Home Milling: Baking Rye Challah

My favorite bread is rye bread. I’m particularly fond of dark rye bread; however, despite my love for it outside of a few sad attempts at making it years ago, I haven’t prepared it again until today. I purchased five pounds of organic rye berries a few weeks ago and have been determined to make my much-loved bread. Have you ever wondered why they call them rye berries? It’s a seed! Why do they call them berries? Perhaps it’s a marketing strategy? But back to the rye bread, I don’t have caraway seeds, which I see typically added to rye bread; however, I decided to make the bread without them. It’s still rye bread since I’m using rye flour.

Yesterday, I left work early because of a few appointments; I made my rye bread and used the sponge method because of the extra time. I find that the sponge method gives the finished bread more texture and flavor than the direct method; however, I don’t always have time to use this method.

Sponge Method: First Stage

I ground two cups of rye berries in my Mockmill Professional 200 grain mill. I added water and yeast and set it aside for 20 minutes so it could form a sponge. This is the first of two stages and can last a few minutes to several hours.

Sponge Method: Second Stage

The ingredients, except the remaining flour, are added in the second stage. Once the ingredients are combined, slowly add the remaining four 1/2 cups until a soft dough is formed. Once complete, the dough is kneaded and allowed to rise if desired.

I had the oven temperature preheated to 350 F and baked in the oven for 35 minutes. Let me tell you, the rye challah bread had the entire house smelling like a bakery in minutes.

Freshly baked Rye Challah

Results?

This rye bread tastes fantastic, a bit dense and crumbly. However, I know, just like with other new breads, I won’t have this issue in time. I’ll need to tweak it before I get the texture to my liking; however, this won’t stop us from eating this loaf. It’s that delicious. Since it’s just my daughter and me, if I follow a recipe, I’ll reduce the measurements since we won’t be able to eat the bread in the recommended time. Fresh milled flour/bread goes stale quickly if not refrigerated or frozen since no preservatives are added to the flour.

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