Baking Bouchon - Recipe 51: Rye Bread

I still have bread in my freezer from when I made multigrain bread last week but I need to do some catch up on these bread recipes so it's time to make some rye bread.

I have zero experience in making rye bread and it turns out it just means you replace some of the white flour with rye flour which is easy.  According to Thomas Keller in order for a bread to be called rye bread it must be at least 50% rye flour - this one's about 60%.  I'm pretty sure these rules aren't as serious as the 51% corn rule for bourbon but I'll take his word for it.

The dough came together easily, I kneaded it with the dough hook of my mixer for 30 minutes, (which by the way makes my mixer get really hot - if it dies I think I'll cry... and then I'll buy a new one that's orange) the dough rested, it proofed, it got scored and it got baked.



The bread turned out pretty well.  The crust was crusty and the insides were not as light as I would have preferred but not bad in comparison to some other breads I've made.

My biggest issue was that it didn't taste very rye-like to me.  TK does not put caraway seeds in his rye bread because he says that he likes the true "rye" flavor to come through.

I apparently am used to caraway seeds in my rye bread and so I'm trained that caraway flavor = rye flavor.

CA felt the same way - he wanted the caraway seeds.




CA got really excited when I told him I was making rye bread.  His excitement waned slightly when I told him it wasn't a marble rye.  The man watches too much Seinfeld.

His happiness had nothing to do with the bread itself - it had to do with what he wanted to do with the bread.  As in use it as a vehicle to eat pastrami which he specifically requested I pick up at the store... along with real mustard with seeds in it that originated in a European country, and little pickles, not the sweet gherkins I buy for myself but dill ones.  It was no DGS Deli Pastrami Sandwich but it was a good use of the bread.

Enjoy!
Julie