Browse Month

April 2016

Deconstructed Saison Rye

Sais_apple

Rye %: 60%
Stages: Sponge, Scald, Opara, Hops tea, Final dough
Leaven: Rye sour culture, yeast
Start to Finish: 13-15 hours
Hands-on Time: 30-40 minutes
Yield: One 2¼ lb./1.0 kg loaf

This past weekend my friend Jim Crute, owner and brewmaster at the Lightning Brewery, decided to have a beer bread contest. Now, I’ve baked lots of beer rye breads, mainly from Finland, Germany and Sweden, and one of the challenges I invariably encounter is that I have virtually no control over the beer’s flavor profile, other than making my choice off the shelf. So I decided instead (since I thought it was time to start developing my own breads anyway) to take it from scratch and build a bread to my own tastes using the same ingredients brewers use: malt, hops and flavoring agents. Keep Reading

Swiss Rye Ring/Brasciadela/Kantonsbrot Graubünden

Brasc_slice

Rye %: 69%
Stages: Rye sponge, Wheat poolish, Final dough
Leaven: Rye sour culture, Instant yeast
Start to Finish: 13-15 hours
Hands-on Time: 30-35 minutes
Yield: Two 1¼ lb. (575 g.) loaves

Graubünden is Switzerland’s largest canton, extending eastward between Austria to the north and Italy to the south. It’s also Switzerland’s most mountainous canton, home to several glaciers, as well as the 11,853-foot Tödi and 13,284 foot Piz Bernina. Not surprising, then, that its bread culture is based on rye. Like the circular breads of Scandinavia, Brasciadela’s ring shape made it easy to store the breads on poles hung from the ceiling during the long Alpine winter. Keep Reading