I sent Peter Reinhart a scolding email about the fact that the New York
Deli Rye recipe for in his new book, "Bread Baker's Apprentice" calls for
milk or buttermilk, which in terms of authenticity, it never would. His
gracious reply is below.
A paraphrase of my complaint and background: Old style New York delis were
(and are) Jewish and were kosher (or kosher-style, even if not
strictly-speaking observant), and would never have used a bread that was
made with milk products. That would render the bread dairy, unsuitable to
eat with the meat served by the deli. (Nor could you have gotten a slice
of American cheese as part of that hot pastrami on rye.) Jewish kosher
dietary practice forbids eating meat and milk products at the same
meal. Eggs and fish are neutral, or "pareve", so cream cheese and lox is OK.
This error, for example, was also made by Joe Ortiz, in his "The Village
Baker", with his Jewish rye bread recipe calling for raw goat's milk ( ! )
or buttermilk, who says said he based it on a recipe published by General
Mills / Gold Medal.
As far as I'm concerned you might as well have a brioche recipe that
doesn't include eggs as have Jewish breads containing milk or milk products.
Mark Judman <Mark_Judman@colpal.com>
Peter Reinhart writes:
Dear Mark,
Mea culpa! Of course I should have known that but fell asleep at
the wheel, entranced by the flavor of the bread. I should have
noted that the bread could be made without the buttermilk, with
just water, in order to make it acceptable for kosher eating. Or
simply changed the name to Onion Rye. It does taste good either
way. Thanks for catching that--I'll do what I can to broadcast
this correction. Feel free to send our correspondence to the Bread
Bakers List. Perhaps we could ask everyone to pass along the word.
Many Thanks,
Peter
"Peter and Susan Reinhart" <s.reinhart@prodigy.net>