Just a little bit of rye

I've been a bit remiss in posting about my success with rye. Maybe that's because it was only a little bit of rye. I went for a recipe that specified stone ground or dark rye, and only a small percentage of the flour at that. It also used a sponge which I got to try for the first time.

For anyone not familiar with a sponge, it's really a quicker, single use starter. Or at least that's how I think of it. You put a small amount of flour and water together with your yeast and you let it ferment for several hours. It's supposed to look quite bubbly when it's ready to be used in your recipe and it comes together faster than building a true starter that you can continue to grow. It kind of reminded me of the technique for the no knead bread; as if the whole dough for the no knead bread is kind of treated like a sponge to develop the flavor and gluten.

The bread was called an "old fashioned rye" which may be a bit of a misnomer. It's from a whole grain bread book with lots of other rye breads. This one was really more like a very flavorful country boule. Texture entirely like a light french style bread with soft interior, with the rye really just adding extra flavor. Makes sense since it was mostly bread flour.

Of course I don't have pictures; again. This is extra pathetic because I even moved the digital camera down to a drawer in the kitchen to avoid this. At least the bread was good.