Can you post the recipe?

Here's a link to my rye bread recipe. While I often make it with both caraway and fennel, I sometimes omit one or the other, for variation. The flavor is very intense when I use both, but I still like that intensity from time to time.

At this point, I think you need to look for other rye bread recipes. I've never used a CI recipe, and so I cannot advise you regarding that.

Try CI's FB page. Even if they don't respond, others on the FB page likely will.

Hmmm, not on FB. But I will post the recipe tomorrow--it really was a very easy recipe and I've made enough bread in my life that I basically know what I'm doing. I may try it again and just simply add more flour from the gitgo.

Lars, I'll check out your recipe too.

Deli Rye Bread from Cooks Illustrated March/April 2017

2 ½ c (12 ½ oz) King Arthur all purpose flour

1/ ½ c. (8 ¼
oz) rye flour

The basic thing after this is that 1 2/3 c. water (13 1/3
oz) plus ½ c. (4 oz) is added to this along with 1 T. oil, 2 t molasses, 1 ½ t
salt. And some yeast.

It was just waaaay too much water for that amount of
flour. I did finally get a response from Cooks after resending the email, who wrote:

Our
recipes list 1 cup of flour as weighing 5 ounces, but different sources may
list a cup of flour as weighing slightly more or less.

The weight of a cup of flour depends on how it is measured. In the test
kitchen, we favor the dip-and-sweep method—we dip a measuring cup into a
container of flour and then level the flour with a straight edge—but some
bakers prefer to spoon flour directly into the cup. Since these
techniques—along with the heavy- or light-handedness of the baker—incorporate
different amounts of air, we’ve found that there can be up to a 20 percent
difference in the weight of a cup of flour, a variance that can easily ruin a
recipe.

To determine our standard weight for flour, we had dozens of volunteers measure
out 1 cup, weighed the results, and took the average (5 ounces) as our
standard.

We provide volume measurements for readers who don’t have access to a food
scale, but measuring by weight is the only way to guarantee accuracy. If you
have a food scale and a weight measurement is provided in a recipe, ignore the
volume measurement. And since weighing standards vary depending on the recipe
author, do not be tempted to transfer the weight conventions from one recipe to
another.

So next time I make it, I'll weigh the flour--and then measure what I weighed, just out of curiosity. But, I've used both weighed and measured bread recipes for many years and never had anything this off.

Hi,

I made this recipe about a week and a half ago and it came out great! I did weigh the flour. I also noted you wrote "1 2/3 cups water plus 4 oz of water is added"; while the 1 2/3 cups is added to the dough, the 4 ozs of water is mixed with cornstarch, heated and brushed on the loaf after baking. I look forward to hearing about your next loaf, it is definitely worth it!

MJ

Is this it with step-by-step directions with pics? deli rye at home

Hi,

Yes, that is the recipe. Very good sandwich loaf. I think the addition of fennel, as Lars suggested, would be very good.

MJ

Hmmm- I think that extra 4 oz is the problem. I added it with the rest of the water. I hate it when recipes are written like that! I'll try this again, with less water :).

We needed the entire recipe, with the written instructions.

But MJ appears to have unraveled it for us. That extra 1/2 cup of water doesn't go into the dough. Lacey, I think you just got in a hurry & didn't read all the instructions...saying that cause I've done that to myself. More than once. :-)

BTW, I've always been very pleased w/ Hodgson Mills products. I especially like HM yellow cornmeal. Whole grain stuff that hasn't been degerminated. Lots more moist than the round box meal. I keep it refrigerated/ frozen so the meal doesn't go rancid.

1. Whisk all-purpose flour, rye flour, caraway seeds, and yeast together in bowl of stand mixer. Whisk 1 2/3 cups water, oil, and molasses in 4-cup liquid measuring cup until molasses has dissolved.
2. Fit stand mixer with dough hook; add water mixture to flour mixture and knead on low speed until cohesive dough starts to form and no dry flour remains, about 2 minutes, scraping down bowl as needed. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let dough rest for 20 minutes.
3. Add salt to dough and knead on medium-low speed until dough is smooth and elastic and clears sides of bowl, about 5 minutes.
4. Transfer dough to lightly floured counter and knead by hand to form smooth, round ball, about 30 seconds. Place dough seam side down in lightly oiled large bowl, cover tightly with plastic, and let rise until doubled in size, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
5. Transfer dough to lightly floured counter and gently press into 8-inch disk, then fold edges toward middle to form round. Cover loosely with plastic and let rest for 15 minutes.
6. Adjust oven racks to middle and lowest positions, place baking stone on upper rack, and heat oven to 450 degrees. Line overturned rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and dust lightly with rye flour. Gently press and stretch dough into 12 by 9-inch oval, with short end of oval facing edge of counter. Fold top left and right edges of dough diagonally into center of oval and press gently to seal. Fold point of dough into center of oval and press seam gently to seal. Rotate dough 180 degrees and repeat folding and sealing top half of dough.
7. Fold dough in half toward you to form rough 8 by 4-inch crescent-shaped loaf. Using heel of your hand, press seam closed against counter. Roll loaf seam side down. Tuck ends under loaf to form rounded torpedo shape. Gently slide your hands underneath loaf and transfer, seam side down, to prepared sheet.
8. Spray sheet of plastic with vegetable oil spray and cover loaf loosely. Let loaf rise until increased in size by about half and dough springs back minimally when poked gently with your knuckle, 45 minutes to 1 1/4 hours.
9. Place empty loaf pan on bottom oven rack. Using sharp paring knife or single-edge razor blade, make six to eight 4-inch-long, 1/2-inch-deep slashes with swift, fluid motion across width of loaf, spacing slashes about 1 inch apart. Pour 2 cups boiling water into empty loaf pan in oven.
10. Slide parchment and loaf from sheet onto baking stone. Bake until deep golden brown and loaf registers 205 to 210 degrees, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating loaf halfway through baking. Transfer loaf to wire rack.
11. Whisk cornstarch and remaining 1/2 cup water in bowl until cornstarch has dissolved. Microwave, whisking frequently, until mixture is thickened, 1 to 2 minutes.
12. Brush top and sides of loaf with 3 tablespoons cornstarch mixture (you will have extra cornstarch mixture). Let cool completely, about 3 hours, before slicing and serving.

Hi,

I can't count how many times I have misread a recipe and it failed. Sometimes we are lucky and it is OK, but with baking, less so unfortunately. I just brush off the flour and try again!

MJ

I have also misread a recipe, or gotten interrupted in the middle and added an ingredient "out of order" or failed to add it at all. Most of the time I'm lucky and I can fix it or it just turns out OK. Other times, it's an epic fail. I'm guilty of "multi-tasking" and sometimes just mess it up.

I'm glad the mystery seems to be resolved, though.

Annie

Yup, read it too fast.

Me too

Who wants to wait three hours before slicing and eating.

Recipe writing is hard and often not written well. I have to read a recipe many times when trying something new. Would prefer a topping, a dressing, a glaze...to be written as a separate add-on. Especially if it is applied after the recipe comes out of the oven.

Always ALWAYS read all the directions through before beginning....that goes for recipes, knitting patterns, assembling an IKEA book case and installing software on the computer. Read everything first! Then start on your project.
You should be glad they didn't answer you with "dummy, read the directions".
And yeast dough is very VERY forgiving. I have even forgotten to add the yeast and wondered why it didn't rise....put the dough back on my board, flattened it....sprinkled the dry yeast over the top, folded the dough over, kneaded a bit and then let it rise. It was fine!
If your dough was too wet....add more flour!

Yes, I did read it through, but quite fast. And I too would prefer toppings, etc to be written separately from the main recipe. And I did add lots more flour so though it pancaked some, it was still edible and still tasty. And once I had to add the yeast as you describe, Linda. Couldn't pull that kind of thing off with a cake.