60% PFF rye with walnuts and cranberries
Loaf is exceptionally tasty. Really deep flavour with very little sourness, excellent complex crust. Smoky, earthy and smooth. Definitely my best rye bread so far.
I wanted to try making a 60% rye (whole and medium 50/50) that was flavourful, not too sour, and had most of the rye in the pre-ferment so that the grains were more broken down (for flavour, but also digestibility), and BF and proof would be relatively fast, about 5 hours or so, with some sort of rise in the oven.
I decided to do separate levains, one for the medium rye and the other for the wholegrain rye. For the medium rye, I thought I would go for my standard 1:3:3 ratio, which leaves me with levain at peak after 10 hours of overnight rise, ready to be used in the morning. For the wholegrain rye, I decided to experiment with a 1:10:10 ratio, which I would also use after 10 hours, when it would only be at 1.5x (this ratio usually requires about 14-16 hours to peak here). Part of the liquid used here would also be malt syrup, to further slow down fermentation. The idea was that some flavour would be developed, but hopefully with a manageable about of LAB and yeast to not mess up BF, given that 60% of the flour would now be pre-fermented.
In the morning, the medium rye had tripled and the wholegrain rye had risen by 50%. Mixed everything. BF took 4 hours, proof 1 hour, and baked at 220 degrees for 40 mins.
Figures for a 565g loaf (excluding inclusions):
Wholegrain rye levain: 8g starter, 92g whole rye flour, 73g water, 20g malt syrup
Medium rye levain: 30g starter, 92g medium rye flour, 96g water
Final dough: 122g bread flour, 47g water, 4g salt
Cranberries and walnuts added during shaping
Overall hydration is about 70%.
Would be adding this loaf to the baking spree for the husband's party next weekend.
Comments
I have pecans and cherries ...will try your rye with these and see how it goes. Beautiful bread and write up. c
I have no doubt that rye, pecans and cherries would go so well. Let me know how it turns out.
Waiting on the shipment. I’ve used all mine up. c
Knew it was a Lin loaf from the title alone!
What a lovely bread. I've never been bold enough to add walnuts (and cranberries) to my ryes before, this is inspirational!
I guess you're firmly in the territory of the mischbrot now. How was shaping, did you have to pat it or was there enough stretch in the dough?
And I've never found difficulty digesting rye, hmmm.. 🤔 and the different feed ratios are interesting too. In the proofer at 27°C I find 1:10:10 or even 1:20:20 are pretty standard, don't think I'd do 1:3 unless I wanted a traditional 'rye sour' but think I could learn some new tricks here.
I really like your take on it. Going to have to follow up on this inspiration.
-Jon
Made me laugh that you could tell this loaf came out of my oven from the title alone.
I've always loved adding walnuts to rye, and was glad I could continue to do so with these high %s. It really does go very well.
The shaping was great. I could shape it normally and there was some stretch. It was very wet and the hands do get this typical rye film slime, but with wet hands that's all fine.
Haha, re digesting rye. It's not about the rye per se. I have two family members who can't take much fibre at all. And as long as I do more than 20% whole grains I've realised that these need to be pre-fermented for as long as possible. Let's see if they manage to eat this loaf without problems.
My feed ratios have been adjusted to autumn temperatures - overnight proofs are happening between 18-21C. With this loaf it's essentially using one levain at peak and one at x0.5 or so, both in 10-12 hours.
I'm really happy to read that you found this interesting! Would love to know how it turns out for you if you try it.
-Lin
Fantastic, Lin!!! Twin levains! Great crust and crumb! You're making me hungry ... and I just baked a rye.
Rob
Love that - twin levains. Shall brand it as such from now on!
-Lin
What a beauty! It's good too see what can be achieved. It keeps us striving for better.
TomP
You're being very kind here. Really appreciate the encouragement.
-Lin
Hi,
Thank you for your recipe!
The loaf and crumb look beautiful! Very inspirational. :)
I had been wondering how rye flour would work in a poolish and it seems that the twin levains are like 10-12 h rye poolishes.
Is your starter at 100% hydration? I just want to get an idea of the overall hydration on the loaves.
I will definitely give this a try.
Thanks again!!
Hi Jo_en,
Thanks for your interest! Yes, my starters are at about 90%. The resulting hydration of the twin levains would be at about 100%, which I believe would be typical of a poolish. The wholegrain rye levain certainly doesn't feel like it's anything near that hydration though, as it does soak up a lot of liquid. The idea was to keep hydration quite low to control LAB for both sourness and acidity affecting BF.
I do feel that the rye flours benefit a lot from the acidity of the sourdough (or in any case some sort of acidity; perhaps you are using CLAS?). In the past I used to make 100% yeasted rye beads and could not get the taste and texture I wanted.
Do let me know how your experiments go!
-Lin
Super creative using the two levains Lin. Your loaf with so much rye has an incredible crumb. The addition of the walnuts and cranberries must be so tasty. Well done!!
Benny
Appreciate it. I have made this again twice since I last posted it and they've gone down really well. Even people who rarely eat rye are receptive!