Further to my previous post on experiments with dough enhancer, I have done another round with rye flour. Each of these loaves has 50g strong white bread flour, 350g rye flour, 8g yeast, 8g salt and 280g liquid. The one on the left also has 8g of dough enhancer (ascorbic acid) while the other has 8g of wine vinegar (acetic acid) incorporated as part of the liquid addition.

The enhanced dough has clearly produced a better result, suggesting that acidifying the mix is not a worthwhile change on its own. Further reading suggests that the difference is more about oxidification encouraging gluten development rather than acid favouring the yeast. On this evidence, dough enhancer looks like a good bet but I am still a bit dubious about becoming reliant on a further additive.

The other loaf was still perfectly edible if a little dense. Maybe my next experiment should be to compare dough enhancer with a regular loaf which is given all the time it needs to grow to perfection?