
Rye is an alluring grain that nevertheless gets overlooked by its domineering cousin, wheat. Even other ancient grains such as spelt and durum have a higher profile. On Pender Island, it is easy to find these flours, but nary a bag of dark rye flour. Even Victoria suffers from this dearth.
And yet rye has been with us for thousands of years, found a toe hold in the European and immigrant cultures of North America. It is more popular in eastern parts of the continent, but on the west coast? Not as much.
Rye enthusiasts
There are some rye bread fans among customers of the Happy Monk Baking Company. And I couldn’t be more pleased. One or two of them are passionate about the grain and would prefer a rye choice each week. With most rye enthusiasts, their attachment to the grain comes from childhood, where it may have been the first bread they consumed. And they long for that taste, that texture, that transports them to another place, another time.
Take me back, take me way, way, way back, Van Morrison intones.
When you walked, in a green field, in a green meadow
Van Morrison, “Take Me Back”, from the album Hymns to the Silence.
Down an avenue of trees
On a golden summer
And the sky was blue
And you didn’t have no worries, you didn’t have no care
You were walking in a green field
In a meadow, through the buttercups, in the summertime
And you looked way out over, way out
Way out over the city and the water
And it feels so good, and it feels so good
Van’s not talking about rye bread, here. But he’s reaching for something almost inexpressible, an innocence. He’s chasing a state of mind that seems to exist somewhere in the past, but could also exist only in the imagination.
Rye is a grain that often evokes that idea of something from the past. A German friend tasted some bread I had made that had about 20 percent rye. She savoured the flavour with eyes closed, looked up and said, “Now that is real bread!”
The ‘unruly weed’
The green field Van Morrison describes could have been rye. It was once considered “an unruly weed,” something that grew in between the einkorn, millet or barley plants, choking off the main crops of the earliest grain farmers. And when the weather turned dry and cold, it was the rye plants that thrived.
It was that resiliency that made rye suitable for the mid- to northern European climate, where growing conditions were harsher and wetter than in the sun-baked fields of pre-historic Turkey, Egypt and the Fertile Crescent. It became a staple crop in areas that would become Germany, Poland, Russia and Scandinavia, where rye became central to the diet and culture.

Stanley Ginsberg’s The Rye Baker, is, to me, as much a paean to rye bread as it is a book of recipes. Published three years ago, it has done more to turn me into a rye enthusiast than any in my entire library of bread books. It’s his passion that makes the difference and his informed knowledge of rye’s historical roots. The Rye Baker details recipes from all the rye regions, the cooking techniques used, flavour profiles and ways the bread is served. It is a sweeping portrait of rye and a true celebration.
A difficult dough to work with
I’ve worked my way through many of the recipes of this book and have grown to love rye breads of all kinds. It is different than the bread I grew up with. Yet I love the deep, rustic flavour of rye that seems almost other worldly. My familial heritage is Scottish, where oatcakes and bannock strike a chord. I feel them in the bones. Rye was hardly consumed in my childhood, except on a few occasions when Aunty Betty produced a rye loaf made with anise seeds. My father hoarded it, as it was a bread his Scottish mother made.
When I first tried making a 100 percent rye loaf, it was a blow to my pride. The dough was difficult to work with. It did not come to life in the way a wheat dough did, which forms gluten networks through kneading, quickly becoming a unified mass. It did not rise like wheat; or at least in a less dramatic way. Rye dough was flaccid, gloppy, sticky. When baked, it was dense, unlike the pillowy lofty crumb, and thick shattery crust that I so loved in wheat bread.
Closer to home
Tasting the rye from Fry’s Red Wheat Bakery in Victoria was the first time I got that inexpressible sense from rye bread. The German Rye loaf was slightly bitter, musky, smoky, dense … and yet tender. It tasted strange to the Scottish part of me, but there was something I could connect with. An ‘old world’ of foreign smells and flavour.
The Flax and Sesame Rye loaf opened to something more accessible. The flax seed accented the 60 percent rye, but was counteracted by the lightness from the sesame seeds. The loaf still carried the same muskiness of the German.
It is the rye breads that distinguish Fry’s, I think, from the other bakeries in Victoria. The city has a trove of great baking that is as rich or more so than that of Vancouver. But it is Fry’s grasp of rye that makes the difference for me. And I am inspired to learn more, to find a rye loaf that is part of the Happy Monk canon of breads.
So I invite you, friends, to walk by my side as I experiment and search for the Happy Monk rye experience. I have little sense of where I am going on on this journey. But I’ll be looking somewhere … way, way, way back.
Milling a little corn to mix in with some marinated olives before they go into a tapenade infused dough. Big olive flavour … plus a rare shot of Mildrith, the wood-fired oven!
Nov 19

Milling a little corn to mix in with some marinated olives before they go into a tapenade infused dough. Big olive flavour … plus a rare shot of Mildrith, the wood-fired oven!
Happy Monk Tidings - November 15, 2023 BAKER`S CHOICE this week: Olive Sourdough Loaf; AND: An Emotional Weather Report [ See LinkTree in Profile ] 🍞
Nov 15
![Happy Monk Tidings - November 15, 2023 BAKER'S CHOICE this week: Olive Sourdough Loaf; AND: An Emotional Weather Report [ See LinkTree in Profile ] 🍞](https://i0.wp.com/happymonkbaking.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png?w=980&ssl=1)
Happy Monk Tidings - November 15, 2023 BAKER`S CHOICE this week: Olive Sourdough Loaf; AND: An Emotional Weather Report [ See LinkTree in Profile ] 🍞
Happy Monk Tidings - November 1, 2023 🍞 - BAKER`S CHOICE: Sourdough Sandwich Loaf; BLOG: Don`t Let That Wonder Lawyer Tell You It`s Not Real Bread! [ See LinkTree in Profile ]
Nov 1
![Happy Monk Tidings - November 1, 2023 🍞 - BAKER'S CHOICE: Sourdough Sandwich Loaf; BLOG: Don't Let That Wonder Lawyer Tell You It's Not Real Bread! [ See LinkTree in Profile ]](https://i0.wp.com/happymonkbaking.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png?w=980&ssl=1)
Happy Monk Tidings - November 1, 2023 🍞 - BAKER`S CHOICE: Sourdough Sandwich Loaf; BLOG: Don`t Let That Wonder Lawyer Tell You It`s Not Real Bread! [ See LinkTree in Profile ]
Dylan Thomas, one of my muses, would have been 109 years old this Friday, Oct. 27. One of a small-handful of poets whose words are cherished and summoned often for their music and wisdom. They soothe, they sing, they evoke. I`ll be thinking of him this bread day, under "the mustardseed sun"….. and the "switchback sea"…. as he "celebrates and spurns his driftwood thirty fifth wind turned age."
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#dylanthomas #poetsofinstagram #poetrylovers #poetryisnotdead #poetryofinstagram #poets #poetryislife #poetrylove #poetrydaily #poetryworld #poetryinstagram #bakerpoets #poetryforbakers #southpenderisland #penderisland
Happy Monk Tidings - October 25, 2023 🍞 - BAKER`S CHOICE - Sprouted Emmer Sourdough; BLOG: Happy Birthday, Dylan Thomas! [See LinkTree in Profile ]
Oct 25
![Dylan Thomas, one of my muses, would have been 109 years old this Friday, Oct. 27. One of a small-handful of poets whose words are cherished and summoned often for their music and wisdom. They soothe, they sing, they evoke. I'll be thinking of him this bread day, under "the mustardseed sun"….. and the "switchback sea"…. as he "celebrates and spurns his driftwood thirty fifth wind turned age."
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#dylanthomas #poetsofinstagram #poetrylovers #poetryisnotdead #poetryofinstagram #poets #poetryislife #poetrylove #poetrydaily #poetryworld #poetryinstagram #bakerpoets #poetryforbakers #southpenderisland #penderisland
Happy Monk Tidings - October 25, 2023 🍞 - BAKER'S CHOICE - Sprouted Emmer Sourdough; BLOG: Happy Birthday, Dylan Thomas! [See LinkTree in Profile ]](https://i0.wp.com/happymonkbaking.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png?w=980&ssl=1)
Dylan Thomas, one of my muses, would have been 109 years old this Friday, Oct. 27. One of a small-handful of poets whose words are cherished and summoned often for their music and wisdom. They soothe, they sing, they evoke. I`ll be thinking of him this bread day, under "the mustardseed sun"….. and the "switchback sea"…. as he "celebrates and spurns his driftwood thirty fifth wind turned age."
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#dylanthomas #poetsofinstagram #poetrylovers #poetryisnotdead #poetryofinstagram #poets #poetryislife #poetrylove #poetrydaily #poetryworld #poetryinstagram #bakerpoets #poetryforbakers #southpenderisland #penderisland
Happy Monk Tidings - October 25, 2023 🍞 - BAKER`S CHOICE - Sprouted Emmer Sourdough; BLOG: Happy Birthday, Dylan Thomas! [See LinkTree in Profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - BLOG: Abundance: Season of Apples; Baker`s Choice: Pender Island Apple Bread with Pender Apples and Twin Island Cider - October 4, 2023 🍞 [ See LinkTree in Profile ]
Oct 4
![Happy Monk Tidings - BLOG: Abundance: Season of Apples; Baker's Choice: Pender Island Apple Bread with Pender Apples and Twin Island Cider - October 4, 2023 🍞 [ See LinkTree in Profile ]](https://i0.wp.com/happymonkbaking.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png?w=980&ssl=1)
Happy Monk Tidings - BLOG: Abundance: Season of Apples; Baker`s Choice: Pender Island Apple Bread with Pender Apples and Twin Island Cider - October 4, 2023 🍞 [ See LinkTree in Profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - September 27, 2023 🍞 - BAKER`S CHOICE THIS WEEK: Harvest Bread; BLOG: Positively Fourth Avenue - [ See LinkTree in Profile ]
Sep 27
![Happy Monk Tidings - September 27, 2023 🍞 - BAKER'S CHOICE THIS WEEK: Harvest Bread; BLOG: Positively Fourth Avenue - [ See LinkTree in Profile ]](https://i0.wp.com/happymonkbaking.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png?w=980&ssl=1)
Happy Monk Tidings - September 27, 2023 🍞 - BAKER`S CHOICE THIS WEEK: Harvest Bread; BLOG: Positively Fourth Avenue - [ See LinkTree in Profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - September 20, 2023 🍞 - BAKER`S CHOICE: Garlic Levain Bread; BLOG: Harumph! Author Says Leave the Baking to the Professionals! [ See LinkTree in Profile ]
Sep 20
![Happy Monk Tidings - September 20, 2023 🍞 - BAKER'S CHOICE: Garlic Levain Bread; BLOG: Harumph! Author Says Leave the Baking to the Professionals! [ See LinkTree in Profile ]](https://i0.wp.com/happymonkbaking.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png?w=980&ssl=1)
Happy Monk Tidings - September 20, 2023 🍞 - BAKER`S CHOICE: Garlic Levain Bread; BLOG: Harumph! Author Says Leave the Baking to the Professionals! [ See LinkTree in Profile ]
A hefty Country Miche, formula from Breadlines published by Bread Bakers Guild of America. Hefty in size, hefty in flavour. Four flours (Sifted Metchosin Wheat, Rye, Buckwheat, Spelt), a super-active levain and an intense crust colour. I think I’m addicted! It’s kind of finicky, though, and trying to work out a reasonable schedule to produce 40 loaves for Happy Monk customers.
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. #bread #realbread #naturallyleavened #baker #bakery #bbga #artisanbread #breadhead #sourdough #sourdoughbread #penderisland #southpenderislands #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakingcompany #wholegrainbread #breadhead #michebread #realbread #rusticbread #southerngulfislands #southerngulfislandsbakers #southerngulfislandsbakeries
Sep 14

A hefty Country Miche, formula from Breadlines published by Bread Bakers Guild of America. Hefty in size, hefty in flavour. Four flours (Sifted Metchosin Wheat, Rye, Buckwheat, Spelt), a super-active levain and an intense crust colour. I think I’m addicted! It’s kind of finicky, though, and trying to work out a reasonable schedule to produce 40 loaves for Happy Monk customers.
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. #bread #realbread #naturallyleavened #baker #bakery #bbga #artisanbread #breadhead #sourdough #sourdoughbread #penderisland #southpenderislands #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakingcompany #wholegrainbread #breadhead #michebread #realbread #rusticbread #southerngulfislands #southerngulfislandsbakers #southerngulfislandsbakeries
REMINDER: Happy Monk is on Summer Break! We`re off on our annual late summer respite. Next bread day is Sept. 22. See you then! (photo by Davy Joel Rippner)
Sep 6

REMINDER: Happy Monk is on Summer Break! We`re off on our annual late summer respite. Next bread day is Sept. 22. See you then! (photo by Davy Joel Rippner)
Happy Monk Tidings - August 30, 2023 🍞 - BAKER`S CHOICE: Mountain Rye Bread; BLOG: Making Bread and Art With A Message; NOTE: Happy Monk is on Holiday for the Next Two Weeks - https://mailchi.mp/ae234548bd1a/happy_monk_tidings_aug30
Aug 30

Happy Monk Tidings - August 30, 2023 🍞 - BAKER`S CHOICE: Mountain Rye Bread; BLOG: Making Bread and Art With A Message; NOTE: Happy Monk is on Holiday for the Next Two Weeks - https://mailchi.mp/ae234548bd1a/happy_monk_tidings_aug30
Happy Monk Tidings - August 23, 2023 🍞 - BAKER`S CHOICE: Bold Beer Bread; BLOG: Cheese Karma; More Happy Monk holidays coming soon! https://mailchi.mp/783a72739071/happy_monk_tidings_aug23
Aug 23

Happy Monk Tidings - August 23, 2023 🍞 - BAKER`S CHOICE: Bold Beer Bread; BLOG: Cheese Karma; More Happy Monk holidays coming soon! https://mailchi.mp/783a72739071/happy_monk_tidings_aug23
TASTE TEST! I’ve admired @eds_bred of Whistler for some time, though never been there or tasted their bread. But a generous customer brought me a loaf yesterday, a beautiful-looking Sesame-Poppyseed loaf. Coincidentally, I’d made a Sesame Sourdough loaf as my Baker’s Choice this week. How did the two loaves stack up? The Ed’s Bred’s loaf was gorgeous with a dark, sesame-poppyseed crust, lovely colour, subtle flavour. The wood-fired Happy Monk entry had a little less colour, but packed a powerful sesame whoomph. Great flavour for sesame fans! What can we learn from this?
(Looking forward to Ed’s book, Bred, coming in November!)
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#sesame #sesamebread #breadhead #breadlove #wildyeast #naturallyleavened #baker #bakery #bread #sourdough #sourdoughbaking #sourdoughbread #bakersofinstagram #artisanbread #realbread #rusticbread #woodfired #woodfiredbread #woodfiredovenbread #whistler #whistlerbread #sesamepoppyseed #penderisland #southpenderisland #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakingcompany
Aug 12

TASTE TEST! I’ve admired @eds_bred of Whistler for some time, though never been there or tasted their bread. But a generous customer brought me a loaf yesterday, a beautiful-looking Sesame-Poppyseed loaf. Coincidentally, I’d made a Sesame Sourdough loaf as my Baker’s Choice this week. How did the two loaves stack up? The Ed’s Bred’s loaf was gorgeous with a dark, sesame-poppyseed crust, lovely colour, subtle flavour. The wood-fired Happy Monk entry had a little less colour, but packed a powerful sesame whoomph. Great flavour for sesame fans! What can we learn from this?
(Looking forward to Ed’s book, Bred, coming in November!)
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#sesame #sesamebread #breadhead #breadlove #wildyeast #naturallyleavened #baker #bakery #bread #sourdough #sourdoughbaking #sourdoughbread #bakersofinstagram #artisanbread #realbread #rusticbread #woodfired #woodfiredbread #woodfiredovenbread #whistler #whistlerbread #sesamepoppyseed #penderisland #southpenderisland #happymonkbaking #happymonkbakingcompany
Happy Monk Tidings - August 9, 2023 🍞 - BAKER`S CHOICE: Sesame Sourdough; BLOG: Say A Prayer For The Perfect Loaf; ANNOUNCEMENT: Happy Monk Summer Holiday Schedule https://mailchi.mp/99197a16b166/happy_monk_tidings_aug9
Aug 9

Happy Monk Tidings - August 9, 2023 🍞 - BAKER`S CHOICE: Sesame Sourdough; BLOG: Say A Prayer For The Perfect Loaf; ANNOUNCEMENT: Happy Monk Summer Holiday Schedule https://mailchi.mp/99197a16b166/happy_monk_tidings_aug9
Happy Monk Blog - July 26, 2023 🍞 - Swimming the Neighbourhoods; how John Cheever`s short story, The Swimmer, made more sense to kids in the summertime. [See LinkTree in Profile ]
Jul 26
![Happy Monk Blog - July 26, 2023 🍞 - Swimming the Neighbourhoods; how John Cheever's short story, The Swimmer, made more sense to kids in the summertime. [See LinkTree in Profile ]](https://i0.wp.com/happymonkbaking.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png?w=980&ssl=1)
Happy Monk Blog - July 26, 2023 🍞 - Swimming the Neighbourhoods; how John Cheever`s short story, The Swimmer, made more sense to kids in the summertime. [See LinkTree in Profile ]
Lay your head on this pillow soft Potato-Rosemary Loaf, breathe in the aromatic rosemary leaves plucked straight from the garden. And when you wake, a glorious wood-fired loaf awaits … you might spread a little butter, drizzle some honey and your dreams may come true!
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#potatobread #sourdough #sourdoughbread #woodfired #woodfiredoven #coboven #woodfiredovenbread #woodfiredbread #coboven #bread #sourdough #sourdoughbread #realbread #naturallyleavened #baker #bakery #bbga #breadhead #breadlove #baker #happymonkbaker #happymonkbaking #artisanbread #rusticbread #penderisland #southpenderisland
Jul 16

Lay your head on this pillow soft Potato-Rosemary Loaf, breathe in the aromatic rosemary leaves plucked straight from the garden. And when you wake, a glorious wood-fired loaf awaits … you might spread a little butter, drizzle some honey and your dreams may come true!
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#potatobread #sourdough #sourdoughbread #woodfired #woodfiredoven #coboven #woodfiredovenbread #woodfiredbread #coboven #bread #sourdough #sourdoughbread #realbread #naturallyleavened #baker #bakery #bbga #breadhead #breadlove #baker #happymonkbaker #happymonkbaking #artisanbread #rusticbread #penderisland #southpenderisland
Happy Monk Blog - July 12, 2023 🍞 - "Nothing I Cared in the Lamb White Days" - Climate change and watching the moon rise over the Salish Sea. [ See LinkTree in Profile ]
Jul 12
![Happy Monk Blog - July 12, 2023 🍞 - "Nothing I Cared in the Lamb White Days" - Climate change and watching the moon rise over the Salish Sea. [ See LinkTree in Profile ]](https://i0.wp.com/happymonkbaking.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png?w=980&ssl=1)
Happy Monk Blog - July 12, 2023 🍞 - "Nothing I Cared in the Lamb White Days" - Climate change and watching the moon rise over the Salish Sea. [ See LinkTree in Profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - July 5, 2023 🍞 - BAKER`S CHOICE: Olive Sourdough; ReBLOG: Salvador Dalí and the Art of Bread [ Click LinkTree in Profile ]
Jul 5
![Happy Monk Tidings - July 5, 2023 🍞 - BAKER'S CHOICE: Olive Sourdough; ReBLOG: Salvador Dalí and the Art of Bread [ Click LinkTree in Profile ]](https://i0.wp.com/happymonkbaking.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png?w=980&ssl=1)
Happy Monk Tidings - July 5, 2023 🍞 - BAKER`S CHOICE: Olive Sourdough; ReBLOG: Salvador Dalí and the Art of Bread [ Click LinkTree in Profile ]
Happy Monk Tidings - June 28, 2023 🍞 - BAKER`S CHOICE: Spelt and Honey Sourdough; BLOG: Black Robe and Rise of the Machine [ See LinkTree in Profile ]
Jun 28
![Happy Monk Tidings - June 28, 2023 🍞 - BAKER'S CHOICE: Spelt and Honey Sourdough; BLOG: Black Robe and Rise of the Machine [ See LinkTree in Profile ]](https://i0.wp.com/happymonkbaking.com/wp-content/plugins/instagram-feed-pro/img/placeholder.png?w=980&ssl=1)
Happy Monk Tidings - June 28, 2023 🍞 - BAKER`S CHOICE: Spelt and Honey Sourdough; BLOG: Black Robe and Rise of the Machine [ See LinkTree in Profile ]
Long bake bake Friday … one problem after another. But all turned out well, including the proud and mighty Seed Feast loaves. Thanks as always to @leathersmithe for assistance and encouragement!
Jun 24

Long bake bake Friday … one problem after another. But all turned out well, including the proud and mighty Seed Feast loaves. Thanks as always to @leathersmithe for assistance and encouragement!
[…] Also see the earlier Happy Monk blog post: That Rye Flavour: Reaching for Something From The Past. […]
[…] That Rye Flavour: Reaching for Something from the Past […]