Monthly Archives: December 2016

Light Rye Bread – part 2

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The Light Rye from part 1 came out well in the bread machine. Based on that loaf I decided to scale up the formula to make two loaves and bake them in the kitchen oven. Here is the scaled up formula:

  • Molasses 41 grams
  • Olive Oil 55 grams
  • Water, room temp. 606 grams
  •  
  • Rye Flour 330 grams
  • Bread Flour 743 grams
  • Salt 20 grams
  • Instant Yeast 10.5 grams

The break in the list separates the liquids from the dry ingredients. They are listed that way since for this batch I measured them separately. There are no caraway seeds listed, but the scaled amount for this size batch would be 9 grams. I left them out for two reasons. First, my wife said she thought they were too strong. Second, I had put caraway seeds in some oatmeal bread at one point, and it tasted just like the seeded rye bread from the store. I decided that I would make it without seeds to see what rye bread was like. It was good and I didn’t miss the seeds. Continue reading →

Light Rye Bread – part 1

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I was pressed for time, but wanted to try making Light Rye Bread. The answer was the bread machine. I had a place to start that made a bit more than I thought my bread machine could handle. I scaled it back so that it would make a loaf that was about 1 1/2 pounds. With a 2 pound bread machine I figured it would be a safe size. (When the recipe makes too much and the pan overflows it’s a big mess.)

Using the bread machine also meant that I needed less than 20 minutes to get the machine started. Then after 3 hours I could get the finished loaf out of the machine. Continue reading →

First Try Making Bagels

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It may take some imagination to recognize that these are Bagels. But they tasted great and were chewy like a bagel should be, so I am counting them a success.

I had read that you needed to make a big hole in the middle. After having made a batch I now am a true believer in the big hole. The pictures above show one bagel. On the left is the way that I formed it. Its got a pretty big hole, although it has already shrunk a little as the dough relaxed when I put it down. On the right it’s proofed and the hole has shrunk. Then I boiled it and put it in the oven to bake. The result is a tiny hole in the finished Bagel, shown in the center.

A second lesson from these is that even when bread may not turn out a total success technically it can still be really good eating. These Bagels, although not very pretty, were much better than I expected them to be. I’m looking forward to making prettier Bagels as I gain experience. Continue reading →

OatMeal Bread in 3 New Pans

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Now that I have three identical pans I can make three loaves that match in one batch. These are oatmeal from the same formula that I have used in earlier oatmeal posts.





The ingredients were enough to almost overflow the mixer, although the bowl is not close to full. The disk on the top of the dough hook got a workout and kept the dough from climbing out of the pan. The left photo shows how the bowl seemed full, and the right photo shows how there is a lot of room left in the pan even though the dough is threatening to overflow.

The ingredients add up to a bit over 2 Kg. (4.4 lbs.) which is the same as for two loaves in the larger 9 by 5 pans: Continue reading →

Raisin Bread – part 1

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This is the Cornmeal Molasses Bread from part 4 with a couple changes to correct problems. It is scaled up to make 2 kilos of dough rather than only about 1.5. The 2 kilos will fill two 9 by 5 inch loaf pans. The raisins were mixed in with the ingredients to get better distribution in the loaves, and their weight was not counted when scaling to get 2 kilos.

I hadn’t considered it before, but from the photo above it’s apparent that white loaf pan is not only a 9 by 5 inch pan, but its shape is not the same as the darker ones. The loaf on the right, from the white pan, is a bit wider and shorter than the one on the left. From this I was reminded that if I want the shape of loaves to match I need to be sure the pans I bake them in match. Continue reading →