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Rye Flour

Pancake Cake with Maple Cream Frosting

We admit that we have had cake for breakfast before. Who hasn't? But how about breakfast for dessert? This recipe came about when we accidentally made too much pancake batter on Sunday morning. It's our take on a thousand-layer cake. The pancakes can be made up to a day ahead and refrigerated. The cake can be assembled up to 2 hours ahead. Not feeling like dessert? Prepare the pancakes using only 2 tablespoons of sugar and have them for breakfast.

Woodman Cheese and Crackers

When SFMOMA presented the first Francesca Woodman retrospective in the United States in over two decades, I was excited to immerse myself in the work of another influential female photographer whom I studied in college. I love Woodman's juxtaposition of textures, her way of placing soft and vulnerable human forms in withered, deteriorating environments. My plan was to base a dessert on a photograph with this type of contrast. Of all of the images in the show, the one of the artist wearing a Victorian-style floral coat and flowing dress while posing in a crumbling room was my favorite. At the time the Woodman retrospective opened, I had just returned from a vacation in Scandinavia where I would have been happy to live on only Norwegian hardtack, rye bread, soft cheeses, and smoked salmon. The combination of hearty rusticity and soft refinement of these foods were like elements in the Woodman photo: I saw the crumbling room as a cracker made with whole wheat and rye; her flowing skirt as soft cheese; and the pattern on her coat as beautiful, delicate edible flowers. To create a tender cracker with the heartiness of my Norwegian inspiration, I used two types of rustic flour and incorporated the butter using the same technique that's used to make flaky pie dough. A little bit of yogurt added tang and tenderness to the cracker. To slather onto the crackers, I wanted a soft-textured fresh cheese that was simple to make in our tiny kitchen. Ricotta cheese was just the type. A sprinkling of colorful edible flowers from Leah's garden and a touch of black Hawaiian sea salt perfected the rustic-elegant presentation of the Woodman Cheese and Crackers.

Salted Rye Cookies

This fairly straightforward and versatile dough can be made as drop cookies instead of icebox-style sliced logs: Chill the dough, then scoop it into rounded-tablespoon-size balls, roll in the salt-sugar mixture, arrange at least 1 1/2 inches (4 cm) apart on the baking sheet, and flatten slightly. In addition, you can substitute just about any kind of flour for the rye.

Mini Cake Doughnuts

Donettes are tiny little rounds of deliciousness that really don't bear that much resemblance to bakery doughnuts but are somehow still satisfying. You can make your own in a flash with the aid of a mini doughnut pan. While it may seem strange, the addition of rye and barley flours into the batter makes for an exceptionally flavorful treat. To make Chocolate Mini Cake Doughnuts, simply add two tablespoons of cocoa powder to the flour mixture.

Boston Brown Bread

This dense quickbread is traditionally baked in empty coffee cans.

Winterfell Black Bread

In the halls of Winterfell, black bread is easy to find. Of course, bread can be found in many lands and nations, but the black bread of the North is fitting for its inhabitants. It possesses a darker color, higher fiber, and stronger flavor than other breads. It's denser as well, implying a great inner strength. Such food seems to symbolize the soul of the Stark family: gritty and stronger than anyone gives them credit for, with hidden resources that emerge when needed. Flavorful and healthy, it's both a treat and practical nourishment. (A Game of Thrones, Chapter 5—Jon)

Swedish Rye

What makes this version of rye different from the more popular German and deli ryes is the use of licorice-flavored aniseeds and fennel seeds, along with orange peel and a touch of cardamom. Nutritionists are now quantifying the therapeutic benefits of orange peel, licorice-flavored spices, and bitters as digestive aids that various traditional cultures have espoused for centuries. By making the bread with a combination of wild-yeast starter and commercial yeast, this formula creates an even more complexly flavored version of the bread than the more customary versions leavened only by commercial yeast. The lactic acid not only conditions the flour, predigesting it to an extent, but it also gives it a longer shelf life and better flavor. Think of this bread as a baked version of anisette.

Sourdough Bread: Pumpernickel Bread

For twenty years I have been fascinated by, and have experimented with, rye breads in their many manifestations, but pumpernickel has always impressed me as the definitive rye (maybe it’s just that it has the best name). There are countless versions of pumpernickel bread. Many Americans think the name simply refers to a dark rye, made dark by the addition of caramel coloring. What the name really refers to is a loaf made with coarsely ground whole-grain rye flour, the distinguishing characteristic of this particular type of rye bread. Some versions, though not the one that follows, are extremely dense, what I call cocktail rye, which needs to be sliced very thin. People who love this dense rye really do passionately love it, but it has a rather small following in the United States. In some eastern European villages, this bread was, and still is, made by adding the bread crumbs from previously baked loaves to the new dough. This gives the bread a wonderful texture. You can make the following formula with or without rye-bread crumbs, but it’s a great way to use up dried-out leftover slices from the last loaf.

Sourdough Bread: Sunflower Seed Rye

I love anything with sunflower seeds, and this bread is loaded with them. The seeds are nutritious, taste good, and are “loyal” (that is, they leave a long, nutty finish that fills the mouth so that you enjoy the bread long after you eat it). This is a variation of a formula developed by Craig Ponsford and the Coupe du Monde team in 1995. This new version utilizes a firm wild-yeast starter instead of pâte fermentée. The dough requires the starter, commercial yeast, and a soaker, so it entails a commitment, but the results are so memorable that it is well worth the effort.

Sourdough Bread: 100% Sourdough Rye Bread

There are many ways to make rye bread, but very few versions contain 100 percent rye flour. Rye has so little of its unique type of gluten (6 to 8 percent) that it is hard to develop the structure and lift necessary for a decent crumb without the addition of a fair amount of high-gluten wheat flour. However, there are many people who love dense rye bread, and there are others who eat it because they can tolerate the gluten of this bread but not the gluten in wheat breads. A lot of drama goes on inside a sourdough rye bread. Rye flour is high in natural sugars and dextrins and contains pentosan, a gum protein that causes the dough to become gummy if it is mixed as long as wheat breads. Also, the wild-yeast starter creates an acidic environment that slows down the enzymatic release of sugar during the mixing cycle, but at the same time allows for the sugars to emerge from the grain during the fermentation cycle as the enzyme activity kicks in. If properly mixed and fermented, the result is a sweet, creamy, yet chewy texture quite unlike that of any other bread.

Sourdough Bread: New York Deli Rye

I grew up on two definitive deli sandwiches: roast beef, chicken fat (schmaltz), and onion; and corned beef, coleslaw, and Russian dressing. Both sandwiches had to be served on onion rye to complete the experience. At least twice a month our family would head out to either Murray’s Deli, Hymie’s Deli, or the Chuckwagon on City Line Avenue (the delis are still there, but the Chuckwagon is long gone), and the big decision for me was which of the two sandwiches I should order. I never tired of either and years later, after emerging from a long vegetarian period, the first meat dish I sought out was a corned beef, coleslaw, and Russian dressing sandwich on onion rye. These days I limit my intake of corned beef, and especially of schmaltz, but I still chronically yearn for those sandwiches. However, I do continue to enjoy onion rye whenever I can get my hands on some, often making it myself.

Pain de Campagne

This is the perfect dough for creative shaping, and the one used throughout France for many types of breads sold under various local names. The dough is similar to regular French baguette dough, but it includes a small percentage of whole grain, either whole wheat, pumpernickel-grind or white rye, or cornmeal. This additional grain gives the bread more character and grain flavor, and contributes to the brownish-gold, country-style crust that distinguishes it from white flour French bread. Most important, this is the dough, as I learned it from Professor Raymond Calvel, that opened my thinking to the use of large percentages of pre-ferment. On pages 72–79 you will see a number of shapes you can make from this dough. The most famous are the fendu, épi, couronne, and auvergnat. There are many others that you may also have seen. As always, though, the first emphasis must be on the quality of the dough. There is nothing more disappointing to a bread lover than to see a lot of work go into a shaping technique for a dough that does not deliver world-class flavor and texture. This particular dough never disappoints.

Marbled Rye Bread

Either of these two formulas will make a delicious rye bread, light or dark. But combined, you can weave them together to make the fabled marbled rye of childhood memories and Seinfeld fame. These are made by the direct-dough method, as opposed to the sourdough method preferred for onion rye and deli rye. But the ease of making these breads, their soft texture, and their flexibility for braiding and blending make them a favorite of my students.

Rosemary Rye Bread

It won’t take you long to do the actual preparation for this aromatic bread. During its resting and baking times, you can take a walk, fix dinner, or just relax.

Cranberry-Pecan Rye Bread

This free-form dough can be shaped into two longer loaves or one big round; you may need to adjust the baking time.

Buttermilk Pancakes

For different flavors, use different flours; they can be mixed and matched at will, as long as half of the flour is whole-wheat pastry flour, to keep them light.

Herb Bread or Pizza Dough

When it comes to making bread, many things affect the outcome, some more obvious than others. Most important is the flour. You cannot make good bread from mediocre flour. Choose flour that is unbleached, untreated, and free of additives. All flours, and especially whole-grain flours, will eventually spoil and taste and smell rancid. Try to buy flour that’s relatively fresh; your best bet is to look for a local organic food retailer with a rapid turnover who sells in bulk. The water makes a difference, too; both its temperature and its quantity influence texture. The type of leavening agent and the length of time bread is allowed to sit and rise will both affect the outcome enormously: quickbreads made with baking soda or powder are tender and almost cakelike, while breads leavened with wild yeast and given repeated slow risings will be the chewiest and crustiest, with the most complex flavors. Weather also affects bread: humidity, heat, and cold each exert their influence. All this makes baking ever-changing and forever fascinating. There is a world of breads: quickbreads such as cornbread and Irish soda bread that are easy to put on the table on relatively short notice; wonderful flatbreads such as tortillas fresh off the griddle or whole-wheat-flour puris that puff up when they’re fried or pita bread grilled over a fire; and the classic yeasted breads of France and Italy—including my everyday favorite, levain bread. Levain bread is leavened with a natural starter of wild yeast and allowed a long, slow fermentation and rising period in canvas-lined baskets. Traditionally, before each batch is baked, some of the starter is held back to leaven the next batch. Rather than give a recipe for a levain-type bread (which is a little complicated to make at home), I offer instead a recipe for a dough that’s versatile enough to be formed and baked as a flat crusty focaccia or a traditional pizza. (Kids love to stretch out the dough and make their own pizzas.)