Kümmel-Bier Brot (Caraway Beer Bread)
Kümmel-Bier Brot (Caraway Beer Bread) from The Rye Baker book. This bread is for lovers of caraway seed (sorry Benny!); it has a whopping 2% caraway seed. The bread is 50% rye and 50% first clear or high-gluten flour, barley malt syrup, and beer for half the liquid. The recipe calls for 2:1 white/medium rye to approximate German 997 rye flour. I did not have any white rye flour but used all medium rye (KA brand) and increased the hydration from 60% to 65%. Vital wheat gluten was used to boost KA bread flour to 14% gluten; beer was Destihl Weissenheimer hefeweizen. The loaf is brushed several times with beer before and during baking. I ran a little short on the final beer wash because I forgot about it and drank most of the remaining beer! The bread is great for sandwiches. For those not as fond of caraway as I am, it could still be a good all-around rye sandwich bread if the caraway was reduced or omitted.
First step is a sponge with rye flour and 3% rye sour culture (refreshed overnight before use) at 82% hydration with water; 73% of rye flour pre-fermented. Maintained at 23 °C for 16 h.
Combine the sponge with other ingredients, and, after brief mixing, knead with dough hook for 8 minutes. Final dough temperature 24 °C. Bulk fermentation 3 hours at 23 °C.
Shape into a log, pan the dough, slash, and brush with beer.
Bake for 25 minutes at 465 °F (240 °C) with steam, then at 340 °F (170 °C) for 30 minutes. Used a foil tent on lowering the temperature.
Comments
Brush with beer is what has me hooked, looks like a lovely sandwich bread.
Thanks JonJ. Anything with beer gets my attention, too!
Brushed the top with beer whatever was left after the baker got thirsty! Not a bad treat for the baker. Looks like a good hearty loaf.
Benny
Thanks, Benny. I'll need to show more discipline with the leftover beer next time!
" I ran a little short on the final beer wash because I forgot about it and drank most of the remaining beer!" That would be me!
An interesting thought for a loaf, having never baked with beer before, it seems intriguing. And quite nicely done. This way one can have a sandwich and a beer all in one! A bread right up Justice Kavanaugh's alley!
Alan
Sounds like an intriguing bread. I do like caraway, and rye toast with poached eggs and sausages is an infrequent treat.
Looks like whole seeds? Did you roast them at all? Changes the flavour to take the edge off.
Looking at the crumb (dense around the outside and fluffy in the middle) and separated top I am wondering about the heat being so high (solidifying the crust and restricting rise) and using an open pan with steam vs. just using a lid from the start?
Thanks for the comment. This is a good bread—it is the first from The Rye Baker book that I have repeated. Not that the others are boring (Walliserbrot is great).
It is whole caraway without toasting. That would be an interesting comparison. I actually like the astringency, but it is an acquired taste.
I actually saw more oven spring than when I baked it the first time. It's possible I should have slashed it deeper to allow it to open up more after hitting the oven. I also think that I should have reduced the temperature after 15 or 20 minutes because of the browning; It is a smaller loaf (70% of recipe).
probably contributed to the browning. I bet the beer could be brushed on after the bake instead. Got a nice big loaf. What's the story with the single slice? Was it frozen and now thawed out? (Honing my crumb reading skills....) I agree with trying a very deep slash after shaping.
Mini
Thanks for the suggestion. Ginsberg says the beer should produce a glossy crust, but both times I made this it was only slightly shiny. Do you think the brushing after baking would produce a shinier crust?
I usually take a picture of a single slice because it is easier to measure it than the cut loaf. A single slice is often easier to illuminate than the cut loaf. I had thought I had taken one of the cut loaf, but when I was posting the pictures of the bake, I realized I had forgotten.