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| The finished product complete with orange halves and a winter ale |
This is the first of the more interesting breads that I have made in this project. I know that there are more to come; with ingredients I would never think of putting in a loaf of bread. The pungent and spicy ingredients in this Swedish Summer Rye bread are orange peel, caraway seed, and anise seed. Other than the orange peel, it seems a little odd that this would be called a summer bread. To me, it is warm and zesty, like the cinnamon and nutmeg flavors of fall and winter. This is also the first bread that I have baked that I didn’t like.
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My not liking this bread didn’t have to do with the way the bread turned out, but the ingredients themselves. I figured out that I am not a big fan of caraway seed and it’s heady aroma and flavor, sort of similar to fennel or licorice. The same goes for the anise seed as it has a very similar taste and function. After researching the caraway plant a little further, I found out that the caraway seed is often used as a spice in breads, especially in rye breads, I assume because the spice of the caraway cuts through the robust taste of the rye flour. I also found out that rye bread containing caraway seeds produces a denser bread because one of the essential oils found in caraway seed (limonene) has yeast killing properties (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caraway_seed).
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The orange peel zest that I included after the folding of the oil and salt adds a beautiful speckling of color and the aroma of the freshly peeled oranges is divine. The orange that I picked out of the selection for no particular reason, turned out to be one of the best oranges I have ever seen. The flesh was a deep, yet vibrant hue and I ended up squeezing the juice into a cup and consuming it immediately. It was delicious.
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This loaf wasn’t exactly a sandwich bread, although I could see it going well with peanut butter and jelly or maybe an orange marmalade with butter, but I thought I would use the trick that I am sure a lot of bakers do, which is have French Toast for dinner. French Toast as a meal is very interesting. There are a lot of different versions of French Toast, but the French version is called pain perdu which means “lost bread” as it was typically made using stale, leftover bread. Makes sense. Caroline and Jake said that the bread made a great French Toast, and although I didn’t like it, they seemed to.
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The bread batter which includes orange peel, caraway seed, and anise seed |
So I ended up appreciating the bread and it’s unique ingredients, but not actually enjoying it. I still learned a bit about the ingredients, their use, and the history of the way I used the bread. I’m sure there will be more bread that I don’t actually like, but I am almost certain that they will still teach me something valuable about baking and hopefully, Jake and Caroline will continue to help me eat them.
Swedish Summer Rye #6
Tassajara Bread Book
3 cups lukewarm water
2 packages dry yeast
1/3 cup honey
1 cup dry milk
grated peel of two oranges
2 teaspoons anise seeds
2 teaspoons caraway seeds
4 cups unbleached white flour
4 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup oil
4 cups rye flour
whole wheat flour for kneading
Proceed with directions for Tassajara Yeasted bread#1, stirring in the orange peel, anise seeds, and caraway seeds after the dry milk.
