Milk Rye from The Rye Baker

We returned home a couple of weeks ago from a trip to Myrtle Beach and needed some bread. After a bit of consideration, I opened The Rye Baker and began thumbing through it. Several breads looked appealing and I eventually selected the Milk Rye. It’s one that I haven’t made previously. The bread is about 60:40 rye:wheat (medium rye flour and bread flour). My deviations were to substitute whole rye flour that I milled in place of the medium rye flour, 2% milk for the whole milk, and ADY for the IDY. Everything else, including hydration, was true to the formula.

The bread begins with an overnight sponge that acidifies about 40% of the rye flour in the formula. The final formula includes whole milk, eggs, dark molasses, bread flour, more rye flour, yeast, caraway seed, and salt.

The process is straightforward. The sponge, milk, eggs, and molasses are combined (I added the yeast at this point so that it could hydrate). Then the flours, salt, and caraway seeds are mixed in. Overall mixing time with my KA was about 12 minutes, which yielded a well-developed dough that was 81F when it came off the hook.

Since our house is still cool, I proofed the dough at 75F in my proofer. It took about an hour to nearly double. The dough was then turned out on the countertop which had been dusted with rye flour, divided into two equal pieces, shaped into loaves, then placed in greased 9x4x4 Pullman pans. My shaping was a bit heavy-handed, so it took about 75 minutes for the dough to crest above the rim of the pans.

The bread baked up nicely at the recommended 400F temperature. While darker on top, the sides are a lovely golden brown.

The crumb, though tight, is well-aerated. The yeast kicker in the final dough certainly helps. There's none of the gumminess that is typical in breads with higher rye percentages.

The flavor is definitely more-ish. I anticipated that the caraway (at 10g) might be dominant but it seems to be more of a background note. Perhaps it is moderated or balanced by the molasses flavor? The flavor of the rye is what captures my attention when I eat it.

All in all, it’s good stuff. Definitely worth making again.

Paul

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It’s been a while since I was a recipe tester for this book. I’m not sure I made this one as my memory isn’t getting any better 😉. Your bake looks excellent.

Best regards,

Ian

didn't include this bread, either. It's heftier than a light rye but doesn't have as much oomph as, say, a pumpernickel.

Since I used whole rye flour, I might try upping the hydration percentage a few points for a subsequent bake but it turned out pretty well.

Paul

Always nice to see your bakes. I can’t remember the last time I made a yeast risen bread. Looks delicious.

The sponge uses a sourdough starter and it does get fairly puffy. However, the yeast does the heavy lifting (and shortens the overall fermentation time) for the final dough.

Paul

super loaves, Paul, and, from your description, a flavor bomb. Great bake! Does the book give any info on where this type of rye is from or what tradition it's in?

Rob