Anyone bake with rye flour?

[LakeMartinGal]

I was trying to make some rye bagels, using the CL 10/05 recipe as a jumping off point... I substituted 1/3 rye flour for the bread flour, (I got this proportion from another recipe) and let them rise 15 extra minutes, but was disappointed with the results. The bagels have a definitely tougher, less appealing texture. I have never baked with rye flour before... Should I have expected this? :confused:

TIA for your help!

[Valerie226]

Yes, but not for a long time. DH doesn't like rye bread so I haven't done any in ages. It was harder to work with than wheat breads and I never tried bagels though made some very good rye bread. but I was the only one who'd eat it!
The bread book I have is the Laurel's Kitchen bread book, around 1980. they devote a chapter to rye and working with it. rye flour varies greatly as to what it actually contains. rye flour tends to be alkaline , therefore many recipes add some sort of acid ingredients( sour dough started, vinegar, buttermilk, orange juice etc) to achieve this. there are components of rye flour that absorb water quickly before the gluten has a chance to develop so the way water is added, and how much, is important. Their breads are all whole wheat plus rye, and that may not be what you want. There are pages of details and suggestions, far more than I want to type. This may be a whole lot more info than you want.

edited to say if this is something you are interested in, PM me. I could copy it & mail it to you.

[Valerie226]

bump! Best bread book? I don't know how to insert a line so this was just the name of the thread. There was a discussion of some current bread books. I'm not sure what to search for since "bread" sure brings up a lot of hits.

[LakeMartinGal]

Thanks, Valerie... anyone else with knowledge about rye flour? :confused:

[Anne]

When I've made rye breads I generally use about half rye and half whole-wheat and add gluten. I usually use either sourdough or a sponge method where about half the flour and all the rest of the ingredients are combined and then the sponge sits for a day or two before adding the rest of the flour and proceeding. The only all rye bread I've made is the little cocktail type loaves - very dense and intensely flavored. sometimes I throw just a bit of rye in multigrain bread but not enough to really effect the outcome.
rye also goes well in a non-yeast beer bread.

[LakeMartinGal]

Thanks, Anne and Valerie226. :)

I did some more searching online, and found that adding more yeast AND letting it rise more would probably give the texture I was looking for. I don't know if rye bagels are worth it, since DH doesn't eat them... :confused: Maybe I'll just stick to cinnamon... although I like Pumpernickel, too... have you ever tried that?

[heavy hedonist]

Just saw this thread-- if you do use the rye again, extra yeast, extra rising time, extra kneading, & a little acid (I like oj) should help-- be aware, if you didn't already find it out, that rye flour doughs are naturally stickier, and because of this you have to be careful not to douse with too much extra flour when kneading, to avoid dryness & toughness. It's better to keep your hands floured than to keep adding more to the board; anyway, eventually it stops being too sticky to work with. Good luck on your bagel adventures!

[LakeMartinGal]

Thanks, Heavy Hedonist. :)

I use the bread machine to do the kneading... my shoulders just won't take it anymore. I will try resetting the machine to knead a little extra time. Do you think and additional 3 or 4 minutes (of the 7 it already does) would help?

[patt]

Thanks, Heavy Hedonist. :)

I use the bread machine to do the kneading... my shoulders just won't take it anymore. I will try resetting the machine to knead a little extra time. Do you think and additional 3 or 4 minutes (of the 7 it already does) would help?

No bread machine here! I can certainly claim the last 15 minutes as a heavy upper body workout and sure sympathize with your sore shoulders.

How in the world I missed the part about rye flour being more difficult to knead I don't know. We're having burgers stuffed with cheddar tonight and I just felt like making the buns instead of buying them.I'm thinking I better make some pretty thin buns.

I need a nap!

Patt

[heavy hedonist]

Sorry, I just saw this now-- a few extra minutes is probably all it needs, but if it's still quite sticky when you take it out, you might want to knead gently by hand a minute extra-- it's really hard to overknead whole grain bread by hand.


Poor Patt-- I hope you get a massage this evening.

[patt]

No massage, but definite "Honey this is really good" mumbled around my DH trying to eat a three inch thick burger. I'll assume he was including the bread.
Taste wise, this was probably some of the best bread I've ever made. I just needed either more liquid or less flour.

Thanks for the thought
Patt