On The Baking Circle recently, there has been much discussion of rye bread. This is a subject near and dear to my heart.

I thought I would take another run at Izzy's NY Rye from Breads From The La Brea Bakery. This is the dough before fermentation.

I took some liberties. I didn't use a true rye starter. I refreshed some wheat barm with a massive dose of pumpernickel flour. To build the dough I used white rye flour and first clear flour. Having built the starter with dark rye, I was happy to read that Silverton and Izzy settled on the same approach. I'd rather be lucky than good.

Rye doesn't have the same kind of gluten as wheat. It has glutelin rather than glutenin. Glutelin does not have the same beneficial properties as glutenin. There are also pentosan gums in rye. If these get overactive, the dough will become a sticky, gooey mess. To avoid this, I use cool water to mix the dough and try my best not to OVER mix it. Rye is a true case of "Wetter is Better". If the dough is slightly sticky it's just right. It makes it kinda challenging to shape, and get into the baskets (above), but if the dough is easy to work with, I end up putting the bread on the doorstop shelf.

Izzy's breads, ready for the oven. Nice and hot, 500º to start. I pour 1 cup of hot water onto a pan, on the rack below my stone. My oven is sooooo small that the spritzing, called for in most recipes, is overkill. When the bread and water are in the oven the temp gets lowered to 450º. The total baking time is around 45 minutes.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Izzy Rules! This is really tasty bread. Assuming you have the starter, it all happens in one day. No intermediate builds, no overnight retarding.

It's not exactly haut cuisine, but I already had the bologna and American cheese waiting! Ain't nuthin' better!