Your basic rye bread

So yesterday I baked my first pumpernickel rye bread using a recipe I found at the back of a bag of Rogers rye flour sourced from the nearest Save-on. As a beginning baker, I am ecstatic that the results of my efforts have been decent. Until I know more I will be sticking closely to instructions as written. (That's right, I'm a slave to the recipe for now!)

Below is the Rogers recipe and the bolded text are my comments/revisions. I really appreciated that they added metric measures, because accurate measurements are especially key in bread baking. But I've got to admit I didn't really follow them. I went by cups and tablespoons. So sue me.

Rogers Basic Rye Bread
1/2 cup warm water / 125ml
1 tsp honey / 5ml
1 tbsp yeast / 15ml
- Dissolve yeast and honey in warm water and let stand 10 minutes

2 tbsp honey / 25ml
1/4 cup vegetable oil / 50ml
1 tbsp salt / 15ml
1 tbsp caraway seeds (optional) / 15ml
1 3/4 cups warm water / 425ml
1 tbsp lemon juice / 15ml
3 cups dark rye flour / 750ml
2 1/2 to 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour / 625-875ml

In a large bowl, measure honey, oil, salt, craway seeds, warm water and lemon juice; add yeast mixture and mix well. Add rye flour and beat vigorously by hand or at low speed with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Stir in sufficient all purpose flour to make a soft, workable dough. (I only needed the minimum amount indicated).

Turn dough oout on a lightly floured surface; knead 5 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. Form dough into a ball and place in greased bowl, turning once to grase the top. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/4 hours. (Mine took nearly 2 hours. I let it rest inside the oven with only the pilot light on but a check at the hour mark showed a very modest rise, probably because the room and oven were cold. To speed things along I switched the oven on to its lowest setting for a minute then switched it right off. Sure enough the dough took off beautifully and soon doubled in size).

Punch dough down and form into smooth balls. Cover and let rest 20 minutes. Roll each ball to form aa long, rounded loaf and place on greased baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Using a sharp knife, make 3 or 4 shallow diagonal slashes across the top of each loaf. Let rise until almost double in bulk, about 1/2 hour. Bake in a 375F/190C oven for 40-50 minutes or until done. Remove from baking sheets and cool on wire rack. (I baked the loaves in a 425F oven for the first 15 minutes, then dropped the heat to 350 until they were done. I also spray-misted the loaves and oven walls with water within the first 10 minutes, avoiding the pilot light. And to ensure a nice golden glaze I gave the loaves an eggwhite wash before I put them in the oven).

The dough at various stages:

The finished bread:

Sliced once it was (almost) cool: