Well, it’s time. Over the past few years I think I’ve done almost every incarnation of “quick rye” known on the planet. It’s time to get serious now and go after the elusive NY Style Deli Rye. And you know what that means. Yes, I’ll be delving into Starters, Rye Sours, and other variations of pre-fermentation.

As far as decent rye breads to date, this one is probably my most successful so far. It has a really nice crumb structure. It was done using a stone ground rye flour soaker. Then a 50/50 flour and water mix was added to the soaker to preset a sponge. In reality it is easier than it sounds and there’s nothing very mysterious here. A lot of beginning bakers shy away from sponges, bigas, and presoaks etc because they read the directions and see difficulty ahead. Then they immediately turn the page. It’s really not hard at all. I have been doing haphazard sponges for a couple of years now, and the resulting bread textures and structure benefit greatly. As you can see here in my rye slices, I have a nice light and airy crumb structure. That’s because I allowed time, water and flour to do a lot of the work for me.

You can do your own Sponge with just about any bread recipe. What I usually do when making a sponge is put in all of the liquid, a teaspoon of the yeast, and about half the flour a recipe calls for. Then I mix it. It is usually something like a really gloppy cake batter. Then I sprinkle the top of the mess with couple of spoons of loose flour, cover the bowl with a plate (I use a glass plate) and just let it sit on the bench for at least an hour. If I have a more leisurely day, I’ll let it go up to 5 hours, usually knocking the dough down a couple of times with a spoon, giving it a mix, and letting it go some more. Something fantastic happens here. Gluten bonds start to form all on their own. Give it a try and you will see.

When I am ready to do the actual bread, I add the salt, sugar, any other additives like Diastatic Malt, and the rest of the yeast. Then I add the remaining flour and Do The Bread Thing. You will definitely notice a difference in your dough handling. Kneading becomes easier. You’ll get a nicer dough tension on standard hydration ratio breads. If you have a discerning palate, you’ll notice a better flavor too.

So back to that Rye. I.m going to start some experiments with what are commonly called Rye Sours in order to get that wonderful deli taste. In my own rye trials, the breads have been good, but they’re lacking that Jewish bakery snap in the taste. Yes, I’ve even tried the recipe that basically uses almost all sour cream as the liquid. It’s ok, but I’d like to go further. I found one rye method that took 4 days to complete. That’s more time than I really want to spend, plus I’d probably forget about it and then one day I’d probably walk past the fridge and find dough creeping out from under the door. So I’m going to try and develop a preferment method that works for me, that is, one that is easy to execute but still takes advantage of a longer fermentation in order to develop texture and flavor.

In the meantime, Happy Baking!

Related posts:

1. Hooray for Rye Bread Day!
2. Small Easter Cross Rye Bread
3. Basic Yeast Bread or Dough Ingredients
4. BBA Challenge: Anadama Bread
5. Rye Bread Revisted