The Bread Baker’s Apprentice, Marbled Rye

It was time for me to try my hand at a marbled rye.  More notably and specifically, Peter Reinhart’s (www.PeterReinhart.typepad.com),  marbled rye.  Discovered in all its glory on pages 183-186,  The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. 

Again, my thanks to Nicole

 (www.pinchmysalt.com), for the BBA Challenge. 

I hadn’t  intended on baking today, but with rain falling,  once again, and a poor little cabin-fever puppy pacing at my side, that is exactly where I found myself.   It would also be the day that I would attempt my first four-stranded braid. 

That braid-thingy needs honing, but the bread dough requires nothing.  The flavor of this loaf is remarkable! 

Yes, THAT oven is still NOT clean!  ;)

I’d forgotten the egg white-wash and the sprinkling of caraway seeds before bake time.  OOPS!  Not to fret, the finished bread was packed with the bite and tang of the caraway seeds that were worked within the dough.  And, I simply used a bit of cold butter, rubbed against the cheeks of the baked product, to give it shine (see photo at top part of post).

Again, I made the choice to try the stretch-and-fold technique that I wrote about in the Light Wheat Bread (https://coffeegrounded.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/the-bread-bakers-apprentice-light-wheat-bread/ ), post.  And, although this is a firm dough, the technique can still be utilized, but it does come off more like a tug-of-war.  I wondered if it would affect the crumb or texture of the finished product, but as far as I could tell, the bread was not compromised.  How would I possibly know though, this really was my first trial of this lovely bread.  I guess I will just own up to enjoying the crumb and thus decide that next time perhaps I can offer an unbiased test result.?.   I will definitely be baking this item again, and again.  This bread is spot on-perfect for a fresh tuna-fish salad, and that’s exactly how we enjoyed it this evening.   (Also, I did a repeat of my salt addition, and this time I held off working the caraway seeds into the dough until I added that salt.)

*Slight amendments to the ingredients were as follows:

I ran out of light rye flour on the second half of the recipe and used 1.75 ounces of pumpernickel to reach the 6.0 ounces required.

I did not  have caramel coloring.  I made the choice to use one tablespoon espresso powder, plus one tablespoon cocoa powder, added to two tablespoons of lukewarm coffee.   This proved to be just what the doctor ordered.  ;)

~ by coffeegrounded on March 1, 2010.