Submitted by photojess on July 11, 2009 - 3:08pm

what is whole rye flour?

this may sound dumb, but I have pumpernickle, and what appears to be a finely ground rye flour, and I don't believe I've ever seen any labels at the co-op for whole rye.....am I missing something here?

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Rye distinctions

Whole rye flour = whole meal rye, which is all of the ground rye berry (just like whole wheat). Apparently, pumpernickle flour is coarsely ground wholemeal rye. There is also light and dark rye. I assume that the dark rye is probably finely ground wholemeal rye and the light rye probably has some of the bran and germ sifted out.

--Pamela

so then I have what I need then?

if a recipe calls for whole rye, I could use the pumpernickle?  It is definately coarser then the other rye flour I have.

Thanks!

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Maybe. What are you making?

Maybe. What are you making? If your recipe only uses a small amount of rye, it probably doesn't make any difference whether it is coarsely or finely ground. If it has a large percentage of rye, then it might make a difference.

--Pamela

Peter Reinhart's

Transitional Hearth Rye Seigle pg 181 of his whole grain breads book.

It calls for 283 gms of whole rye flour for the soaker

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Pumpernickel flour is

Pumpernickel flour is probably ideal (perfect) if you are making a soaker. Go for it!

--Pamela

already did!

I didn't realize till I read the label though, that the rye flour was organic whole, so I used that instead of the pumpernickle.

Can't wait to make this bread tomorrow!

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About dark rye flour

If I recall correctly dark rye is flour milled from the outer part of the rye berry, that is if you mill white rye from the endosperm then dark rye is what has been sifted away. Very high in bran and minerals but best used as flavor enhancer in light rye type breads.

Whole Rye

Actually, I think rye meal is more akin to pumpernickel, whereas whole rye flour is essentially the "whole wheat" version of rye.  In other words, whole rye flour is finely ground rye berries while rye meal is a coarser grind.  At least that's what I've gleaned from Hamelman's book.

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That's my understanding as

That's my understanding as well.

--Pamela

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