| Rye %: | 75% |
| Stages: | Buckwheat gruel, Final dough |
| Leaven: | Yeast |
| Start to Finish: | 3 hours |
| Hands-on Time: | 25-30 minutes |
| Yield: | One 2½ lb./1.15 kg loaf |
“Fine,” is one of those words that has a multitude of meanings. It can mean “good,” as in “How are you?” “I’m fine.” It can mean sophisticated or refined, as in “fine dining” or “fine jewelry;” or it can describe a smooth, silky texture that’s the opposite of “coarse.” In the case of Holstein Fine Rye, it’s all of the above.
| Rye %: | 66% |
| Stages: | Sponge, Soaker, Final dough |
| Leaven: | Rye sour culture, Yeast |
| Start to Finish: | 15-17 hours |
| Hands-on Time: | 25-30 minutes |
| Yield: | Two 1½ lb./675 g loaves |
Austrian rye breads are less well-known than their German cousins, which is a shame because they’re incredibly flavorful. I found the recipe for this well-balanced nutty-sweet-sour country loaf in probably the best of the Austrian bread books, Der Duft von frischem Brot (The Aroma of Fresh-Baked Bread) by Barbara van Melle. The recipe itself comes from Vienna baker Horst Felzl, who, had he been 2 cm taller, as the book states, and qualified for the police academy, would never have become one of Austria’s best bakers.
| Rye %: | 100% |
| Stages: | Sponge, Final dough |
| Leaven: | Rye sour culture, Yeast |
| Start to Finish: | 12-14 hours |
| Hands-on Time: | 25-30 minutes |
| Yield: | Two 2¼ lb./1.0 kg loaves |
Ruislimppu, which translates to “rye loaf,” is the traditional bread of eastern Finland, with a nutty-sour flavor profile that reflects the strong Russian influence on the region’s food culture. Unlike the sour ring ryes (hapanleipäa) of western Finland, which were baked only once or twice a year and stored over the winter on poles hung from the ceiling, the eastern Finns baked their rye bread regularly throughout the year.
| Rye %: | 100% |
| Stages: | 3-stage sponge, Final dough |
| Leaven: | Rye sour culture |
| Start to Finish: | 24-28 hours |
| Hands-on Time: | 35-40 minutes |
| Yield: | One 2¼ lb/1.0 kg loaf |
Lublin Rye, which I found in the Polish bread blog Adam Piekarz (“Adam’s Bakes”) appeals to me on many levels. Firstly, its history: according to Adam, “back in the 1960s, when the content of rye bread was regulated by the [Communist] state, Lubelski was considered a great luxury because it used 100% white rye flour, which was available only at certain times of the year.” Second, it’s the most basic of rye breads, containing only rye flour, water, salt and sour culture. If nothing else, I was expecting a bread that showcased the subtlety of white rye and the balance of a three-stage sponge.
| Rye %: | 90% |
| Stages: | Scald, Sponge, Opara, Final dough |
| Leaven: | Rye sour culture |
| Start to Finish: | 24-28 hours |
| Hands-on Time: | 30-40 minutes |
| Yield: | One 2 lb. (900 g.) loaf |
I love Russian and Baltic rye breads for their intensity. So when, a few months back, I found some imported Latvian breads at my local international grocery store, my heart skipped a beat. Although I’d baked several different Baltic ryes while researching recipes for The Rye Baker, I’d never had the opportunity to taste the real thing, and so I immediately snapped up a loaf of the “Classic Rye Bread.”
Before I even sliced the loaf, I was struck by its density and the intoxicating sweet-sour perfume that enveloped me as soon as I unwrapped it – an aroma that I hadn’t experienced in any of the Russian or Baltic ryes I’d baked until then.
I grew up eating rye bread — or at least what I thought of as rye bread — as the grandchild of eastern European Jewish immigrants. However, I didn’t start baking with rye until I began exploring my culinary roots, an exploration that ultimately came to fruition in Inside the Jewish Bakery.
During my research, I encountered the dense, dark rye breads that my grandparents’ generation subsisted on, but which had already disappeared from the Jewish bakeries of my childhood. I was hooked: My quest led me to the rye breads of northern, central and eastern Europe — largely unknown in the U.S. — where I found flavors, textures and baking challenges I never imagined existed.