BakeSpace.com Member Forums

[Babette]

Hey guys... got a message from a member today about Rye Bread... can you help?

"I love to cook. I am trying to friend a recipe for Rye bread. I have rye flour but the bread comes out quite hard. I would like to have a tough crust with a soft center. Can you help me?"

Ideas? I've never made bread before.. I'm quite scared of it. But I know you guys have... bring it on!

[demartino]

I have a couple of ideas:

Rye flour doesn't act the same as wheat flour - when mixed with a liquid to form a dough, it doesn't have the same gluten properties. There are other things in rye dough that can actually inhibit the rise of the dough, which makes for a dense dough.

1. Acid. Rye flour tends towards high ph, which is not good for getting rise out of rye dough. Sourdough starters have lower ph (higher acid) content, which can counteract that. Commercial yeasts (such as active dry) don't really have that. You might try adding a tiny bit of citric acid or vinegar to the recipe next time.

2. Wheat flour. A lot of lighter-style rye breads have a fair amount of wheat flour in them. Wheat flour has stronger gluten properties; substituting some of the rye for wheat will help the dough to act more like a "standard" bread dough. I'm not sure about the proportions - something tells me it's not a straight cup-for-cup substitution.

If you post the recipe, I can look at it later. But these are the thoughts that came to mind immediately.

Jason
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[Martha]

I agree with dimartino's post. All the rye recipes I looked up have about one part of rye flour to each 5 part of wheat flour. Try that with your recipe and see if it's better.
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-----Martha

[pattit]

Hey guys, I could be wrong but I thought to get the crust she is looking for that you either sprayed the interior of the oven with water or put a pan of water underneath the bread that she is baking. I too use wheat flour with the rye when I make rye bread.
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Patti
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[demartino]

Patti, you're right about the steam - putting a pan of water in the oven or spraying the top of the loaf with water will help the bread form a good crusty exterior.

However, the steam won't do anything for the rise of the bread or the interior texture. All that's due to the gluten content of the flour and the yeast properties and the like.

As for our fellow Bakespace member who's looking for good bread recipes, I would suggest checking one of these books: "Nancy Silverton's Bread from La Brea Bakery" or "Baking Illustrated" should give you very reliable bread recipes.

Jason
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