As passionately requested by Liz (and Slyde), here is another post about rye bread. Hehehe.
There were a few of you (White Rabbit, Globus, Lives by the Woods) who claimed indifference or even ignorance when it comes to rye bread. So I thought I would give you all a little primer on the topic. I spent hours of exhaustive research on the subject, and when I say "hours of exhaustive research" I mean a quick search on Wikipedia. The encyclopedia for the masses by the masses. The source for when you absolutely, positively wanna get things wrong.
Seems that rye bread has been around for about 1500 years or so. The Danes and the Saxons introduced rye to Britain upon pillaging, er, settling there around 500 AD. It was because rye was a hearty crop that did well in northern climates. I've never done well in northern climates. I prefer a semi-tropical climate myself. But enough about me...back to the bread!
Rye and rye bread soon spread all over Europe like the plague. Bad symbolism? Sorry. It became the most popular bread in places of extreme mirth like Estonia, Finland and Mother Russia, although real rye bread is German in origination. It was the preferred bread of the Nazi party. Hitler died with a loaf of rye bread shoved up his ass. True story. Look it up. David Hasselhoff, working on his popularity with the German people, has a loaf of rye bread shoved up his ass at this very moment. True story. Look it up.
Rye bread is made only with rye flour, no wheat flour. That's right. A good loaf of rye looks down its nose at wheat flour. No admittance to the party wheat! They will except ground spices like coriandor, fennel and aniseseed, but they draw the line at wheat flour. Hell, in the US they even add caraway seeds (sorry Poppy) to the loafs, and maybe some caramel for coloring...but no fucking wheat flour! Okay...there are some rye/wheat hybrid breads out there, but for purists or Nazis there should never be any integration between the races, er, grains. Did it just get uncomfortable in here?
What else? Oh yeah...Pumpernickel is a type of rye bread. Someone mentioned that in the comments to the last post. Here are some rye bread recipes. I'm sure someone asked for that as well.
I'll leave you with a popular saying in frigid Alaska. When something tastes delicious they call it "eggs on rye". Truer words have never been uttered, my friends.
How's it going with the carb intake, Liz? ;)
PS - I wrote this before seeing that I'm up against Liz on Oookami Snow's blog in his "Favorite Blog of 2008" tournament. Kinda fitting though. Bring it, Liz! - Earl
