Cereals - Rye

Rye is a cereal which looks like wheat but is longer and more slender. Rye's color varies from yellowish brown to grayish green. It is generally available in its whole or cracked grain form or as flour or flakes, the latter of which looks similar to old-fashioned oats. It has a very hardy, deep, nourishing taste and is grown as a bread grain, livestock feed, and for distillation into grain alcohol spirits.

Rye wholegrain is rich in fluorine, high in manganese, a good source of fiber, and contains calcium, magnesium, niacin, iron and vit E. One cup contains 8.31g of protein.

The fiber is richly endowed with noncellulose polysaccharides, which have exceptionally high water-binding capacity and quickly give a feeling a fullness and satiety. Excellent for those on diet and for colon health. Also said to prevent gall stones.

Due to the fluorine and magnesium content, rye is an excellent food to build up the health of bones and teeth. A gruel made from whole grain rye is excellent for babies when teething to help strengthen their teeth.

Commercially there are some wonderful varieties of rye bread and crispbread if you prefer not to make your own. Bread made from rye is heavier, denser, and usually darker than wheat bread.

Whole rye grains can be sprouted or soaked overnight and cooked as you would rice and used in vegetable dishes or soup. Crushed rye can also be soaked overnight and cooked as a breakfast cereal or added to your bread mix.

Rye flour lacks in glutenous proteins that make wheat dough elastic enough for leavening so it is best to add 20% wholewheat flour when making homemade bread.


Spelt Rye Rolls with Olives, Onions and Sun Dried Tomatoes
From ALL-CREATURES.ORG
Vegan - Vegetarian Recipe Book

How Mary and Frank and Friends Eat "We are dedicated to cruelty free living through a vegetarian - vegan lifestyle."

3 cups Spelt Flour
1 cup Rye Flour
1/2 cup Onion Flakes, freeze dried
1/2 cup Sun Dried Tomatoes, small pieces
6-oz. can Olives, ripe, sliced
1 tbsp. Caraway Seeds
1 tsp. Salt (optional)
1 tsp. Lecithin, soya liquid
1-1/2 tbsp. Molasses, unsulphured
4 tsp. Yeast, baking
Onion Flakes and Poppy Seeds, topping

Place the spelt and rye flours in a bowl or dough mixer. Add the onion flakes, sun dried tomato pieces (may be cut into small pieces with a vegetable scissors or chopped in a food processor), caraway seeds, and salt (if desired). Mix the ingredients to ensure that the tomato pieces are separated and coated with flour.
Make a hollow in the dry ingredients and add the lecithin, molasses, and about 1 cup of water, and begin mixing. Add the yeast and an additional 1/2 cup of water, and continue mixing. By this time the dough should be clumping together. Slowly add more water as needed to bring the dough to a kneading consistency. Sprinkle in additional water as needed, and continue kneading for about fifteen minutes.
Add about half of the sliced ripe olives and continue kneading for another five minutes. Remove the dough from the mixer and work additional olives in by hand, being careful to keep the olives in rings.
On a clean counter top or pastry sheet, form the dough into a "log" about 15 inches long. If the dough is sticky, you can use some of the onion flakes and poppy seeds to coat the log, making it easier to form and handle. Cut the log into four equal length pieces and separate them slightly from one another. Then cut each of these four pieces into 3 equal pieces to form individual rolls.
Place a mixture of onion flakes and poppy seeds on the counter or pastry sheet, and press the rolls into it so that each roll is thoroughly coated.
We prefer baking on a terra cotta baking pan that has been dusted with a light coating of corn meal. Place each formed roll (uniformly spaced) on the baking pan.
Set the oven to warm setting ±40°C (110°F), or a warming drawer on "low." Be careful that the oven or warming drawer does not overheat. Place the bread pan in the oven or warming drawer to raise the dough.
When the dough has slightly over doubled in size, turn the heat up to 175-180°C (350-360°F). Bake for approximately 25-35 minutes. (We have found that the baking time varies from oven to oven.) When the crust is firm, but not crispy, the bread is done. Remove from oven. Let cool on a wire rack.


Rye Pancakes for Two
by Christina Hulbe Fat-Free.com
1/2 Cup rye flour
1/4 Cup unbleached all-purpose
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp carraway seeds
1/4 tsp salt
1-1/4 Cup water (+ up to 1/2 cup)

In a small bowl, combine dry ingredients and mix 1-1/4 Cups water. Let the batter stand for a few minutes.
Spray a bit of non-stick cooking spray in a large non-sick skillet and rub it around with your fingers to distribute evenly over the pan surface. Heat the skillet over medium flame.
Stir the batter again, it will have a course texture from the rye flour but should pour from a spoon rather easily, like a medium-thick pancake batter. If the batter is too thick, add more water, a Tbsp or two at a time until it is thin enough.
To make each pancake, spoon 2 or 3 Tbsp of batter into the pan. You should be able to fit three or four cakes in the pan at a time.
As the cakes cook, bubbles will rise to the surface. When the tops of the cakes are
full of bubles and have begun to set, flip the cakes, cover the pan, and cook for 4 to 5 more minutes, until the cakes are dry inside.
Remove cakes to a plate and repeat with remaining batter.

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