Rye or Pumpernickle recipe

[medic]

Anyone have a good from scratch recipe for rye bread? I've been experimenting with proportions of rye and white flour but it just doesn't want to rise nicely and could probably be used as a replacement brick in my wall.

[mom]

makes two loaves

1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 tsp sugar (first amount)
1 pkg granular yeast
3/4 cup water
1 cup milk
2 tbsp. honey
1 tbsp margarine
2 tsp sugar (second amount)
1 tbsp. salt
1 tbsp caraway seeds
2 1/2 cup unsifted dark rye flour
2 1/2 cup all-purpose flur (plus some extra for the board)
2 tbsp. corn meal
1 egg white
1 tbsp sugar (third amount)

Measure the 1/2 cup lukewarm water into a large mixing bowl andadd 1 tsp. sugar and the yeast. Let stand for ten minutes.

Put the 3/4 cup water, milk, honey, margarine, 2 tsp sugar, salt and caraway seeds into a pot, and heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved and liquids are lukewarm. Add lukewarm liquids to risen yeast liquid. Combine flours and add 2 cups to the liquids and beat hard until smooth. Add remaining flours and work in as well as you can. Turn out on floured board and knead 200 times. Return to scraped down bowl, cover and let rise at room temperature until doubled. Then punch down risen dough and knead 200 times on floured board. Shape into ball, cut in half, shape each half into a longish roll about 3" in diameter at center with tapered ends.

Sprinkle corn meal on a large cookie sheet and place loaves on it 4" apart. Brush tops with mixture of egg white and 2 tbsp sugar. Let rise in warm place until nearly touching and tripled in size, about 2 hours. Bake at 400 ° for 15 minutes then redeuce heat to 325° for half an hour longer or until loaves sound hollow then tapped. Cool on racks.

[medic]

Thanks, I'll have to give that a try.

[Shamrock1121]

Anyone have a good from scratch recipe for rye bread? *I've been experimenting with proportions of rye and white flour but it just doesn't want to rise nicely and could probably be used as a replacement brick in my wall.

Here are some rye bread tips:

1. *You may be adding too much flour during kneading, which is a common mistake with rye bread. *The dough will remain sticky - a chief characteristic of dough containing rye flour. *

You can combat the tendency to add more flour during kneading (which often results in a short loaf) by sticking the dough in a large freezer-style (more thickness and strength) zip-lock bag. *Press out the air, and knead the dough from the outside of the bag. *When kneading is completed, just turn the bag inside out to get the dough out of it. *It's nearly impossible to clean these bags, so consider it trash.

2. *You may need to add some vital wheat gluten to off-set the low-gluten flour (rye). *About 4 t. vital wheat gluten per cup of rye. *You don't say what ratio of wheat flour to rye flour you are using.

3. *Mix the high-gluten flour into the liquid mixture FIRST because the hydration and mixing will begin developing the gluten strands that give the bread loft. *You will also benefit from using a quality bread flour instead of all-purpose. *Since there is little gluten to develop in rye flour, add it late.

4. *You need to use caution during rising. *Only allow the dough to rise to just under double because of the addition of low-gluten rye flour. *The loaves will no longer have the extensibility that all wheat flour breads do. *Use a dough rising bucket for accuracy of rise, not a slant-sided bowl. *http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/detail.jsp;jsessionid=853880753F0459B12CCC2BDDD28E 3E55?id=5060

You can get food-grade plastic containers like this, in a variety of sizes, cheap at restaurant supply stores. *I normally use a 2-quart size for 2+ pounds of dough, and have larger ones for multiple loaf amounts.

5. *Don't over-proof the panned dough. *Only allow the dough to nearly double. *

6. *Use the correct size pan for the amount of dough. *If your loaf pan is 9x5-inch, this pan is actually used for quick breads and require about 2-pounds of dough (or approx. 4 cups of flour in the recipe). *A standard loaf pan is 8-1/2x4-1/2-inches and holds 1-1/2-pounds of dough (or approx. 3 cups of flour in the recipe). *So scale (weigh) your dough on a kitchen scale so that you can choose the correct pan.

7. *What type of rye flour are you using?

- Light Rye is milled from the endosperm of the grain with a 75% extraction, and you can blend up to 40% with bread flour without a major loss of loaf volume. *The bran and the germ of the grain are removed.

- Medium rye is an 87% extraction and use up to 30% blended with bread flour.

- Dark Rye is a 100% extraction (milling the entire berry) and you probably need to limit it to 20% of the blend with bread flour.

The larger the amount of rye flour in the recipe, you may need to offset the lack of gluten with additons of vital wheat gluten.

8. *The flavor of rye bread is generally found in the additional ingredients other than the rye flour. *I often use rye flour for cookies, quick breads, etc. and it has little flavor. *The distinct flavor of "rye bread" is found in the caraway seeds and the colorants (coffee, molasses, etc.)

9. *Rye bread and pumpernickel are actually very different breads. *Rye bread is a combination of wheat flour and rye flour and bakers' yeast or naturally leavened (sourdough). *Pumpernickel is misnomer for an Americanized version of rye bread. *Pumpernickel is a traditional bread that is very dense and made with coarsely ground rye flour, and possible some whole wheat flour. *This is not a yeast bread and it's baked for hours in a steam-bath.

-Karen *


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