In response to a request, this has been posted.

Translation:
http://www.indiana.edu/~pollang/Russian_bread_table.pdf


Original:
http://www.indiana.edu/~pollang/royter_table.pdf

Ron wrote:

>In response to a request, this has been posted.
>
>Translation:
>http://www.indiana.edu/~pollang/Russian_bread_table.pdf
>
>
I'm glad to see the translation, but I'm still kinda lost..... there are
a few things missing for me...

What's a yeast cake? Is that like fresh, or compressed, yeast in the USA?

What kind of syrup? There are LOTS of syrups ranging from light to
dark, and with lots of flavor profiles.

Liquids... what kind of liquids are used? And how much of them?

Weights - are all the numbers the weights in kilograms?

Procedure - how are the breads made - any general guidelines? There was
some talk about mashing earlier. If some of the grain is mashed, how
much and how? What about baking time and temperature?

Sourdough - since this is a sourdough news group, I'd have thought with
the amount of traffic about these breads that they would be sourdough
based. Most rye breads are sourdough based. Have I missed something
else here?

Pictures - do you have pictures of any of these breads?

Thanks,
Mike

This table is only one page in a 531 page book by I.M. Royter.
Obviously, it will not answer many questions, for which you need other
parts of the book. I can answer a few questions and I hope that the
whole book gets translated one day, although I doubt I'd be the one to
do it.

The yeast is compressed yeast. I'm sorry for the inaccurate
translation. I thought that this type of yeast (non-instant) was called
a "yeast cake" in English.

People usually use molasses as the U.S. substitute for the syrup.
Royter's actual description of the syrup (called "patoka" in Russian)
is "maltose syrup, made from corn flour or the leftovers from corn
production by means of the saccharization of the corn starch with malt.
The syrup is then filtered and heated." The syrup can be "either
transparent or a cloudy light-brown and thick liquid which is sweet and
has a malty flavor and aroma."

The only unmentioned liquid is water. To know how much to use, you'd
need a table of the hydrations of all these bread types. Most of the
hydrations are actually in the neighborhood of 73%.

The mashing of the grain goes under the heading "zavarka," which has an
entire chapter in the book devoted to it.

I make these breads with sourdough and do not use commercial yeast. In
fact, the "compressed yeast" mentioned is usually used only at the
first stage of making the starter and is not added directly to the
dough. I make the starter without yeast at all, so it's an ingredient
that can easily be omitted.

In spite of the shortcomings, I think it's useful to look at this chart
to see what ingredients (other than yeast) are used in the various
types.

Pictures of many of these breads can be viewed at http://www.hleb.net,
or http://www.borodinsky.com, and on the many Russian bread websites I
recently posted in a message.

I'm sorry to have caused any problems by posting this. I thought I was
responding to someone's request and I certainly would not taken the
time to do the translation if I had known that I would only annoy
Usenet readers as a result!

Ron

Ron wrote:

>
>I'm sorry to have caused any problems by posting this. I thought I was
>responding to someone's request and I certainly would not taken the
>time to do the translation if I had known that I would only annoy
>Usenet readers as a result!
>
>
>

Oh no, I was certainly not annoyed, I just had unanswered questions. It
was kinda like the old Saturday Night Live News bit where they the
scores at the half... and gave half the score.....

Thanks for the clarification.

Mike