www.sausagemaking.org

That looks great, and a lovely dark colour. Your house must smell mouthwatering!

jenny_haddow wrote:You'll have to leave the kids behind, one teenager in a house is enough. She's the reason I'm doing the rye bread to encourage her to eat and not become size 0.

It's the other way around for me, my son and daughter eat like horses, my son is constantly grazing, and both as skinny as kate moss.

Hi Jen : Did you bake the 100% rye loaf in the bread machine(not just mix it )
Any chance of the reciepe?
Many thanks. Jim

Hi Jim,

I made it in the bread machine on a rapid setting, although I have made another since and did the dough in the machine and rose and baked it in the oven. Both were pretty much the same in texture, and just about doubled in size. Lovely flavour, you can just eat the bread on its own, but it does go down well with a bit of mature cheese.

Recipe.

500gr flour. You might want to mix white or wholemeal with the rye.
125gr Rye improver courtesy of Mick Heaton's website.
25gr yeast
350gr warm water
1tsp salt

I put that lot into the machine on a dough setting, 45 minutes. Put the dough into a loaf tin and rose it in the oven (turned off) with a tray of boiling water in the bottom until it had doubled in size. Ramped the oven temperature up to about 200c (left the water in the oven) and cooked for about 30 minutes maybe more. I tend to follow my instinct, not the timer when I cook, so it might have been 35minutes. Turn out and cool on a rack. Great bread, heavier than your average farmhouse, but the taste makes up for it.

HTH
Jen

Hi Jen thanks a lot. I take it that was 25 gms fresh yeast. Ive been trying with the same improver with 200gm rye 200 gms stonegound wholemeal spelt without a lot of luck.
How long did it take to rise in the oven? Cant think what Ive done wrong.

Jim

Hi Jim
Yes, it was fresh yeast. How long to rise, well I tend to judge by sight. I put the light on in the oven and have a look now and again until I think its ready. Probably about 45 minutes.
What method do you use to make your bread? I always mix and knead with a machine, usually the Panasonic, sometimes the Kenwood chef. I don't have enough power to do it by hand. I think the initial mixing and kneading determine largely how the bread will turn out, and yeast does like a bit of steam to get it working.

Jen

I think the initial mixing and kneading determine largely how the bread will turn out

That's so true Jenny, most people totally under-estimate the amount of kneading a bread dough requires.

Phil

Hi Jim,

Did you try/check some of the suggestions I mailed you?

Let me know how it goes on? If you are getting short of the improver let me know as I am pretty sure some more could wing its way to you in good will

Mick

Hi Mick and Jen -

Jen - my normal loaf of late is 25% spelt 25% rye 50% strong white. 300 mls water, 10 mls lemon juice , 2tbs maple syrup, 1tsp salt and 1.75 tbs yeast (Doves farm dried - approx 5gms) and 30/40 gms butter. I mix in my bread machine on the dough cycle, which includes the first proof. I turn out, knock back put in a loaf tin and allow to rise to twice the size approx 25 mins. As the rye loaf was not to be proved I took the dough out immediately the machine had finished mixing, and kneaded by hand for a further five mins. Allowed to rise for and hour and a half, and bit the bullet and cooked.

Mick - added no salt but did add a little extra water for the second effort. I will go with the extra 5gms yeast next time. I think my problem is either mixing or less likely temperature. I would have mixed at a reasonable temperature in the bread maker, but to be honest I wasn't that keen on the way it looked - i.e. not in a nice neat ball. I have two options - I could mix up in a moulinex processor and see how that goes - or I could allow to prove in the bread maker and remove the mixing tin and put it in the oven.

Thanks for your help. I still have enough improver for two more tries! Im not about to give in

Jim.

Jim,

I'll give your recipe a try and report back. I'll leave it in the machine to cook on the rapid setting, which is 1hr 55mins in my machine. I've just done a 50/50 rye to wholemeal with a handful of mixed grains, this way, and its produce a nice neat loaf. I'd post a picture but the OH has gone off to Prague with the camera.

Jen

Jen
Thanks a lot the spelt rye mix did taste great even if it was somewhat(no extremley ) dense
Jim

Mick
Cracked it at llast.Tried with some strong white to no avail and then used the last 40gms. to make some rolls 50/50 rye and wholemeal spelt,which as you know is low in gluten.Iused a bit more water and threw in my old favourite,a spoonful of maple syrup. Result.depression is now lifted.
Many thanks.

Jim

Superb!

Glad you got it right for yourself, even happier it included maple syrup as it close to the top of my list of favourite flavours and I shall now have to go off and try it!

Mmm Syrup...

Mick

As ever never happy .Ithink I would prefer a 75-25 spelt-rye and maybe use some molasses(as an experiment). Should I stick with rhe rye improver or would you reccomend something else.

Jim

Japan has AMAZING breadshops and cakeshops but getting a decent rye-loaf or even wholemeal loaf is almost impossible.Some of the best bread I ever had was when I was studying in China..we had a couple of French Hare Krishnas in the dorm and they baked this rye loaf in a little oven toaster and you can imagine how good it was after eating Chinese 'mianbao' for 3 months...for those of you who haven't had the dubious honour of eating Chinese bread,think confectionery-grade sweet.
yek.