Hiatus & a Raisin Rye Bread

Two months of inactivity on this blog deserves an explanation. And the explanation simply is that summers in Phoenix are not conducive to baking of any kind. (Yesterday's high was 113°F!). I have managed to avoid buying a loaf of bread at a store (english muffins, pita breads and tortillas are not loaves). The inevitable low carb diet did help me lose some unwanted pounds, even though they have found their way back after a vacation cruise. On the plus side, I have a new found love for salads.

I did bake a few loaves, including the monthly loaf for my father in law. I baked the following breads:

May 5, 2012: Soy flour buttermilk bread (my own recipe)
May 18, 2012: Brown rice garbanzo bread (my own recipe)
Jun 1, 2012: Multigrain applesauce walnut bread from Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book (Similar to this and this, substituting some oat flour for whole wheat). This was the June bread for Dad.
June 24, 2012: Oat bran broom bread from Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads book.
July 4, 2012: German style many seed bread. Another Reinhart recipe. (Previously attempted here and here). This was the July bread for Dad.
August 4, 2012: Raisin Rye bread from Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book. I went through the previous attempt and made changes such as using lesser amount of raisins and molasses and found the bread still fairly sweet. The loaf was Dad's August bread.

Can't have a post without a picture, right? Here's the latest bread in pictures.

Raisin Rye bread using 2 day delayed fermentation process.

Decently even crumb.

Can't wait for the weather to get cool enough to start baking. Until then I'm trying not to look at the oven.

Two Day Rye Buttermilk Bread

Continuing the trend of two day or delayed fermentation breads, it was time to try a rye-buttermilk bread. Rye, buttermilk and molasses are a made-for-each-other combination and rosemary plays well with the trio. This was the May bread for my father-in-law.

Ingredients: 
For two loaves
600 g whole wheat
100 bread flour
150 g rye (that is all I had. I would have probably used about 200-250 g if I had more, and skipped the buckwheat flour and reduced the whole wheat flour accordingly)
40 g buckwheat flour (¼ cup)

1 Tbsp chia seeds
1 Tbsp fresh rosemary
2 tsp salt
1 tsp instant yeast

2 cups buttermilk
1¼ cups water
2 Tbsp molasses

Day 1:

Ingredients

8:37 pm: Ingredients just mixed in

8:53 pm: After resting and then kneading well.

8:54 pm: Ready for first rise

11:08 pm: First rise is complete.

I used a spatula to deflate the dough because it was fairly sticky. That would explain the marks on the dough.

11:11 pm: Deflated and ready for overnight second rise in the refrigerator

 Day 2:

12:52 pm: Out of the refrigerator on day 2

Because the dough was sticky, I decided to split it while it was still cold and then allow it to 'warm' to room temperature.

12:58 pm: Split while still cold

3:03 pm: 'Warmed' a little and risen too

3:07 pm: I swapped the loaf and boule because I wanted the larger piece to be the boule

3:54 pm: Proofed, slashed and ready for the oven

4:52 pm: Out of the oven. Decent oven spring

Glazed with some butter

Crumbly crumb

Date: April 26-27, 2012

Recipe: My own recipe

Comments:

There was decent oven spring, more pronounced along the side of the loaf than on the top. Rosemary, only ½ tbsp per loaf, lends a distinct flavor to the bread. I thought it played well with rye. Even though the crumb looks like it will fall apart, it held well and the bread was easy to slice.