I have a gut feeling–no evidence, just a feeling–that it is your grain bill. Either the rye you are getting is stale (extremely common), or the crust and crumb you are looking for is from a mix of grains.
Here is a thought I pulled from one of my books. It suggests that traditional rye like you describe can have the texture improved by adding 1 cup of stale, previous baked rye bread to the dough in the form of crumbs. Also I never forgo a small amount of oil in ryes, but that may not address any issue you are thinking of.
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What kind of rye are you using? There are two common types and they work a little different.
Yeah, could be. it’s a bit expensive in smaller bags, so I could probably save a few bucks by getting a bulk sack. Storage in the heat and humidity, though…
Now that could work. I can see how that might improve things, like taking up a little extra moisture as it bakes so as to avoid soggy centre and giving some structure to things. Like adding a stabilizer sort of thing
Cool, I’m gonna try that. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Australian-grown rye. Comes in a bag at the market from the hippy-looking bloke on the health-food stall.
next time you bake a loaf can you take pics? like i said in the beginning i am only an amateur, but diagnosing deficiencies in baked goods is like crack to me. someday i aim to be the House of Baguette
Finally, I love making bread, but I hate waiting for dough to rise properly. Is there a way to freeze it at any stage, such that I can thaw a lump and toss it in the oven?
the easiest to make is what is called a ‘barm’. it is 1/3 the total flour for a loaf along with store bought yeast, and all of the water. ferment for 6-8 hours, combine with all the rest of the ingredients, then follow the rest of your recipe. the flavor will be improved and you will have greater ‘oven kick’.
a sour dough starter is as hard as you want to make it, but these are the general guidelines.
plan on taking 7 days. it may be faster, it may not
make a yeastless barm, and set it under some fresh cut flowers
for seven days discard half and top up with the same ratios
when it smells sweet and vinegary, but not ammonia, you are ready.
a more sour version can be made by kinda inverting the recipe for the barm–use 40% by weight of water to flour, and follow the same directions. the advantages are it is more compact in size, less sticky, more sour. but the downsides are you have to be more vigilant in measuring, and you have to knead to every day.
you can freeze starters just fine. always do a nose check for ammonia, but if that is good then it is good. dough deteriorates pretty fast in the freezer, but baked bread doesn’t. so freeze your loaves and starters, but not the dough itself.
Also, a regular oven with just the light on…light bulbs give off a nice amount of heat. And many newer ovens have the ability to heat to 100-105 only, for proofing.
I think I’m following instructions pretty well, but about a third of the loaves I try to bake come out far too thick and dense, have the texture of bricks and should be classified as a crime against gastronomy.
What am I doing wrong, and how should I go about fixing that?
If there’s nothing wrong with your yeast, then be patient and allow as much rise time as necessary. Overnight, whatever it takes. The dough is ready when it’s ready, not when the timer goes off.
Also, you can add a few more tablespoons of water at the start of the mixing. Any chance you’re in high altitude, or desert conditions, or anything like that which could affect the chemistry?
at work, i’ve lately been using our pizza dough to make the croutons for our salads. it tastes fairly good (our dough is good!) but at the temp I use, using enough dough to make a week’s croutons, the middle doesn’t cook all the way (and obviously pizza dough is designed for thinness, so that’s my b.) but after I cube it and toast it, the croutons are great. I should experiment with using a sheet instead of a loaf pan. I don’t want to monkey with the oven temp since all my more important recipes all use the same temp (350f) and my spider-sense is dialed into using it.
anyway, it’s half-assed but serviceable for croutons. easier to use the pizza dough at hand rather than remembering to remind another employee to bring in bread since our usual distros don’t deliver single loaves. I’m new to bread, so it’s been pretty interesting screwing around with it. still experimenting.
Unless it is a soft loaf or sandwich bread, 350f is just a terrible bread temp. Fine for cakes and rolls, but you just don’t get any ‘kick’ from a temp that low.
I know it is a pain process wise if everything else is going in at 350f, but if you have a day to experiment try misting them with spray oil, upping the start temp to 425, then lower to 350 after say 15 minutes.
