Cumin in European breads? An common translation error!

Indeed. I just came back from Germany, and I was actually looking for proper cumin to make hummus, and had to be very careful in the store to take the right spice. I think they also call it black cumin, but that may be only in Bavaria. They are special :)

Beautiful bread by the way!

Hanseata,  many thanks for your posts about the Swedish Limpa Rye.  I wanted to make some for some elderly neighbors (the wife had been raised on it as a child in Chicago when her grandmother made it).  In looking through the various posts on TFL, I saw that some baked it as a very wet dough in a loaf pan, while yours was a "round" (Swedish translation - thanks), and freestanding.  I keep a white started at 50 per cent and a rye starter at 100 per cent in the fridge.  No WW starter or flour (at this time).

So I went with the rye starter, and used bread flour in place of the WW.  Had some of the spices and bought the rest, including cumin. (Didn't see your later note about caraway until after the bread was in the oven).  Next time will try the caraway. The one major change I made was the bulk fermentation in the fridge.  I have been experimenting recently with "walkabout" breads, letting the dough do a longer bulk ferment in the fridge.  So this dough rested an extra day in the fridge.  I took it out this morning, followed your two hour timing to bring it to room temp and then into a floured banneton. Finally, tried your windmill slash and into the steamed oven.

It is cooling now.  Will try to photograph later.

Bob

Shame on me - no photos.  After letting it cool for a few hours, I sliced it and brought it over to the neighbors. All minus a skinny end slice which I tried as proof.  The spicy aroma and taste were unique and very good.  I will try the recipe again.  As to the cumin and caraway discussion, per your suggestion, I used less cumin than the 9 gm each of the other spices.  Given the strong taste of caraway, I would probably have to reduce the caraway even more.  But it was delicious as is.  Thanks again.

Bob

I recently bought Stanley Ginsberg’s The Rye Baker, and while reviewing the recipes it contained, I noticed one recipe called Cumin Rye included in the section on Southern Poland breads.  I looked over the recipe and notes, and didn’t see any caraway seeds in the recipe, and didn’t see any comment from him in the notes about the similarity in some languages for cumin and caraway.  I recalled reading something here about that error, and after searching, found this thread.  I like cumin in some foods, but I find it to be a strange spice to be found in Polish or German bread, compared with caraway, which is rather commonly found in many dishes from Germany and Eastern Europe.  I wonder if Mr. Ginsberg has made that translation error as well (this is particularly interesting, as I believe he has a PhD in Chinese Language and Literature, so I would think he would exercise particular care in translations).  Has anyone here made any rye bread with cumin, and not caraway?  If so, how did it taste?  Thanks.

There's a little secret I stumbled upon.  I like to bake a whole wheat levain bread that is based on Daniel Leader's "Pain Poilaine" that uses a large amount of whole wheat levain and almost straight whole wheat flour. One time after it came out of the oven, I noticed that the toasty/nutty aspect that I liked about the aroma reminded me of what I liked about the smell of cumin (ordinary white cumin, that is.)  So next time, I ground just a hint of cumin (about 1/4 tsp for a 1kg loaf) and added it.  It did deepen the toasty scent and flavor of the crust nicely, and the robust flavor of the whole wheat prevented the cumin from becoming distracting.  Basically, you can't really tell that it has cumin in it--it just has a deeper flavor.  That said, the direction of flavor that the cumin pushed the bread towards would favor more savory toppings and accompaniments over sweet ones like jam or honey.