The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book_ A Guide to Whole-Grain Breadmaking - Laurel Robertson [48]
Rye, like any whole-grain flour, will vary in the amount of liquid it absorbs. Watch the character of the dough rather than try to keep to an exact liquid measure. The important thing is to add the water gradually, carefully watching the dough’s consistency.
The larger the proportion of rye to wheat in a recipe, the more liquid it will take to get the dough to come together. A 100 percent rye dough requires most of the recipe’s liquid at the outset, asking only a little more water and a short kneading thereafter to make the dough smooth.
FERMENTATION OR RISING PERIOD
Rye has a knack for fermenting, and if you want to keep your doughs from getting away from you, make them cool—about 72° to 80°F. Should the dough overferment, the loaves are likely to rip open while they proof. To help control the fermentation, before you shape rye dough either let it rise twice at room temperature, or once in a warmer place, but not twice in a very warm place (90°F). Deflate the dough when your gentle, wet finger makes a ½ inch hole that does not fill in. Try not to let the dough go so long that it sighs deeply around the fingerpoke.
Because rye ferments so enthusiastically, we don’t really recommend making a “fast” dough with extra yeast. If you want to hurry your rye bread, give it just one rise in a very warm place.
The gluten in rye dough is fragile, and may tear when handled. To help overcome this problem while shaping the loaves, use a little water rather than a dusting of flour to keep the dough from sticking to hands and table.
Proof the dough long enough with a gentle heat (80° to 90°F) to let it warm through and, if it contains wheat, rise well. Even so, few part-rye breads will rise quite as high as their whole wheat cousins. Without letting them overproof, allow enough time before you put the loaves to bake so that the dough feels spongy. If they are neither overproofed nor underproofed, there is a good chance that they will spring in the oven—the cardinal sign that everything all along the way, from mixing through proofing, has gone as it should. The crumb of a rye that has sprung up well is truly superior, but even loaves that aren’t so high have the full rye flavor, and are just as delicious.
BAKING
For centuries, earthy, traditional rye breads have been baked in brick ovens with high initial heat and then a long bake at descending temperatures; much of the appeal of these classic breads develops in the oven, so proper baking makes a big difference with old-fashioned ryes. Whatever kind of rye bread you make, though, be sure to bake it thoroughly—underbaked rye leaves a wet-pinky-woolly taste on the back of your front teeth, quite unpleasant.
With high temperatures in the oven, the problem of flashing—the fluctuation of heat as the flame goes on and off with the oven thermostat—and of hot spots is intensified. The bake is much better in an oven that can hold a steady, even heat. (See our suggestions for using quarry tiles or oven stones to even out the heat, and the pages on steaming breads for good ways to bake lean ryes—, respectively.) A simpler and entirely adequate method for making a pretty, shiny dark crust is painting the loaf with the following cornstarch glaze.
Glaze
¼ cup cold water
½ teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon honey or molasses (optional)
Steaming encourages the highest rise and the best flavor, but any loaf will be plenty pretty if you give it a dark, shiny crust with this simple and effective glaze.
Mix the ingredients and cook together about 5 minutes until clear. Brush on the loaf about 1 minute before it comes out of the oven, being sure to cover all of the exposed surface. For a darker, shinier crust, brush the mixture on during the baking period as well—about halfway through or so, but not before that.
Making “Black” Breads
To darken the color of any bread, include a little carob flour, Postum