August 29, 2022 - 9:32am
Rye Fermentation Temp - How critical is it?
For the experienced rye bakers out there…
Would you expect to see a significant change in the flavor profile of the baked loaf of a 2-stage levain fermented at 76 deg F instead of 82 deg F?
I made a loaf yesterday that was a repeat of three previous bakes but with a few modifications. As usual, I changed multiple things and I’m trying to see if I can figure out what had the major impacts. This bread is very good but is noticeably different.
Changes…
- rye SD starter instead of RYW for 1st stage levain
- 76 deg ferment vs 82 deg
- addition of honey, EVOO, and Greek yogurt
I’m assuming the 6 deg lower ferment temp is minor affect but want to confirm.
Thanks!
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Of 6°F would certainly show itself especially if sd bacteria were involved. The earlier the change during fermentation, the greater the change later on. Small changes magnify with time.
Five changes eh? Good luck with that. Yes, you can hear me preaching.... and yes, smiling into my coffee cup, which could use a filling.
Hey! Yesterday made a cake from ground nuts, grated chocolate, bread crumbs and sugar. Eggs hold it together. Old method but a great way to use up bread crumbs and last years's nuts. No flour. If I reduce or eliminate the sugar, is it then bread?
Thanks Mini. This was using a 100% hydration whole rye SD starter for inoculation in the first stage. The other 3 bakes used RYW for all the hydration and as the inoculation. I hope to get a blog posted later this afternoon that will show the comparison. So yes, it was lower temp for the entire fermentation (had other things in my proofing box and couldn’t push it up to 82 deg (my max temp)).
I think that already sounds like an enriched bread to me! The real question…. If you take the sugar out, does it become a lean cake? 🤔
Just a struggling beginner here, not an experienced rye baker. What I've heard from experienced rye bakers, 82°F might already be too low for fermentation of a high % rye bread. 84-86° is a bare minimum for stiff starters and liquid starters require even higher temps to develop a full flavor profile and proper texture. Higher lactic content and lower acetic is said to be the key.
60% rye:40% spelt. 82 deg is the max I can hit, so have never been able to experiment with 85 deg ferments. 😁
I'd aim for 86-92°F for bulk fermentation (and, as important, DDT) after at least 25' of mixing/kneading. And made sure that my starter smells edible to start with. From my limited experience, my rye starters only had a pleasant smell when developed at higher temps, around 90 and up. The best tasting and looking bread was made with a starter developed at ~110°F.
Hi, HeiHei. In my admittedly very limited experience with YW, even a modest amount really keeps the sour flavor in check. I think you'd get dramatically different results with just that one change. Combined with the other changes (time, temp, enrichments), I think it would be reasonable to expect a pretty different bread. But unless I'm missing something (always a possibility🙂), I think the YW is the real game changer here. I'm looking forward to your blog posting about this loaf.
–AG
The greater the percentage of rye, the more important the acidity of your dough becomes. I would also limit kneading as I added more rye.
I use Whey instead of Yogurt, but both are around the acidity you want for your final dough, so both help.
Just a comment on how some of your variables might be effecting your outcome.
Thank you for the insight! It’s a 60:40 rye:spelt. Details on the bake are in my blog.
https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/71028/rye-spelt-using-sd-starter-and-holy-trinity