Rye Breads

[Delmonico]

Rye Bread

 

 

Like most of my documents I will give a little background on the food I'm spotlighting. There is a wide variety of rye breads, which is where rye breads get difficult, a lot of them have been given an English name often the name of a country where they may or may not have originated. 

 

I bake a lot of rye breads of different types and like them for meat sandwiches, I prefer whole wheat for peanut butter and/or jelly and similar condiments including honey.

 

The problem with rye flour is it does not produce a lot of gluten; this can be overcome by using some all-purpose, bread or gluten flour in the dough. Modern strains of rye produce more gluten than the older strains but still lack a little unless you want a heavy, dense loaf. 

I do not claim the recipes or names I use are authentic to the region or origin. 

 

As I understand, rye breads should be made of sourdough, and I have made a lot of sourdough rye bread, and it makes the best rye breads you have ever eaten. The problem with that is I would have to explain sourdough as I understand it and make it, but that is going to be another document. 

 

For those already doing sourdough just substitute the white flour used in these for rye, leaving out the yeast and making it a long ferment. The lactic acid in the sourdough changes some of the protein to act more like gluten, but more on this another day. 

 

Rye bread if one has not already noticed rye bread is popular in northern and central Europe. This is mostly due to a climactic event that started in the late 13th Century. After a centuries long very warm period in most of Europe an event started that lasted till the late 19th Century called the Little Ice Age. Without going into detail, much of Europe was colder and wetter than it had been, a condition that was not good for the strains of wheat in common use at the time.

 

These conditions are good for rye which became the main grain crop of these areas as well as being used heavily in the Northeastern part of the English Colonies that would be called New England. 

 

After the Civil War more wheat was grown in the United States because of both climate change and improved strains of wheat. A lot of rye bread recipes were modified to use modern yeasts coming on the market, and part white flour, these are the easiest types to make in camp. 

 

These can have different amounts of white flour in them, but half white flour, half rye flour makes exceptionally good rye bread with good rye flour. Rye flour also makes a stickier dough than just wheat flour but with practice this is not a problem. 

 

Rye flours come as dark rye and light rye; to avoid being confusing the term dark rye is rye ground with the bran on it like whole wheat, light rye has the bran removed. At one time the local mills in the areas around Southeast Nebraska produced what they called blended flour which was 50% roller ground (fine) light rye (brand and germ) removed and 50% high gluten white wheat flour. 

 

Today most rye flour when found in stores is dark, it also is most often found in what is called stone ground, this is better described as coarse ground, to be labeled stone ground it has to have only one pass under a stone roller, the rest of the passes are done with more modern methods. Stone ground did not always mean it was coarse ground since true stone ground can be sifted through small screens, what does not pass through reground. 

 

The husked grains of rye have a light color bran, but more of a grey color than the white wheat, this carries over to the endosperm and germ. The fine ground as well as light rye is scarce, I have a local source for the fine ground light. 

 

The dark stone (coarse) ground is not hard to find, but many stores do not carry it anymore. As always often the internet will get you items not available locally.

 

To make things more confusing we have dark, medium and light rye bread. Now logic would say the flour makes a difference but that is not the case. It more is based on what else you add. If you look at the flour picture you can see the color between them is not that different, but the stone ground dark is coarser. 

Molasses as a sweetener will darken it, some types go as far as using burnt sugar dissolved in the water. Adding cocoa will add a bit of bitterness, often a desirable feature. Some even use stale coffee for color.

 

Some rye bread recipes use seeds in them, most often caraway, anise, fennel, or dill, all members of the botanical family Apiaceae, the same as carrots, parsley and similar plants. These are not needed if they are not desired, but I like them in my rye bread. This gives us a lot of variants for rye bread. Also, one variety I make has grated orange peel, tradition says bitter orange peel, also known as a Seville orange, this is the type good marmalade is made from. 

 

I like the light rye for tuna and chicken, the medium for venison or beef steak and the real dark for cured meats such as ham, bacon, or corned beef, both brisket and the canned I keep for emergencies when not wanting to go to the store. 

 

Like my other bread documents, I will start with a basic recipe and just add what is needed to make different types of bread. These will be for single loaves and simply increase for more than one. This will work in a common bread pan, like my whole wheat I most often use the stove-top 8-inch dutch oven and use the lid. It will make a lower and wider loaf in a 10-inch oven as per the top picture or rolls in a 10 -inch, my preferred method for bread in camp is a shallow oven of the proper size for the bread being made and as rolls for easy serving 

 

When the recipe calls for molasses, I use dark molasses or sorghum syrup but use light if that is what you have or like. I just like the robust taste of the dark. 

 

The instrutions are the same for all recipes, only differance is the ingredients.  These will follow the last recipe. 

 

Simple rye bread 

 

1½ cups warm water 

2-3 teaspoons yeast or 1 package of yeast 

2 tablespoons of sugar or molasses 

1/2 teaspoon salt (optional) 

1 tablespoon of lard or 1½ of vegetable shortening 

1 tablespoon of caraway or other seeds as mentioned above if desired 

2½ cups of flour rye flour of your choice 

2½-3 cups of all purpose or bread flour 

 

Czech style rye bread 

 

This is almost the same as the basic recipe, but it always uses roller mill ground light rye flour and caraway seed. This is to honor the Czech immigrants who brought roller mill flour making into my area in the 1870's; to me it is not proper to call it that without that type of flour. A small point my friends of Czech descent and I consider important. 

 

1½ cups warm water 

2-3 teaspoons yeast or 1 package of yeast 

2 tablespoons of sugar (I use brown) 

1/2 teaspoon salt (optional) 

1 tablespoon of lard (everyone I know uses lard) 

1 tablespoon of caraway 

2½ cups of fine ground light rye 

2½-3 cups of all purpose or bread flour 

 

Austrian Type Rye Bread 

 

Perhaps a loose term, but years ago I was able to sample a loaf of rye bread brought to work by a co-worker made in a local bakery in his hometown in northern Austria. (Yes, you could call it smuggled and much easier pre- 9/11. Cuban cigars and beer also ended up in machinery parts crates.) 

 

I was able to duplicate it from the sample that came in via luggage and my co-worker was surprised and approved of it, he could not believe I did it without a recipe. 

 

1 1/2 cups warm water 

2-3 teaspoons yeast or 1 package of yeast 

1 teaspoon sugar 

1 teaspoons salt (optional) 

1 tablespoon lard or 1 1/2 tablespoons of vegetable shortening 

1 tablespoon fennel seed 

2½ cups of fine ground light rye 

2½-3 cups of all purpose or bread flour 

 

Pumpernickel Bread 

 

Use stone ground rye for this bread, it is traditional, often crushed rye berries are also used in the bread. 

 

1 1/2 cups warm water 

2-3 or 1 package yeast teaspoons yeast 

1/4 cup molasses 1 teaspoons salt (optional) 

1 tablespoons lard or 1½ vegetable shortening 

2 ½ cups of light rye flour 

2 ½-3 cups of all purpose or bread flour

 

Swedish or Limpa rye 

 

This is often considered Christmas bread; it is sweet, and the orange peel would indicate the same, because that's when oranges would have been easiest to obtain. This is my favorite to make venison sandwiches with 

1 1/2 cups warm water 

2-3 teaspoons yeast or 1 package 

2 tablespoons of molasses 

3 tablespoons brown sugar 

1 teaspoons salt (optional) 

1 tablespoons lard or 1 ½ of vegetable shortening 

1 tablespoon of anise seed 

1 tablespoon grated orange peel, fresh Seville if possible 

2 ½ cups of stone ground dark rye flour 

2 ½-3 cups of all purpose or bread flour 

 

Deli Rye 

 

This is the dark rye that used to be common with Reuben sandwiches but has lost popularity to the swirly rye breads. This one may get you in trouble with the other residents of your domicile. Outside on the grill might be best. You burn the sugar, not just as in caramelize, but burn as black. I make sure the skillet does not have oil on it. I use brown sugar but white is fine. Be ready with the 1 ½ cup of water to cool is as it turns black, then dissolve it and let it cool till just warm.

 

1 ½ cups of water with 2 tablespoons of blackened sugar in it 

2-3 teaspoons yeast or 1package of yeast 

2 teaspoons of cocoa powder 

3 tablespoons of molasses 1 teaspoons salt (optional) 

1 tablespoons lard or 1 ½ of vegetable shortening 

1 tablespoons caraway seed or other (optional) 

2½ cups of dark rye flour 

2½-3 cups of all purpose or bread flour 

 

When making rye bread I mix all the ingredients together except for the white flour, this forms a nice sponge which I let work for a ½ hour to an hour depending on time factor and temperature. When this is working, I mix in the needed white flour to be able to knead it well without excessive stickiness. This is allowed to rise till doubled; it is then made into loaves or rolls, allowed to rise again, and baked 25 -45 minutes in a moderate to hot oven (375-425F).

[Johnny McCrae]

Great article. Thanks for sharing.

I'll have to get my Bride to try the Czech recipe since I'm half Czech. The other half is Slovenian. I loved eating Smoked Slovenian Sausage on dark Rye bread.