I'm just beginning with bread making. My first sourdough starter is only two days old. It took a bit of looking, but one of the supermarkets near me sells Hodgson Mills rye flour. It's not whole grain, but "all natural, stone ground flour".
Various promising recipes that I see call for some specific rye flours, like dark rye, pumpernickel, etc. As far ask I can tell, none of the stores near me sell anything like that. Are there other "types" of stores that I might look for? I could buy some of these mail order, but the prices are pretty steep for something that might not even work.
I'm not much help but I have some of the Hodgson Mill's rye and I'm pretty sure it is whole grain...it's rather coarse compared to the rye I usually use (a fine milled dark rye that I get from a bin in my local natural food grocery store). I'm pretty sure you could use the HM in your recipes though you may need to play around with the hydration a bit. When I used it in my starter I needed to use a bit more water than I do with the fine dark rye that I normally use.
What recipe are you planning on baking? I've found the search function on this site works pretty well and there are a ton of great recipes. Good luck with the rye, it's in some of my favorite breads.
I'm guessing you've got about a week or so to search around while your starter grows.
Beer supply home brew type stores.
Reformhouse or Organic food stores.
Where are you located?
...in the UK, Waitrose sell Bacheldre rye flour and I use that for not only my culture but also for bread - I add 10% to white flour for improved taste and make a whole rye loaf using 100% Bacheldre rye.
Every wholefood shop will stock Doves Farm Rye flour, and Shipton Mill does a good mail-order service too. There are even smaller independants too where you can buy directly from the farm - Tamarisk Farm in Dorset for example.
-Gordon
Thanks for all the good info, folks! I'm located a little south of Boston (Marshfield). I don't have my heart set on one specific recipe. Much might depend on what flour I can actually come up with. It seems that I should be able to make a basic loaf of sourdough bread using the rye and AP flour I currently have, but I'm hoping to come up with something tasty and simple for sandwiches.
I did a little checking, and there is a home brew supply place a couple towns away. Looking at their website, they don't say anything about flour or rye, but I'll bet if I took a ride over there, I could have a chat with the owner. If there are any small local mills, he'd probably know of them.
King Arthur flour might be your best best. Just search for their website. I think they ship free throughout the US.
Free shipping on flour? That's amazing! Thanks for the pointer.
we have the widest selection of rye flours and meals on the web. check it out here.
Hi Enchant,
I used Hodgkin's Mill Rye before I bought my mill and had very satisfactory results. I have also found that my local coop store both here in Wisconsin and when I spent time in the Seattle area had organic rye flours. While you can get flour online shipping can get expensive. King Arthur, Honeyville, NY Bakers nybakers.com are places you can go online. Also try your local baker to see if they have rye flour and ask if they will sell you some. I've also done that and prices were pretty good. Except for my white flour I grind wheat and rye berries for my flour now.
Best of luck,
Big Crusty
I haven't used it, but have heard good things about Anson Mills: http://ansonmills.com/products