Stone Ground Organic Rye Flour, Rye Berries, Rye Chops + Rye Flakes

Here at Janie’s Mill, we carefully stone mill all of our rye products from the delicious and nutritious whole rye berries (a variety called Bono Rye) that we grow just down the road on Janie's Farm. While each product goes through a different milling process, they all begin as the same high quality, Certified Organic Rye Berries.

Rye vs Wheat

While rye and wheat are similar cereal grains, they also have significant differences, especially when rye flour is used in yeast or sourdough breads. Scroll down for details! 

Rye Flour

Janie's Mill offers two forms of Rye Flour, light and dark. Both rye flours start out as certified organic whole rye berries, and go through our artisanal stone milling process.

Organic Dark Rye Flour

Of the two rye flours, our Dark Rye Flour is the more nutritious because it is a 100% extraction flour containing all the nutrition found in the whole grain. This rye flour is great in traditional northern European rye breads, but is also delicious in rye brownies, cookies, and crackers. In addition to making specific rye bread recipes, you can add 10-20% rye flour to your favorite recipe to create a loaf with added taste and nutrition.

Organic Light Rye Flour

Our certified organic Light Rye Flour starts out as Dark Rye Flour, but then we run it through our sifters to remove larger bran particles. This results in a surprisingly smooth, silky rye flour that's light in color, texture, and flavor. At 80% extraction, our Light Rye Flour is extremely versatile, and can be substituted for some or all All-Purpose Flour in most recipes, including cookies, cakes, brownies, and crackers. You can also use our Light Rye Flour in your favorite rye bread recipes.

Organic Cracked Rye (Rye Chops)

Cracked rye, also known as rye chops, is just what it sounds like. We run the whole organic rye berries through our stone mill, separating the mill stones so that the whole rye berries are cracked into small, uniform pieces rather than ground into rye flour. Cracked rye is perfect for making porridge, whether for a breakfast cereal or as an inclusion for your rye bread. Cracked rye is a very popular ingredient in the traditional rye breads of northern Europe such as Danish Rye Bread (Rugbrød).

Organic Rye Flakes 

We run our certified organic whole rye berries through our hot roller/flaker to create these wholesome hearty rye flakes that are perfect for your favorite granola or for baking or brewing. They also make an excellent porridge, similar to oatmeal, that you can use as an inclusion in rye breads or other breads. In fact, although our organic rye flakes are made from whole rye berries instead of oat groats, you may use them as you would rolled oats in cookies, breads, and other baked goods.

Organic Rye Berries 

Home millers love to make fresh rye flour from our organic rye berries. But these whole organic rye berries are also perfect in grain bowls and grain salads, as well as in soups, stews, and pilafs. And our organic rye berries are also excellent when transformed into adult beverages through brewing or distillation!

Rye vs Wheat

In general, you may use whole organic rye berries in the same way you use wheat berries -- whether home-milling them into fresh rye flour, or cooking them up to use in grain salads or other whole grain dishes. 

Benefits of Rye Flour and other Rye Ingredients  

Among the many benefits of rye flour is its versatility and ease of use. From hearty rye bread to classic  snickerdoodles, gingerbread cookies, or brownies, rye flour adds a flavor and nutrition boost!

That same enhanced flavor and nutrition also comes when you use our whole rye berries, cracked rye, and flaked rye.

Rye vs. Wheat

Although wheat and rye are related cereal grains and may look similar at a distance, they do have important differences! 

Gluten Characteristics of Rye Flour vs. Wheat Flour

There is a fairly wide-spread misconception that rye is gluten-free, but this is not true! Gluten is a complex mixture of polypeptides that is formed when various cereal grain flours are mixed with water. Gluten has two major parts. One, the alcohol-soluble fraction, consists of gliadin (wheat), hordein (barley), avenin (oats), or secalin (rye). The insoluble fraction, found in all four of the above grains, is called glutenin.  (Source: Science Direct) 

Rye flour is less able to form gluten strands due to its low levels of glutenin, one of its two gluten-forming proteins. This means that a sourdough or yeast bread made with 100% rye flour, or a large proportion of rye flour, will not have the gluten structure needed for an airy, open crumb. Although an airy crumb is nice, dense rye breads are traditional, delicious, and hold toppings well.

The chemistry of rye also helps rye breads, and other baked goods made with rye flour, retain moisture and freshness for long periods of time.

Using Rye Flour vs. Wheat Flour

As mentioned above, because rye flour doesn’t have much glutenin, what small amount of gluten it can form breaks very easily when you knead or stretch and fold dough with a large proportion of rye flour.  However, if you use only 10-20% rye flour, along with a strong wheat flour like our High-Protein Bread Flour, you can develop the gluten and create an elastic dough that will give you a good rise.

When you are making baked goods that are leavened with baking soda or baking powder (cakes, cookies, brownies, quick breads) or are not leavened at all (crackers, crisp breads), you can use rye flour with abandon! This means you may safely substitute rye flour for much of the wheat flour (generally All-Purpose, Pastry, or Cake Flour) in your favorite cookie, brownie, quick bread, or cracker recipes. Just be judicious when substituting rye flour for a portion of wheat flour in recipes for sourdough or yeast breads.

While rye DOES have gluten, and should not be consumed by people with celiac disease, some people with mild gluten intolerance find that baked goods with rye flour are more easily digestible.

Rye Flour Recipes 

We have delicious rye flour recipes on our website, but you can also substitute rye flour for wheat flour in most quick bread recipes, as well as in brownie, cookie, cake, and cracker recipes. In general, rye flour pairs well with hearty ingredients like molasses, chocolate, coffe, and caramel. This is one reason why so many people love our Rye Brownies made with rye flour, either light or dark!

Start with a Rye Sampler Pack

If you haven't yet had the opportunity to bake with rye flour, or taste the delicious flavor that organic rye berries or cracked rye add to a grain bowl, soup, or stew, you can experiment with the delicious organic rye products in our Rye Lovers sampler pack. Whether you want to try a classic European rye bread, make organic rye crackers or add the hearty taste and nutrition of rye flour to your favorite cookie recipe, you'll love the rye flours, whole rye berries, and cracked rye in this sampler!