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After moving to Dereel in July 2007, we discovered that a number of foodstuffs we had taken for granted were no longer available. Even the bread wasn't as good as we could get in Mount Barker. So I started investigating the possibility of baking it myself.
Fairly early on I bought a bread machine, but was quite disappointed. It wasn't the most expensive, but the issues with bread machines seem to be typical. In particular, it annoyed me greatly that the kneading paddles remain in the bread during baking and leave holes in the bottom. So we returned the machine, and I now bake by hand, which isn't really much more difficult, though I suspect that there's more margin for difference from one loaf to the next.
The bread I'm aiming for is the typical German Graubrot, a mix of wheat and rye. This is important, because one of the things I had to learn was that rye needs much less water than wheat, and my initial attempts, based on instructions supplied with the flour, were far too soggy. I also put in caraway seeds, which seem to completely disappear; 30 g is just enough to make its presence felt.
I also put sesame seeds on top of the bread, though I've never seen anybody do that on this style of bread. I'm happy with the results, though. I've also taken the advice of many cookbooks to put a pan of water in the oven and spray the loaf with a fine water spray every 15 minutes.
| quantity | ingredient | step | ||
| 1000 g | Bread mix ("Manhattan light rye") | 1 | ||
| 20 g | Bread improver | 1 | ||
| 15 g | Dried "instant" yeast | 1 | ||
| 520 ml | Water | 1 | ||
| 60 ml | Oil | 1 | ||
| 30 g | caraway seeds | 1 | ||
| 10 g | sesame seeds | 2 |
Heat water to 40° (about 1 minute in our microwave oven). Knead for 10 minutes, leave to rise in oven pre-heated to 45°.
Knead for 10 minutes, form into loaf and spray with water, then put sesame seeds on top. Leave in oven to rise until nearly the right size. Remove from oven, heat oven to 220° as quickly as possible.
When the oven is hot, switch to bottom heat if necessary, and place a pan of water below the rack for the bread.
Spray the loaf with water, insert into oven and drop to 200°.
After 15 minutes, drop temperature to 180°. Spray again, and again after 30 and 45 minutes. Bake for a total of 55 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to cool on the side on a wire rack.
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