picked up off the street today: Second Helpings (Union Square Cafe), The Legal Seafood Cookbook.