As Norm Langer just wrote me:

“My Dad started double baking the rye bread when he opened Langer’s in 1947. (350 degree oven for approximately 30 minutes). He started it because the Deli he opened in Palm Springs in the early 40s did not have a Jewish Bakery. It was 80-85% baked. He had the bread brought in by Greyhound bus.”

So there you go…the West Coast rye maven. May he and Jack Goldman be baking toasty ryes in heaven.

The first is Pechter’s, in Harrison, across the river from Newark. They make several ryes, including a commercially wrapped sandwich rye with few caraway seeds (or none), slightly crisp crust, pale odor of yeast and malt. They also make an excellent Russian rye with plentiful traditional caraway seeds in the bread and, if you like, Russian caraway on the crust. The crust is chewy and the bread is rich in aromas of sourdough and rye flour. What you want to do is visit their retail outlet and buy a WHOLE 7 LB Russian Rye. They’ll slice it for you, if you like and then you can divide each slice in 1/2 for a perfect sandwich foundation.

Also in Newark is Paramount Bakery. They are actually Italian owned and operated, but make a very nice rye which is slightly darker in color than the Pechters. There is no retail shop, so you’d have to call them to get the names of retailers.

Both of these bakeries use, AFAIK, “altus” which is starter from the previous day’s batch. It’s the yeast in the beast.

Its nice to finally hear what those of us who grew up in the Detroit area have been saying about our deli bread for years. I grew up just a mile from the Bread Basket and the (Oak Park) Stage and their breads set the standard. I was shocked at how bad the bread was at Katz’s and Second Avenue when I was in NYC.

I am now on the west coast, and while Stage has helped open up Goldberg’s Famous just outside of Seattle, their bread has been hit and miss. At one point, it seemed like they were serving double-baked rye just like in Detroit, but lately the bread has not been quite as good.

I guess hope springs eternal for good rye bread, just like it does for good seven-layer cake - another Detroit specialty. I couldn’t convince you to “Save the Bakery” could I? Star Bakery is just around the corner from the Bread Basket and its full of the most wonderful baked goods that you could imagine.

Keep up the good work. I hope your book tour brings you to the Pacific Northwest. Explaining a good Jewish deli to many locals is like describing jazz. Perhaps you can better convey what it’s all about?

–Ken