I am going to make my second attempt at sourdough rye bread. The last
attempt was very good, but I made it without using altus. This time I
would like to try it using altus. I kept a hunk of the rye bread from
the first batch just to make the altus.

My question is do I grind up the crust or the crustless bread for the
altus?

On Sat, 16 Jul 2005 09:49:21 -0500, Bob K wrote:

I am going to make my second attempt at sourdough rye bread. The last
attempt was very good, but I made it without using altus. This time I
would like to try it using altus. I kept a hunk of the rye bread from the
first batch just to make the altus.

My question is do I grind up the crust or the crustless bread for the
altus?

From Google:

Altus according to George Greenstein's "Secrets of a Jewish Baker", altus
is the secret of good rye bread. Altus is left-over ground-up rye bread,
soaked in water. To make altus, cut the crusts from a loaf of bread, soak
it in water for several hours, or overnight, under refrigeration. It will
keep several weeks under refrigeration. Use small amounts in bread dough,
pressing water out of it. This will intensify the taste of the rye bread,
make it a moister bread. You will have to adjust the hydration of your
dough when you use altus, probably adding a bit more flour.


Heaven knows why such a thing called Altus exists / JB

"danube" in message =
news quoted some source as follows:

"Altus according to George Greenstein's "Secrets of a Jewish Baker", =
altus
is the secret of good rye bread. Altus is left-over ground-up rye =
bread,
soaked in water."

It makes good economic sense to sell old bread as part of new bread.
I'd like enlarge that to detritus in general. Anything that you can =
pack
today's loaf with that you otherwise would have thrown out yesterday
is like money in the bank.

Certainly, if you are writing books, the more stuff that you can think =
of
to stick in your dough, the more pages you can fill and the fatter will
be your books.

--
Dicky

Certainly, if you are writing books, the more stuff that you can think of
to stick in your dough, the more pages you can fill and the fatter will be
your books.

Wouldn't work with me, my rye bread is so delicious that there just are no
left-overs. JB

A Russian/German alternative for moist bread is zavarka/Br=FChst=FCck.
This involves pouring all the recipe's water on something like 1/5 or
1/3 of the recipe's flour. After that cools, you can mix the starter
into that "porridge" and let it ferment (e.g. up to 12 hours). Then add
salt and the rest of the flour.

Ron

Sorry, I should have said hot water, from 150 F. up to boiling, gets
poured on the small portion of flour (normally rye), the mixed.

"Dick Adams" wrote in message
...

"danube" in message
news quoted some source as follows:

"Altus according to George Greenstein's "Secrets of a Jewish Baker", altus
is the secret of good rye bread. Altus is left-over ground-up rye bread,
soaked in water."

It makes good economic sense to sell old bread as part of new bread.
I'd like enlarge that to detritus in general. Anything that you can pack
today's loaf with that you otherwise would have thrown out yesterday
is like money in the bank.
snip
Dicky

The practice as reported by Greenstein is very old. The old bakers threw
nothing away--unsold cakes, breads, whatever--it all saw use in something
else. And, as you say, it is good economic sense. The frustrating part for
today's cook is a recipe that calls for cake crumbs or cookie crumbs or
stale bread, essentially requiring the purchase of a fresh item to make
stale or into crumbs.
Janet

"Janet Bostwick" wrote in message =
...

[ ... ]

The practice as reported by Greenstein is very old. The old bakers =
threw=20
nothing away--unsold cakes, breads, whatever--it all saw use in =
something=20
else. And, as you say, it is good economic sense. The frustrating =
part for=20
today's cook is a recipe that calls for cake crumbs or cookie crumbs =
or=20
stale bread, essentially requiring the purchase of a fresh item to =
make=20
stale or into crumbs.

Another frustration might come from compromised rise. Almost any=20
addition will lessen the rise potential. But, of course, not everybody=20
cares how well their loaves rise, and some others have fancy ovens=20
that will puff anything up.

On Tuesday, July 19, 2005, at 09:22 AM, Dick Adams wrote:

Another frustration might come from compromised rise. Almost any
addition will lessen the rise potential. But, of course, not everybody
cares how well their loaves rise, and some others have fancy ovens
that will puff anything up.

I suppose that might be the case though I haven't seen altus called for
in anything other than ryes, so "puffing up" is not really a
consideration. I would buy the fancy oven that could raise rye g.

I did think it made my water-bath pumpernickels better. They were still
quite dense and needed some time to cure, but it was worth the trouble.
And after I'd made a few loaves, I had a steady supply of stray slices
to recycle.

Perhaps Ulrike can give us an update on how the German bakeries collect
the old bread. I cannot imagine they bake it to stale it. There must be
some kind of arrangement with their retail channel. Imaging doing that
here! Recycled WonderBread...

Will

I did think it made my water-bath pumpernickels better. They were still
quite dense and needed some time to cure, but it was worth the trouble.
And after I'd made a few loaves, I had a steady supply of stray slices to
recycle.

Tar is stretched with gravel to obtain tarmac. Pumice is mixed with cement
to give very loose-textured building bricks. I suppose old bread just
soaks up moisture and gives the bread some wet pockets. Or is there some
sympathetic magic involved?
JB