Everyday Bread #22 - Another 100% Rye a'la Lahey

 

Another 100% Rye made with Lahey methods

I've been busy this week building my chicken coop, so I didn't really have much time to make bread.  I knew I was going to run out of bread on the weekend, though, when I am supposed to be working nights, so I threw together another 100% rye loaf, made with Lahey's methods.  Mostly I made it because I was mad at myself for not taking a picture of the crumb of the last 100% rye I made this way.  And of course, that had been a 100% rye that I had liked.  So this was to be a repeat, with nothing particularly interesting or different.

Except, due to poor timing, this dough was left to rise for 43 hours.  Lahey suggests only 18-24 hours.  Of course, nowhere does he suggest 100% rye, either.

When I finally got around to using the spatula to dig it from the container, it resembled a big cookie.  And it was actually a lot lighter and airier than it looks.  Digging it out merely compacted the fluffiness of the dough, and made it more putty-like.  There was no sense that any gluten was developing at all.  But it did rise again after 2 more hours in the couche, dusted with a bit of rye flour.

The dough was difficult to work with and impossible to shape.  I just troweled it out of the bowl and put it in a floured couche for two hours, then baked it.

This loaf tasted okay, but not as good as the earlier one.  This one was baked 30 minutes covered, and 20 minutes uncovered.  It could have used a bit longer, I think: the centre is a bit gooey still. 

Toasted, however, it tastes great.

Notes to Myself:
 

• There must be a way to get the lesser amount of gluten in Rye Dough to form better loaves, than by using methods that work for Wheat Dough: research this.  While the Gluten in Wheat is formed by the addition of water in contact with the proteins of Gliadin and Glutenin, I recently read that Rye's Gluten forms from Glutenin and the proteins,  secalin and hordein.  Wiki suggests that you need a lactic acid (such as that found in using sourdough yeast) to properly leaven rye dough.  Look into this.  See if Rye Dough rises better using milk or yogurt or other product with lactic acid.  Or see if Ascorbic Acid or some other acid might work as well to help Rye develop its gluten.
• Note how you feel after eating wheat, and how you feel after eating rye.  Is it the case that when you eat whole wheat bread, your nares dry out, and boogers form?  Does this happen when you eat rye bread too?  If not, what is going on here?  In the things I am reading these days, gliadin is starting to raise a lot of health concerns: some authors that I am reading lately are beginning to speculate that gliadin opens up the permeability of the body tissues, starting with those of the gut, and it is directly implicated in atherosclerosis, and is perhaps even involved in some wheat lectins crossing the blood-brain barrier.  Is it possible that something in gliadin even gets excreted through the lungs?  I can't imagine that, exactly, but perhaps increased mucous forms in the lungs as a response to gliadin's action of binding and glumping the red blood cells (research whether it actually does this)?  Perhaps the body is creating a type of immune response to keep the gas exchange between the blood and the lungs efficient in the presence of gliadin's inhibitory action?  These are all questions I have currently, and don't know the answer to.  For now, though, observe how you feel after eating wheat vs how you feel after eating rye.  Keep track of your subjective reactions, develop a tool to measure you feel!