What sort of rye is this and how would I achieve it?
I was until recently under the mistaken impression that all rye bread was the sort you get in supermarkets in the UK and Belgium and Sweden. Small, dense, dark, and exceedingly rich in flavour.
This is the picture of the common UK brand. Like in Belgium and Sweden it is sold in the UK in pre-sliced form. The texture is crumbly and the bread has a habit of falling in half when you take the slices out.
Ingredients: Cereal (Rye Wholemeal, Whole Grain Rye Flour), Water, Natural Sourdough (Wholegrain Rye Meal, Water), Sea Salt.
I followed a 'deli style rye' recipe from the American artisan bread in 5 minutes book, and was rather surprised that it produced a nice tasting loaf but decidedly unlike the sort of 'rye' I have been wanting. Really quite light in colour, and far more subtle in flavour. Ignorant of me perhaps, but it was news to me that when recipes from other countries say 'rye' they don't necessarily mean the very dark bread I'm used to.
Is it a 'dark rye' that this sort is called, or is it something more like pumpernickel, does anyone know? I notice the tendency of such loaves to be made in Germany- is this a specifically German style of rye bread?
Is regular rye flour different from the wholemeal and whole grain rye flour mentioned in the ingredients? The rye flour I have been using is unbranded stuff from my local health food store, so I am uncertain of the type, but it looks quite fine.
Any advice would be appreciated on unravelling the mysteries of rye varieties.