Cheater Rye Success

Despite the advice doled out by friends on what to expect from a rye dough, I decided to see for myself. So I kind of cheated and used a rye mix from Hodgson Mills. It's intended for bread machines but can be used for oven baking. And all the proportions of flours are pre-measured for you. I suspected that might be one of my problems, since I'm not measuring by weight. And it's sized for one loaf, so that might also be a bit easier on my food processor motor.

I adapted the instructions to the typical method employed with my food processor recipes. I put all dry ingredients into the food processor, including the yeast. Cut the butter into the dry. Then poured in warm/hot water until the dough formed a ball that cleaned the sides, then 45 seconds of machine kneading. When the dough came out it was stickier than a white bread but still totally manageable as a ball of dough. Tada. Mission accomplished?

The bread turned out nicely. In fact I really like the flavor. Although it was marketed as having the flavor of deli rye, I have to disagree. It had neither the texture or flavor of deli rye, but it had a really nice multi-grain flavor with good rye notes and a teeny bit of sweetness. Definitely no rye sour flavor. It was not chewy really, so perhaps could have used more kneading, but I think the texture is fine for a heavier whole grain bread.

The ingredients were different than my first take at rye bread... unbleached white, a little malted barley flour, whole grain rye flour, whole grain wheat flour, sugar, vital wheat gluten, soy flour, caraway seeds, and salt. I guess that explains the flavor profile. I did also buy some vital wheat gluten since it seems to keep popping up in whole grain recipes.

Well now that I've had a successful rye dough experience, I'll try going back to recipes that will lead me soon towards pumpernickel. But I'd use this mix again - the marketer in me would just rename it.