The BBA Challenge has had its ups and downs. Unfortunately with this bread I hit the lowest point in the whole challenge. I had problems from the very beginning, my dough refused to get smooth, it felt like a mixture of sand and water, “breaking” as I tried to knead it. I moved on, shaped the bread, allowed it to rise – which, it did not, I barely detect any changes – and baked it.
It was dense, and too chewy for my taste. I definitely need more practice with this kind of a dough. Rye won big time, I got a lesson in humility….
Next day I cut the bread into thin slices and turned them into rye crisps, which were ok, but not great.
I look forward to the reports of my fellow bakers following the BBA Challenge, maybe they can give me some tips to deal with such a tricky dough.
Bewitching Kitchen 
I’m glad you’re ahead of me. And now I’m scared…lol. I know I’m going to want to wait to see how a few of the others get along with this one. Good try Sally.
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Don’t be scared…. I am sure it will work for you! I am still trying to understand what went wrong for me
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Oh Sally, sorry you had to suffer your way through this one. Now you’ve got me scared of tackling sourdough rye! Do you think the problem stemmed from too much mixing?
I must admit your post had me chuckling , especially the line about the lesson in humility.
Have a wonderful holiday and happy new year.
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Happy new Year for you too!
I honestly have no idea what happened – I don’t think I overkneaded, because I was quite attentive not to do so. The dough was acting up from the very beginning…. Alignment of the Moon with Saturn, maybe? A supernova explosion?
who knows!
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Thanks for going first! I’m so glad I’m so far behind all of you and can learn from you! =) Also makes me a little nervous about rye as I’m just about to tackle the marble rye this weekend….
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Sally, Mine turned out OK, it is a lot lighter than yours. Did you use the clear rye flour? It was not my favorite of the breads but my husband is really enjoying it.
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Abby, good luck with your marble rye, mine was ok, but I had some issues with the marbling… 🙂
AnneMarie – I just checked your blog, you posted about the previous bread, but I did not see your 100% rye, I’ll look forward to it.
Yes, I used clear rye flour, at least I think that’s what it was – the other kind is labeled “dark”, right?
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Sally, it is not there because I haven’t made it yet!!! I got myself all confused and was talking about the deli rye. Sorry. That might explain why mine was such a different color! I am doing some Christmas baking, don’t know when I’ll make this one.
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Oh, that does explain it!
Have fun with your Christmas baking! Such a great time of the year….
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Ok Sally, it was my least favorite bread to date. It was like playdough, with caraway seeds.
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Too bad you didn’t like the bread. When I was working with the dough I also thought this would be the worst bread in the challenge – the dough was weird, there was no rise etc., but the baked bread was wonderful: smell- and flavor-wise. I did omit the caraway, though, because I don’t like caraway.
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Yours actually stayed so tall – don’t know how you accomplished that!
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Oh, man, I really feel for you. I put almost no effort into my rye bread and it was dense and delicious, though it looked bad.
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