BBA - Marbled Rye Bread

I'm baking with the Slow & Steady Subgroup of the Bread Baker's Apprentice group, and I'm behind. Most of them are poised to start the panetone, and I have three loaves to make before that one makes it to my to do list. I jumped ahead and blogged about the pain a l'ancienne for my bread baking anniversary, but I baked this loaf about a month earlier.

For some reason, this loaf had me procrastinating. I think it may be because I knew my swirling skills are sub par, plus I'm not a fan of caraway and to me, rye bread tastes like caraway. So when I finally made this bread, I left out the caraway and found the flavor to be excellent. My blogging and tweeting pal Kayte passed on her expertise (this loaf is the new favorite at her house) and that of our friend Nancy. Their collective advice practically guaranteed my success with this loaf. Based on their advice, I used the cocoa to color the dark rye, and I used honey as the sweetener in the light rye. This gave me a great visual distinction between the two ryes and made the swirl seem more dramatic. And the swirl? It was easy and I wondered why I put off making this delicious bread for so long.

The Slow & Steady group of the Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge consists of Nancy, Cathy, Jessica, Melissa, Kayte, Sarah, Di, Margaret and Nicole of Pinch My Salt. Nicole started the Bread Baker's Apprentice challenge but now she's baking at a slower pace and we feel thrilled and honored to have her join our group.