Rolled Oats & Rye Bread

So this is another one of my own inventions, and I had to bake about 8 breads before I got all my ingredient percentages right in order to get the desired consistency in my final product. All the Rye breads I've bought all seemed to be the same, they were all very heavy and dense. I personally don't like having rye bread like that, I would have preferred it to be a bit more aerated with a nice crisp crust. So I took it upon myself to make the kind of rye bread I would enjoy having. But lets first talk a bit about the main things that make rye flour different to that of normal white flour. The two main components which jump out to me is the flavour profile as well as the significantly lower gluten content. The flavour of rye flour is much more prominent than that of white flour, thus rye seeds are also used to make whisky, vodka and even beers. The significantly reduced amount of gluten has a huge effect on the elasticity of the dough, it doesn't allow stretching and instead breaks.  You will see when working with rye flour it resembles something more to that of a thick paste than dough. This makes it difficult to work with when your making your bread. Unlike when using white flour where the dough becomes stretched and strengthens when you knead it, rye flour simply does not strengthens at all. This causes a lot of people to add loads of white flour when they make their rye bread, which changes the ratios completely, meaning they won't get what the recipe intended at the end product. Making bread is a science, so when you make this recipe keep in mind not to add loads of white flour, simply combine all your ingredients as directed in the method and work it till everything is well incorporated. 

Another very important aspect to remember when baking bread and intending to increase the volume of bread is that you can't just simply double or triple all the ingredients. Each ingredient is given a percentage of the complete dough, and to ensure you get what the recipe intended you need to adhere to those percentages. If you just double or triple the ingredients, you will not have the correct consistency. This will leave you with a dough that is either over hydrated or under hydrated, and in return you will add more or less flour than what was intended. You will have noticed that in the final product your dough is very dense, is not well aerated or is even under baked because of this. 

I will be posting 2 pictures of examples where I increased the original recipe to 3.6kg. If you do not understand what I have done to get the new amounts simply leave a comment and I will be glad to help you out. I will discuss this topic at length on one of my other posts in the near future. In this recipe I've made use of a Poolish method (which is a loose preferment) to gain two different advantages from it, this being increased flavour and  gluten development. When you make a preferment, you allow for the yeast and the flour to create a more intense flavour profile. I have also used a small amount of whole wheat flour in the recipe, and made use of the little amount of gluten in there to create some sort of a stretch in the final dough, thus by using it in the preferment I'm allow it to form gluten. 
Note: The ingredients used in the Poolish method are not extra but instead are from the overall ingredients. Please don't use separate ingredient for the Poolish method.

Ingredients 
Overall amount 

• 300g Rye (75%)
• 100g W/w Flour (25%)
• 100g Rolled Oats (25%)
• 400g Water (100%)
• 12g Salt (3%)
• 40g Sugar (10%)
• 10g Dry Instant Yeast (2.5%)

Poolish Method (these amount are to be taken from the overall amount)

• 100g Rye (33.33%)
• 100g W/w Flour (100%)
• 100g Rolled Oats (100%)
• 300g Water (75%)
• 4g Yeast (40%)

Poolish Method 

1. Place the yeast into a medium to large container and add the 300g of water (the water should be between 34-42˚C) and allow to bloom for a minute.
   
2. Now add in your oats and two flours, mix well till totally incorporated and then allow to ferment for 12 hour or over night in a dark warm place. 

Method

1. Once your preferment is ready, place your salt and sugar in a mixing bowl first, then your flour and water, and then yeast ( never place the yeast straight onto the salt or sugar). 
2. Mix till most of the flour is incorporated and next add all of your preferment.
3.  If you're using a mixer, turn the speed up to medium and allow to mix for 2 minutes and then scrape down the sides and mix for another 3 minutes. 
4. If you kneading by hand, you will notice it is very sticky and does not come together like normal dough. Don't worry just continue kneading till all the ingredients are well incorporated ( this should take about 8-12 minutes).
5. Now place the dough into a air tight container or simply wrap with plastic and allow to bulk ferment for 1 hour in a dark warm place. 
6. After the hour has passed dust a bit of flour over the top and simply degas it by knocking it down in the bowl. Allow to ferment(proof) for another hour. 
7. In the mean time you can pre-heat your oven to 190˚C
   
8. Now that the bulk proofing is complete, remove your dough and place on a well floured station. Simply fold the dough onto itself once or twice and then form into a rectangle that will fit into you baking tin. 
9. Brush you baking tin with either butter or oil, and then place dough inside and allow to final proof for 45-60 minutes (remember to cover the dough with a lose plastic sheet).
10. Once final proofing is done drop 3 ice cubes in the bottom of your oven and place your bread in the oven. Bake for about 20-25 minutes. It should have a lovely dark golden top when complete. 
11. Remove and allow to cool down for 30 minutes. 

Enjoy with a bit of salted butter.  


Edited by: Monique Boaventura

---