I am enjoying vacation. There is little that must be done, which leaves a lot of time to enjoy life. I like being a school nurse, but it is nice to have a little break from the frantic pace. I am making my way through Rick Bayless' Mexico, One Plate at a Time. I made some sopas for lunch to go with the leftover Posole. Little tortillas cups, filled with roasted tomato green chili salas. We consumed them so quickly that I took no pictures. I think that my sopa shaping skills need to be developed. But the flavors were delicious. The book has great stories and tips from testers. It's fun to read.
Yesterday, I made some delicious sourdough bread to feed the minions and started the rye starter. Today, I worked on the rye bread. Or failed to have any effect on the rye bread. From the very start, the dough did not feel pleasant. I enjoy the smell and texture of dough, this bread felt like playdough, not enough elasticity. It took five hours to double. Shaping it into loaves was a little disconcerting. I really wasn't looking forward to the baking.
So, I went back to Rick Bayless and made the Tomatillo-Braised Pork Loin. Pork braised in a delicious roasted tomatillo sauce. Rick can handle more serranos than I can.
Dinner out of the way, I had to finish the bread. It didn't help when major stakeholder walked by the breads and said those are funny looking. There was minimal rise once the breads were shaped. They are singularly the least attractive loaves of bread that I have ever made. I could not find an image of Peter's loaves, perhaps his resembled cow pies as well.
Major stake holder thinks that the taste is ok. If you are looking for a dense, chewy loaf of bread, here's one for you.
Well, Anne...
ReplyDeleteI guess we shared the same misfortune with this one. Playdough is a good description for the "feel" of the dough.
I also noticed the lack of any photo for this one in his book... one wonders :-)
Good to have this one out of the way, isn't it?
Have a wonderful New Year!
I kept thinking that I had missed an ingredient. Tom doesn't think that it is that bad, maybe it would travel well, as brick like as it is!
ReplyDeleteDon't you hate when bread doesn't turn out like you want?
ReplyDeleteI haven't attempted this one yet, but I did make a sauerkraut rye bread today that looks a lot like your photo. I think rye is the culprit and we just must not have the golden touch to work with it. I'm really not looking forward to attempting this with the BBA Challenge.
ReplyDeleteI don't know Mags, maybe it is the recipe? I can't wait for you to try it.
ReplyDeletePam, for the most part, Tom will eat anything, good thing.
I hated this bread too and it went from the oven to photographing, taking a bite, then to the trash bin.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I have read online this bread is supposed to be dense and chewy but should be flavorful.
Ann Marie,
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my blog. I'm so glad I read your post before I attempted this bread. The commentary in the book states that you can substitute spelt for the rye. I'm going to try that and see how that works. I'll let you know.
Cathy
When I made this bread yesterday and today, I was thinking all the time that something must have been missing in the recipe because the dough was no real dough and was so hard to work with. Almost no rise etc. But I baked it anyway and was pleasantly surprised - I totally loved the flavor. But I guess, my German tastebuds are used to this kind of bread ;o). Check out my post.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that you liked it. I too found the dough peculiar, the taste was not my favorite.
ReplyDeleteI loved the flavor of this one, but it was a bit un-dough like when I was mixing it. You're right about the playdough, that's how it felt.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, Germans go crazy for rye bread. I guess my taste buds must have adapted because I loved the taste of this one though this one came out really ugly looking.