Rye Miche - "Bread" 3rd edition
I baked the Rye Miche from "Bread" 3rd edition. 100% rye, half whole rye, half medium
It's nothing if not hearty with a tight but not super-dense crumb. I like the flavor with smoked fish, cheese, and veg spreads.
At the start of the sourdough rye chapter, Hamelman writes, "For small home-sized batches, increasing the percentage of mature culture in the sourdough build (by 25 to 50% or so [compared with the percentage for large commercial batches]) may be a good way to improve the ripening of the final dough, especially if there is no commercial yeast in the formula"
I forgot to try this, and just divided the metric quantities by 10 for a 1.6kg finished loaf. I've noticed a mass effect before with commercial yeast and especially sourdough before. I wonder if the additional culture would result in more volume and/or a more open crumb as well as speeding up the bulk fermentation and proofing. My dough pretty much followed the timings in the formula but I used warmer temps - 75℉ for the sourdough and 85℉ for bulk and proofing. My San Diego whole rye culture likes warmer temps.
Very interesting. I'm going to try this once I get some medium (or maybe even light) rye. Thanks so much for posting. How do you think this stacks up to other 100% ryes you've made?
Rob
Thanks. I haven't made that many 100% ryes. 100% Rye Photos I have made one from sourdough discard Bread Code Sourdough Discard Loaf Video; that one is a loaf pan brick with a nice rye flavor. I also made Cumin Rye from "The Rye Baker" book.
The Rye Miche and Cumin Rye are pretty similar. A great benefit of baking a 100% rye is not having to worry about the big open crumb that everyone else who posts videos and photos gets.
The Rye Miche is a bit simpler to make:
The hardest part is waiting 24 hrs after the loaf cools before slicing.