Correct acidification is of central importance for achieving perfect quality of coarse rye bread. In addition to acidification, the use of a coarse grain sourdough in an indirect and combined dough method is an important basis for the pre-swelling of the coarse components.
Ideally, an indirect dough method based on coarse grain sourdough or a combined dough method with sourdough and dried sourdough or dough acidifying agent is used. Today, sourdoughs made from wholemeal rye flours are often used to make coarse rye bread. These can be used universally, but add a high proportion of finely milled rye products to the coarse grain bread, which makes the crumb much finer. Pure dough acidifying agents are recommended for direct and combined dough methods. FERTIGSAUER, based on pregelatinized flour, has proven its worth in the production of coarse grain bread for many years. Alternatively, liquid dough acidifying agents such as IREKS-ÖKOSAUER may be used as well. These have the advantage that they contain acetic acid, too. As the acetic acid content reduces the leavening power of the yeast, the amount of yeast added should be increased.
To ensure consistent quality, many bakeries work with combined dough methods. These have become established in industrial bakeries, as well.
In the production of coarse rye bread, 1200 - 1300 acid units are required for a firm crumb. This corresponds to a coarse rye sourdough with an acidity of 15 and a dough yield of 180, a quantity of addition of 45 - 48 % coarse rye, which is added via the sourdough.
Many companies test their sourdoughs before processing in order to subsequently compensate for the missing acidity using FERTIGSAUER. For a combined dough method, for example, 40 % of coarse rye can be acidified. The missing amount of acid is compensated by 1.0 - 1.5 % of FERTIGSAUER creating additional operational reliability and ensuring consistent bread quality.
If there is high enzyme activity in the milled rye products (sprouting), very high dough yields, high scaling weights or short baking times, a higher proportion of sourdough or higher acidification is required.
In recent years, low enzyme activities have been detected in milled rye products. This is confirmed by the high falling numbers and high gelatinisation temperatures/gelatinisation maxima. With the raw material qualities described, higher proportions of finely ground or medium-ground coarse grain should be used in order to achieve better swelling and enzyme activation. At low enzyme activities, less acid is required to obtain a stable crumb which offers good slicing properties. The proportions in the precursors (soaked grain, hot soaked grain and boiled grain) can then be increased slightly to ensure sufficient swelling and freshkeeping.
If preservatives need to be added to sliced and packaged bread, they are noticeable in terms of flavour, but have no effect on the acidifying process in terms of baking.
If types of grain such as oats or barley are used, these are counted as coarse rye when calculating the amount of acid. Additions of sunflower seeds, linseed, sesame or soya meal are not taken into account.
In order to fulfil the description for coarse rye bread, a coarse grain sourdough must be used. This can be realised, for example, with a one-stage, two-stage or three-stage coarse grain sourdough method.
Sourdough methods include sourdoughs from wholemeal rye flour. It is important to ensure that the recipe does not fall below a coarse grain content of 90 %. Missing acid quantities can then be added via a combined method using FERTIGSAUER or IREKS-ÖKOSAUER.
Processing and measurement parameters for different sourdough methods in the production of coarse grain bread
In the following, various options for recipe composition with different pre-swelling proportions are presented.
When creating a recipe for coarse rye bread, the proportions of coarse grain sourdough and soaked grain, hot soaked grain and boiled grain are combined in such a way that the total dough yield of 185 - 190 is not exceeded. A sufficient amount of water should be added during dough preparation to be able to influence the dough temperature.
