Rye Bread

Honestly, there is not much good for me to say about this bread.  This baby looks pretty but tastes terrible!  I was looking for a savory loaf to enter in a local baking competition.  Naturally I turned to Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice.  This book really has never failed me in the past.  The recipe for marbled rye looked so beautiful with its bulls eye swirls of dark and light rye.

Making the dough couldn't have been easier.  The two doughs are identical except for some coloring put into the dark rye.  Peter Reinhart recommends using caramel coloring, carob powder, or cocoa powder.  He warns against using cocoa powder because it can lend a bitterness to the dough.  The only thing I had was cocoa powder, so that is what I chose to use.  I have had trouble finding caramel coloring.  He was right, it does impart a bitter flavor into the bread which really turned me off.

I also had trouble with the bread being gummy.  I know that it is possible to overwork rye flour and I thought I was being careful.  I did use my stand mixer to mix the dough and so its possible that I overworked the dough without realizing it.  Maybe in the future I should hand knead rye bread.

This is the second time I have made this recipe without success.  Hopefully I can tweak my technique some more and have a reliable recipe for a savory direct method rye.