Before hearing Nathan Myrvhold interviewed at Modernist Breads/MOFAD party for his new book, I had always blamed the lousy quality of my home-baked rye bread on bad luck. Well, seems the fault falls on neither fate nor luck. In his interview, Myrvhold shared a secret; as a crop, rye just wasn't engineered to end up in bread. Traditionally, it was grown to serve as pig feed. So how did the Kosher tribe of Levy come to specialize in baking rye bread? Beats me. All I know is that this half-Jewish baker (me!) had trouble with them. The rye bread I baked usually came out dark and coarse, missing the beautiful hues of grey that characterize great rye bread. Seems my mistakes were grounded in using older ryes, thus ending up with satan-spawned starters that inevitably went awry. Well, post-Nathan Myrvhold, I have committed to milling my rye straight from grains. And the results? Like innocent angels, my rye bread baked at home are coming out full and fresh. No more pearls for swine!