on Thu, 06 Jun 96 14:51:42 -0700 Franklin Porath <franklin.porath@acclink.com>
>...
>I gathered the ingredients for a dark rye bread and threw them into the
>Kitchenaid bowl, which I had warmed. The result was a lump of gooey
>brown stuff, which I allowed to rise in a greased bowl for several hours.
>...
>I then placed the loaves on a sheet, covered them with a towel, and put
>them into our Farberware convestion oven, set at about 110 degrees, to
>rise again. And rise they did: in an hour and a half they had risen
>into two magnificent looking loaves. (Here comes the technical problem!)
>
>I opened the oven door and whisked the towel off of the loaves. Before
>my eyes they seemed to deflate, over two or three seconds, like slow
>motion balloons, to about half their previous heights.
>...
Well, I have had luck and failure on rye bread so maybe I can help,
although it's hard because there is little detail in your report.
First, is the rye recipe you used rye/whole wheat or rye/white flour. In
either case, and especially the former case, if you use 50% or more rye,
you have to be very careful with the dough so as not to tear the gluten.
Gentle kneading.
Second, it sound like you might have had too much water. The dough, even
if it uses a low gluten flour, should not be too goey. It doesn't
neccesarily have to keep it's shape, but it should remain somewhat solid.
Third, did you knead with a the kitchenaid, or by hand. If you kneaded by
machine, you should probably start with a cold bowl and use some ice water
so you don't start cooking the flour. The machine will natually heat up
the ingredients as it kneads. I have touble using my cuisinart for
kneading low gluten breads because it gets the dough to hot.
Finally you might try a lower proofing temperature, and keeping a closer
eye on it during the second proof. The bread falling is a classic symptom
of overproofing and/or too rapid of a proof. Try just letting the bread
rise at room temperature. It will take longer, but it won't be so
stressful on the gluten.
Ralph
Her crop was miscellany/When all was said and done,
A little bit of everything,/A great deal of none
--A Girl's Garden, Robert Frost