Breadmaking

I made bread today.  I used a rye bread recipe I got from a colleague who introduced me to his homemade rye bread made from sourdough starter.  The ingredients are a mixture of white and wheat flour, rye flour, caraway seeds and some salt.  Pretty simple, actually.  I think the caraway seeds are the most important ingredient, as they give the bread its distinctive flavor.

This bread came out better and more "airy" than any of my previous attempts. In the past, working with sourdough, I used less "starter" and did not ever try to "knead" the bread much.  So my breads tended to be dense the point where they were chewy and tough to eat.

This time, however, following my colleague's instructions, I got better results.  As you can see, there is still room for improvement.  The bread "blew out" on the left side.

I think there was too much moisture in the dough.  Though I baked the bread for 45 minutes - 15 min. longer than the recommended time in the recipe - the bread is still soft and kind of "mushy" on the bottom, while being crisp on top.  Mike says that when the bread "blows out" like it did here, it means I probably should have kneaded it more.

So next time, I have to knead the dough more prior to baking.  I watched a you tube video on how to knead bread.  Of course, I do this AFTER failure at baking.  That's typical of me.  Whatever "kneading" I did was not the recommended length.  The video says to knead for 8 minutes.  I would not have thought to do it that long.  I also did not do the "press test" as shown in the video.  Next time...

Oh, yes: how I like to eat sourdough rye bread.  My current favorite snack with this bread is to slice it, toast it for a little bit, then add mayonnaise (NOT Mirace Whip) and, on top, my home made sauerkraut and olive oil.  It's a yummy feast.  Goes great with a little white wine.