There is rye, and then there is rye. The chief difference is this: with one you bake with and the other you distill. The ingredients (not surprisingly) are remarkably similar, as is the process in many respects. And both finished products are equally capable of eliciting hurrahs!
This past weekend I was fortunate to be able to straddle both worlds.
Now, posting this on TFL might be a bit like teaching your Nanna to suck eggs. or blow eggs. or whatever the phrase is, I forget.
But too bad, I'm posting it anyway :p
A few points first. Get a good knife, and know your loaf. I have two knives I use for my sandwich loaves - one is quite harsh on the bread and is no use in a soft bread, as it rips it apart. The other is great on the soft loaves, but just doesn't work well in the firmer styles. Practice makes perfect - you come to know what your knife will cut, and what thickness you can slice with it.
After reading Peter Reinhart's Bread Bakers apprentice and Whole wheat breads countless times, doing my best to get what I can from them, I caught my first sourdough using the pineapple juice sollution. I was rather excited when I noticed it very active and kept feeding it. I found a recipe on this site and thought it would be easy enough to try and to get more familiar working with a wetter dough. I noticed that the bread lacked body and strength but baked with it anyways. I was afraid that the temp would be too hot for too long but I wouldnt know unless I try. 
My first attempt at some loaves from my 'bourke street bakery' book. A bakery in Australia and their book was discussed in Shiao-Ping's blog posting. It's a beautiful book filled with lovely color photos and recipes from this Australian bakery. My first attempt at the 3 sourdough boule's and one large Apple and Oak battard, listed in the derivative breads chapter.
My husband was very happy with the flavor and crumb of the boule and I loved the Apple and Oat with cream cheese for a nice breakfast toast.
Rene, I am glad you liked the pulla! I love it a lot too! I know there is a large population of Finns living up in your area and you might be able to get fresher cardamom seeds in Michigan! In NH, we have cardamom seeds at my health store, but cardamom loses flavor really fast, and I am always wondering how long it has sat at the store and lost some flavor! Not that many people buy cardamom in that form! I bring mine from Finland anyway, so I don't have that problem, thankfully! Take care, Julie J
And to the Red Fox!
if pizza and savory monkey bread meet and have a child, it will be this dangerously delicious bread. Recipe can be found here: http://www.choosy-beggars.com/index.php/2010/02/11/bocconcini-stuffed-mediterranean-bacon-pull-aparts/comment-page-1/#comment-4560
I'm documenting the results of the help my wonderful family gave me this past month while I recovered from a bicycle accident in which I broke my left wrist. Fortunately, I'm right handed, but the cast/brace severely limited my baking. I'm not the only one who suffers if I can't bake - my family wants their bread, cookies and cake - and I now know without question that I am a baker for the love of it. I missed baking!
Anyway, there was no kneading or shaping for me, (typing with one hand too!) so my family stepped in and did pretty well:
Zuccotto is light Italian cake full with pastry cream, fruit and soaked with rum. Fill it with fresh fruit such as, strawberries, raspberries or peaches.
I think I'm being ambitious here. Building starters, and started with 3. Actually no, I didn't start with 3. I started with 1 full rye. 50g/50g, following by a 1:1 ratio and then 1:1:1 ratio by the 3rd day. I realised too late that I was going to build a giant and alot of wastage. I decided to split them into 3.
I wonder if they are ready or I should just go on feeding them? Looking for advice.
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