The Bread Baking Experience:

Rustic Rye – Attempt 1.

Ingredients: Rye Flour, White Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast

Basic instructions: mix dough for 2 minutes using the kitchen aid mixer, cover for 45 minutes, shape dough in two rounds, cover for 45 minutes, shape dough into oblong baguettes, pre-heat oven, place a water dish in the oven for steam, place dough in the oven for 20 minutes, remove water, rotate bread, bake 20 more minutes, remove, let cool.

Turn out : Looked good, tasted good, texture was thick and not airy.

The first rise seemed to go pretty well. The shaping went well thanks to the instructions in Kastel’s book. The problem arose next after the second rise. Time got away from me. I checked on it at about 1 hour and it hadn’t doubled in size. I didn’t think it seemed puffed up enough. Then, the new refrigerator was delivered, then I was late to roller derby and then I came home and went to bed. I considered getting up early to bake it but between the pre-heat, the covered cooking and the uncovered cooking – not to mention the cooling… it was just not going to happen, it would have been a 2+ hour process. So, it is sitting at home. I put it back in the bowl. I think it is possible that this extended fermenting time could turn out some great bread (I am hopeful). It could also fail. This morning the bread had shown some “crust” forming on the outside, probably it was drying out. I placed it back in the bowl (it was between two cloths). Hopefully the bowl will better hold the moisture. When I get home I am going to check it, possibly sprinkle it with water and then preheat the oven/Dutch oven and see how it goes! I am also going to try another attempt with the Rustic Rye bread using the techniques / tips I learned after researching how to avoid dense bread.

What went wrong? It seems that the yeast didn’t produce the air bubbles I was hoping for… I researched this for one here: http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f153/dense-homemade-bread-help-41745.html

From this I decided to try my second batch with these adjustments:

1. Make sure the bread is rising in a warm area, on top of the stove, while on.

2. Leave the bread in the mixer longer, closer to a full 5 minutes

3. Knead the dough by hand an additional two minutes

On a side note, the baker who started this discussion never updated on her dilemma. Her last post was from 2008. I guess we’ll never know what worked for her.

From this page: http://www.foodreference.com/html/bread-rising-729.html

I learned that…

1. Salt kills yeast (However, a little further research brought me this : “Chef Jennifer Field [says] - It’s a matter of balance. Salt does retard yeast growth, and in concentrations that are too high, it can indeed kill the yeast. In judicious amounts, salt is what brings out the flavor in the bread and controls yeast growth so that the resulting crumb is nice and even.”

a. G., R. "Does Salt Kill Yeas | Reluctant Gourmet." Reluctant Gourmet Cooking Guide for Cooking at Home. Web. 20 Sept. 2011. .

Water quality matters -- but it didn’t say how exactly. On the same webpage, Reluctant Gourmet, it explains that, “For bread making, harder water works better than soft water because harder water will yield more stable dough.” So this begs the question – “how do I know if my water is hard?” According to this map:

My water in Indiana is “Extremely Hard” so, it is doubtful that I am having a problem due to water softness.