Made my favorite rye bread today - Old Milwaukee Rye

[pepperhead212]

This is the stuff I started 3 days ago. I've probably baked more of this bread than any other, and I've been baking it since the 70's. The recipe is from the original The Complete Book Of Breads, by Bernard Clayton Jr., though I've changed the recipe somewhat. The new KA worked well.
Baked bread! by pepperhead212, on Flickr

Here's the album with all the photos, start to finish, if you want to see them (wouldn't all fit here!):
https://flic.kr/s/aHsmFNM6v8

 

[CWS4322]

Wow! So humid in Northern MN (we don't need A/C, it only is hot a couple of days a year) I can't even think of turning on the oven or making bread.

 

[taxlady]

Dave, nice pix of the rye bread. What's it look like when you cut it open? Is it made with all rye or is there some other flour in there too?

 

[CWS4322]

TL--I could taste it from the pics! Yum...with some chokecherry jelly---oh, oh.

 

[pepperhead212]

Dave, nice pix of the rye bread. What's it look like when you cut it open? Is it made with all rye or is there some other flour in there too?

It's fairly light - it's not a 100% rye, so it rose fairly well, and stayed up. It had 4 ½ c rye, 3 c ww, and 1 c bread flour, plus about 2 tb vital wheat gluten - only because I wanted to empty the jar, and so I added that extra ½c rye.

I'll post my version of the recipe when I go up to my PC later.

 

[pepperhead212]

Here's my version of
Old Milwaukee Rye:

2 3/4 cup water
2 1/2 tsp yeast, instant
3 tb oil
2 tb caraway seeds
1/4 cup(s) blackstrap molasses
1 large egg
1 tb salt
4 cup dark rye flour
3 - 3 1/2 cups Whole Wheat flour, plus 1 c bread flour, OR
4 1/2 c Bread flour

A. Up to three days before bake day, combine 1 1/2 c water, 1 tsp yeast, 2 c rye flour, and 1 tb caraway; mix well, cover, and let rise at room temp. to sour.

B. On bake day: stir in the remaining yeast, rye flour, caraway, and water, along with the molasses, egg, oil, and salt. Stir in 3 c WW flour Or bread flour, if using all bread flour), and set aside 15 min. Mix in the 1 c of bread flour, saving last 1/2 c of WW flour if needed. Knead 6-7 min with dough hook. Place dough in a large oiled bowl, and roll around to coat. Let rise 1 1/2-2 hrs., or until doubled. Punch down and let rest while greasing three 8 1/2"x4 1/2" pans, or two 9"x5" pans, or two 10" x 4 1/2" pans. Divide evenly and place in pans, cover, and let rise until doubled, about 45 min. May be made into free-standing loaves, as well. Slash 3-4 times with these. 15 min before rise is finished, preheat oven to 375º, 325º in a convection oven.

C. Bake 45-50 min., 40-45 min. in the convection oven. Cool on a wire rack.


The original recipe had only 3 c rye, and 5 1/2 c AP flour, as this book came out when bread flour was not available most places! Now bread flour is available, and I even add a little when I also use WW flour, and this needs some extra gluten, since I increased the rye.

I often use this method of making a sour mash with other rye breads, when I don't want to bother with a sourdough.

 

[taxlady]

Why not use WW bread flour. As you mention, bread flour is available lots of places now, but that wasn't always true. WW bread flour was the only bread flour I could find in the 1980s. I find it in any health food store or health food section of a regular super market.

 

[CharlieD]

Why not use WW bread flour. As you mention, bread flour is available lots of places now, but that wasn't always true. WW bread flour was the only bread flour I could find in the 1980s. I find it in any health food store or health food section of a regular super market.

I've never WW bread flour. Where do you get it? Ok, it will be different in Minnesota, so it's a silly question. Will have to check.

 

[CharlieD]

...
I often use this method of making a sour mash with other rye breads, when I don't want to bother with a sourdough.

What is sour mash? The Google brings up a lot of Whiskey, not that there is anything wrong with whiskey , but I bet that is not what you had in mind.

 

[taxlady]

I've never WW bread flour. Where do you get it? Ok, it will be different in Minnesota, so it's a silly question. Will have to check.

I suggest looking in the health food section of a grocery store or in a health food store. It's still the only places I have seen it. I imagine it is also available online.

 

[pepperhead212]

What is sour mash? The Google brings up a lot of Whiskey, not that there is anything wrong with whiskey , but I bet that is not what you had in mind.

It's sort of like what they use to make things like that! lol The method in this bread combines 2 c rye flour, 1 1/2 c water, and 1 tsp yeast and lets it sit, covered, for 3 days. It is quite sour by then, and alcoholic. The original recipe called for 1 tb active dry yeast - the norm, back then, but 1 tsp of instant yeast will do the same, since there is a much higher % of live cells, compared to the old stuff. And, though it says up to three days before bake day, I always do it for 3 days - gives the most flavor.

As for your other question about where to get WW bread flour, there are many online sources for this, and health food places, as taxlady noted, often have it, usually selling in the bulk food section. Often, however, they are quite expensive, which is why I often add some white bread flour, in small amounts, to regular WW flour. I have a grain mill, and in the winter I make my own, grinding some hard red wheat berries, which I got a deal on, but even those can cost more than WW flour.

 

[CharlieD]

Thank you, Thank you.