Milling Rye Berries
OK so another newbie question. I was able to pick up some rye berries from a Natural Foods store and I am wondering if there is anything different about milling rye. First of all it didn't specify dark or medium and I am not sure if dark or medium is a product of the milling process or if it actually comes from two different berries. If anyone knows I would appreciate it.I tried to ask but the couple of people I was able to talk to that worked there were not sure. I also didn't have a lot of time. The second thing was it had instructions that said to prepare soak in water and then had cooking instructions which I thought was a little strange. I do plan on visiting there again this weekend but if anyone know I would appreciate the help as I don't want to run it through my Nutrimill until I know what I have and what I am doing. Thanks in advance for any help.
As far as I understand light, medium and dark refer only to the parts of the rye berry that are included in the flour. There aren't different kinds of rye grains.
Light rye is like white flour - only the inner part of the grain is present, dark rye is flour from only the outer part of the grain and I guess medium is like whole grain wheat with part of the bran removed. Pumpernickel results when all parts of the grain are included in the flour. It can be fine or coarse.
I mill rye regularly for my weekly bakes - I grind some very coarsely as cracked rye to add to the soaker, and some finely as flour. It makes very good bread.
Patsy
Patsy,
Thank you for your response. Do you have any recipes you would recommend using Rye. or I guess Pumpernickel? There are so many out there it is easy to get overwhelmed and hard to pick when you are new to all of this? Any help would be appreciated. .
There are loads of recipes on TFL. I generally use it for Jeffrey Hamelman's 5 grain with a rye starter or his 30% rye bread, but often just add 20% or so to a no recipe sourdough I make most often.
Patsy