Do you know that for a long time in Russia, the word "bread" was meant specifically as a rye product? It is now that breeders have bred frost-resistant varieties of wheat, allowing them to grow it almost at the Arctic Circle. And before the fields of Russia, and indeed of Northern Europe, were seeded with rye. Wheat was imported, it was expensive. Therefore, white bread was considered the food of rich people. But, it turns out, the destiny of the poor - rye krajukha - is not inferior, but in many ways exceeds the useful properties of the loaf. But stereotypes turned out to be tenacious common sense. And today, the production of rye bread in Russia fell to 16.5% of all bakery products. But at the beginning of the twentieth century it was 60%. It is known that in the 17th century Russia produced 26 types of black bread. And they began to bake it in Russia since the XI century. For a long time, the recipe for alum - substances that were used to ferment the dough - was kept secret and passed from fathers to sons in the oral tradition. But now we have every right to disclose the recipe for making rye bread. And after reading this article, you will learn how to bake delicious loaves of seeded, wallpaper, peeled flour, bran, sourdough or yeast, in the oven, slow cooker or with the help of other devices.
The benefits and harms of brown bread
Despite the fact that in the eyes of the average consumer, a rye loaf is considered a everyday product of the lower price segment, it surpasses a white loaf in its qualities. Firstly, it is less caloric (200 units versus 250 for wheat grains of the same weight). In the composition of rye bread, 40-45 percent of carbohydrates. And it has much more valuable fiber than in the wheat equivalent. These fibers are difficult to digest, and therefore brown bread is good for people with diabetes. Secondly, rye brick does not eat mold, since the leaven creates an acidic environment in the dough. Therefore, it is black bread that sailors take with them on a long voyage. But there is for rye dough and contraindications. It should be used with caution by people with ulcers and increased acidity of the stomach. Due to the difficult digestibility by the body, wheat flour is often introduced into the composition of rye bread. The most ideal ratio for health is 20 to 80 percent. Such bread is often referred to as "gray." For nutritionists, it is considered the “golden mean” between black and white. But nowadays other types of rye flour products are also called gray bread . Bran significantly lightens the color of the dough. When preparing custard bread and tinting it with molasses, a gray loaf is also obtained.
The basic principles of the process
For the manufacture of wheat dough using fresh, dry or pressed yeast. This bacterial culture is responsible for fluffing and raising bread. And for kneading rye dough, use leaven. The lactic acid bacteria contained in it also provide fermentation. Therefore, the crumb of a black loaf is always wetter than that of a white loaf. But sourdough rye bread can also be prepared with yeast. These bacteria live in symbiosis with dairy and together carry out alcoholic and acidic fermentation. The technological process of making brown bread is simpler than wheat bread. It consists of three stages: division, molding and final proofing. It is in the last phase that the dough grows, which makes the crumb during baking become porous and elastic. The duration of such a proofing ranges from two to four hours. Brown bread is rarely baked from one rye flour. If not wheat, then malt, honey, bran, seeds, nuts, molasses are often added to the dough.
How to make leaven yourself
Baking rye bread at home is easy. The main difficulty is leaven. It is not sold in stores. Therefore, in most recipes for baking black bread at home, yeast is used. But this is not entirely correct. Yeast will not create the wet environment that rye dough needs. It takes time to make the leaven. But then you will have a “starter” to ferment the dough, which must be stored in the refrigerator. Pour 25 grams of rye flour into a glass jar. We breed it with 25 milliliters of kefir. Mix, close the jar with a capron lid. Leave in a warm place. The next day, add 50 g of rye flour and kefir, and on the third - one hundred grams of both. Let the jar stand warm for another day, and the yeast is ready. Leave 50 g of product for the “starter”. The rest can be used for kneading.
In the oven
Of course, to cook a black loaf the fastest in those units that are specially designed for this purpose. A bread machine will not only provide the crustiness you need, but it will also knead the dough and let it stand. The crock-pot also will not disgrace its mistress and will do everything as it should. But for those who do not have kitchen devices, we will tell you how to bake rye bread in the oven. Pour 300 grams of ripe sourdough into a wide bowl. Sift 330 g of flour into it. Since not everyone likes 100% rye bread, you can combine the composition with wheat. Add two pinches of salt and a soup spoon of honey and vegetable oil. We begin to pour boiled water at room temperature. It can go from 180 ml to a glass. Fermented rye dough, no matter how much it is, is still very sticky. Therefore, we wet our hands in cold water. Then transfer the dough into the mold. Let’s stand for four hours. Preheat the oven to 240 degrees. We bake rye bread for ten minutes. Then we open the door and let out excess steam. The fire in the oven is reduced to 200 degrees. Bake for another forty minutes. During this time, you need to open the door twice and grease the upper crust with water.
How to “wake up” the starter
Sourdough will take a long nap in your refrigerator, provided that both the jar and the spoon with which you mixed the contents were sterile. This kind of depository is needed if you decide to bake rye bread at home again. You need to “wake up” the leaven ahead of time. We take a liter jar and sterilize it. We will also need an absolutely clean spoon. We take out the starter from the refrigerator and transfer it to the bank. Pour 150 milliliters of water and 150 grams of rye flour. Mix with a sterile spoon. Cover the jar with a towel or a thick cloth. We put in a dark place for 12 hours. Ferment during this time will ferment and be ready for use. Do not forget to take 50 grams from it for the next time!
Bread Borodinsky
Anyone who at least once tasted this fragrant bread with a crispy crust and a porous, slightly moist crumb will never forget its taste. Now the Borodinsky bricks are far from what they were at the time of our childhood. There are too many stabilizers and preservatives in them. But we can always bake delicious Borodino rye bread at home. To do this, you need to purchase dry kvass, which includes malt. Two tablespoons of this powder pour half a glass of boiling water. Let’s cool. Add one and a half cups of peeled rye flour and three times less - wheat. Dilute a teaspoon of dry yeast (it is better to take the “Saf-Moment”) in one hundred milliliters of warm water. Pour into the dough. Add another tablespoon of vegetable oil, ground coriander (or caraway seeds) and honey, a pinch of salt, soda on the tip of a knife. The dough, despite the presence of yeast in the composition, will still resemble viscous clay in appearance and consistency. So that it does not stick, wet the palms with vegetable oil. We leave the dough so that it grows one and a half to two times. We shift to a form lubricated with vegetable oil. Let stand warm for another half hour. We put a baking sheet or bowl on the lower level of the oven. Turn on the oven at 240 degrees. We put the form with the dough on the middle shelf, and pour water into the lower container. This is necessary for the formation of steam. After ten minutes, reduce the temperature in the oven to 180 degrees. Rye flour bread should be cooled very slowly. Wrap it in a towel and let it stand for several hours.
Danish Whole Grain Bread
In Northern Europe, they still love rye pastries. Danes, Germans, and Scandinavians are more likely to eat brown bread than white. They bake it with yeast or yeast, and often add wheat flour. Consider a Danish rye bread recipe. Let's do the leaven like that. Mix 125 g of rye flour, always coarse, with a tablespoon of coarse salt. Pour one hundred milliliters of neutral yogurt. Cover the container with cling film and put in a warm place for three days. Sourdough should begin to bubble. Pour it with a liter of warm water and add half a kilo of ordinary wheat and whole grain flour. Cover the bowl with a towel and leave for 12 hours. Then we pour another 300 ml of warm water and pour 650 grams of coarsely ground rye flour. Knead. Set aside 200 g of dough for the depository in the refrigerator. The rest of the dough is placed in a greased form with vegetable oil. Cover with a towel and leave for 12 hours. Lubricate the surface of rye bread with vegetable oil, pierce with a fork in several places. Put the mold in a cold oven. Bake for one and a half to two hours at 180 degrees.
Yeast rye bread
The consistency of such a product is different from a loaf prepared with sourdough. And the cooking process itself is different. Yeast culture is rather capricious. She is afraid of drafts and can not stand both excessive heat and cold. But the dough with these bacteria rises better and faster than rye bread without yeast. Lightly heat half a liter of buttermilk (up to 35-36 degrees). We will dilute one hundred grams of fresh yeast in it. Care must be taken that they are at room temperature. Add a spoonful of salt and 850 grams of rye flour. Knead the dough until smooth. If necessary, you can add a couple of tablespoons of water. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and place in a warm place away from drafts for two hours. The dough will rise significantly. We crush it and shift it into a form greased with vegetable oil. Cover again with a damp cloth. This time we leave it warm for an hour. Before putting the mold into the oven, grease the surface of the loaf with water. Bake a little over an hour at 200 degrees.
Rye bread with bran
First we heat up about 200 milliliters of water. Dissolve in it one tablespoon of honey and two - malt. Pour a little vegetable oil into a wide bowl. We spread 260-300 grams of rye sourdough. Pour water with honey and malt. Sift 250 grams of rye flour. Add 50 g of bran. Salt to taste. One and a half teaspoons will be enough. In all the above instructions, the recipe for cooking in the oven was described. It's time to tell how to bake rye bread in a bread machine. All these ingredients can be combined not in a simple bowl, but in a bucket of the unit. If your bread maker has the "Rye bread" mode, you can turn it on and be free from kitchen hassles. The unit itself will carefully knead the ingredients, let the dough stand, and when the time is right, bake a loaf.
Programs for the old generation bread machine
Rye dough has a specific consistency. It does not rise like wheat or muffin. It is impossible to knead with your hands. And the process of settling is different for him. How to bake rye bread in a bread machine if the unit does not have a dedicated regime for such a test? We set programs manually. We put the bucket in the bread machine. We turn on the Kneading program for ten minutes. We help the machine to turn the sticky dough with a silicone spatula. Then we put the program "Defending" - for half an hour. The second batch is provided for only five minutes. We let it stand (and set the appropriate program) for four hours. Only then can you instruct the machine to bake a loaf. But before that, we lubricate the surface of the future bread with water and make oblique cuts on it with a silicone spatula. After the signal informing about the end of baking, we take out the loaf from the bucket and wrap it with a towel to extend the cooling time.
Oven in a slow cooker
Modern household appliances are becoming multi-functional. Now in the slow cooker you can not only cook soups, cereals and other similar dishes, but also bake rye bread. But before we put the dough in the bowl of the unit, you need to work with your hands. First make a dough. Let us warm a glass of milk. Soluble in it by a teaspoon of sugar and salt. Add a bag of dry yeast. Stir and let stand dough in a warm place for half an hour. Sift 350 grams of rye flour into a bowl, adding a tablespoon of wheat to it. Pour the dough. Kneading rye dough is very difficult. It looks like raw clay - steep, but, on the other hand, constantly sticky to the hands. Never add flour. The lump from this will become even cooler. Lubricate the working surface and hands with vegetable oil - this will make kneading easier. We chop finely a clove of garlic. Add it along with a teaspoon of coriander seeds to the dough. Heat the slow cooker, and then turn it off. Put the dough in a warm bowl of the device on the sediment. After 30 minutes, turn on the Baking program for an hour.
Quick bread
This dough is very moody. And it rises with difficulty. Therefore, if you want to quickly bake rye bread in the oven, always add wheat flour. Proportions may be different. For the flavor and black color of rye flour take 80 percent. And to quickly bake a gray loaf, it is enough to take 50%. Sourdough on dairy culture is slow. Therefore, in the baking industry, yeast is most often used. We make the dough in a doughy way. In a glass of whey, dissolve a soup spoon of sugar and 20 grams of pressed yeast. Opara needs to stand for two hours in a warm place, away from drafts. Sift 250 grams of rye and wheat flour into a bowl. Pour in the coming dough. Add a tablespoon of vegetable oil and soft margarine. Knead the dough. Along the way, add a clove of finely chopped garlic, coriander or caraway seeds, a spoonful of salt. Let the dough rest for another two hours. During this time, it will be transformed. Its consistency will become such that products can already be formed from it. Once again, carefully knead the dough. Roll up the bun, and then flatten it a little, giving the shape of a semicircular loaf. Leave for forty minutes. A loaf should increase in size. Rye bread mixed according to this recipe must be baked in a well-heated oven. It takes about 40 minutes to prepare.
We take out the hot bread from the oven and sprinkle its surface with cold water. Then wrap a loaf in a towel. This technique will allow you to get a delicious crisp.