#19: Marbled Rye

Last Sunday I made three different breads from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Maker's Apprentice: #1 - Anadama Bread, #15 - Italian Bread, and #19 - Marbled Rye Bread. Of the three, my favorite was the Marbled Rye, mostly because the spiral pattern in each slice was so beautiful.

When I was a youth, one of my chores was to make breakfast in the morning for my family. One morning I accidentally confused the rye and wheat containers while making whole wheat pancakes and the pancakes ended up with a greenish tint and a funny taste.

Unlike my rye pancakes, the finished loaf of Marbled Rye had a pleasant taste, with the rye providing a more subtle flavor. I used the bread in both a roast beef sandwich and later as a PBJ and both times the bread was tasty.

The kids didn't appreciate the bread as much as my wife and I did.

#1: Anadama Bread

This is the second time I've made Peter's Anadama recipe. Both times the loaves looked beautiful. The small bits of cornmeal gave the crumb a unique texture and the color of the bread belied the presence of wheat flour, of which there is none.

Another hit with the family!

#3: Bagels

The last time I tried bagels was just over a year ago. At the time I bought a 50# bag of high-gluten flour and frankly I haven't made a huge dent in it. Bagels are pretty simple to make but I often forget to start them until it's either too late in the evening or too late in the weekend.

Last Saturday I started these cinnamon raisin bagels in the evening and then boiled and baked them Sunday afternoon after retarding them in the refrigerator overnight. The only adjustment I would definitely make is to reduce the amount of raisins to 1 or 1 and 1/2 cups instead of 2 cups. Oh yeah, and I would probably not brush them with butter and sprinkle sugar on them. Just a sticky mess.

The family loved them!

#6: Challah

It was a lot of fun to make this loaf. I shaped it with a 4-braid which proved a little tricky until I understood the 4-over-2, 1-over-3, and 2-over-3 process. Turns out that after each step, the number assigned to the strands resets.

One thing that I found fascinating about this bread was that after it baked, the strands of the bread were all fused together so you couldn’t differentiate the strands in a slice.

The family enjoyed it. Success!

The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge

I've decided to try my hand at The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge. The challenge consists of baking all of the formulas listed in The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread by Peter Reinhart, roughly 40 different recipes.

I'll update the list below to track my progress.

UPDATE: I've finished the challenge but the journey has just begun.  Stay tuned for more!

1. Anadama Bread
2. Greek Celebration Breads
3. Bagels
4. Brioche
5. Casatiello
6. Challah
7. Ciabatta
8. Cinnamon Buns and Sticky Buns
9. Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread
10. Corn Bread
11. Cranberry-Walnut Celebration Bread
12. English Muffins
13. Focaccia
14. French Bread
15. Italian Bread
16. Kaiser Rolls
17. Lavash Crackers
18. Light Wheat Bread
19. Marbled Rye Bread
20. Multigrain Bread Extraordinare
21. Pain a l’Ancienne
22. Pain de Campagne
23. Pane Siciliano
24. Panettone
25. Pizza Napoletano
26. Poolish Baguettes
27. Portuguese Sweet Bread
28. Potato Rosemary Bread
29. Pugliese
30. Basic Sourdough Bread
31. New York Deli Rye
32. 100% Sourdough Rye Bread
33. Poilane-Style Miche
34. Pumpernickel Bread
35. Sunflower Seed Rye
36. Stollen
37. Swedish Rye (Limpa)
38. Tuscan Bread
39. Vienna Bread
40. White Breads
41. Whole-Wheat Bread
42. Potato, Cheddar, and Chive Torpedoes
43. Roasted Onion and Asiago Miche