A& 50 Project #7 - Mixed Loaves #1

Today's project is a braided loaf of white and pumpernickle rye bread.  I was concerned, because rye bread is a lot denser than a basic wheat bread, and I wasn't sure how they'd do together in the same loaf.  Fortunately, my experiment worked!

To start off, I actually created the sponge last night, mixing the rye flour, water, and yeast together and letting it sit overnight.  This particular recipe called for a rather stiff sponge, so I wasn't sure what I was going to find this morning, but luckily it did seem to rise, albeit not as "fluffy" as a basic processed white flour sponge normally typically becomes.  It certainly was a lot denser to work with as I kneaded the bread flour into the rye sponge.  The rye flour creates an almost grainy textured dough, and it's very heavy and not as elastic as a "white bread" dough. 

Molasses gives it a nice brown colour, however! (I've read you can add cocoa powder if you want to make it a very dark rye bread. I refuse to use cocoa in my cooking when it comes to Anything SCA, mostly because I don't like chocolate, and it's a *very* late period ingredient anyway, which none of my personas would have known about!)

For the rest of the braid, I just used a basic white bread recipe.  I made two braids.  I think next time I will do a twist instead.  The Two-Pumpernickle/One White braid looks pretty, the Two-White/One Pumpernickle looks a little odd. ;)

The braids were brushed with an egg wash and sprinkled with a little bit of coarse salt, then baked at 350 until shiny and hollow-sounding.  The rye did not rise as much as the wheat, as can be seen in the "Unbaked" picture above.  I was a little worried at this point, but there's nothing to do but see what happens at this point, so into the oven we go!

Through some miracle of bread-making, the rye rose beautifully in the oven, and texture-wise, although it is a slightly denser dough, it baked up into a lovely loaf, with little differentiation, aside from the colour/flavour (caraway and molasses will do that!), in the crumb.





Next time I will definitely do a basic two-strand twist, rather than a braid, to get a more even distribution of the different doughs.  (If I do a braid, I'll throw in a third type of dough, perhaps a basic whole wheat?)  That being said, this loaf is *delicious* and pretty enough to serve as a centerpiece for a family dinner, which is how this batch will be used, for a New Year's day dinner. :)