I’ve combed the web for a recipe for these little dark, round, chewy rolls and have found nothing. Poilane is a wonderful artisan bakery in Paris. The one attempt I made at my own recipe was a disaster. I hope someone might be better at either finding or coming up with their own tried and true recipe.
have you looked on the fresh loaf
I just recently got to know FreshLoaf, so will ask around there. It seems like a really good resource site. Thanks.
Thanks! The picture looks very much like what I remember the Poilane rolls to be like. But when I go on her site, I don’t see that bread or any reference to anything raisin. Maybe I’ll contact her.
I would just start experimenting with a 123 bread . 1 part fed starter. 2 parts water 3 parts flour and fiddle with it .
Thanks, I will try that. I see all the 1-2-3 threads on FreshLoaf. Do you agree that when using rye or other non-wheat flours, 50% of flour still needs to be wheat for gluten purposes? If I use that premise as a starting point, it will save me some time and effort!
Hi - pardon my randomly butting in to this interesting conversation 
Your roll quest sounds fun and delicious. I’d try 50% rye because you’ll get the rye flavor and more open crumb chewiness than if you did all rye.
But you absolutely can go 100% rye if you’re interested in a delicious but tight crumb bread. When I do this I add some form of sugar, honey, or yeast water to help along the fermentation.
Here are a couple examples:
The breakfast spread one had to be cut too soon and that’s why it has gummy bits. That used starter and currant yeast water. Edited to add: I looked closer at the wide openings on the crust of this bread and realized I needed to check my notes. So not 100% rye! It was 75% rye.
The one on the white towel is for sure 100% rye and was cut the next day. I used starter and a couple of Tbsp of honey.
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Have you looked through any of the whole grain bread books by Beatrice Ojakangas? She has a Raisin Rye bread, Raisin Rye Bagels, and a Country Currant Rye bread. One of these may be similar to what you are looking for. I have had good luck with her bread recipes as well.
Thanks! Your breads look great. I’m in the process of my first 1-2-3 experiment for these rye rolls, and am going to add a bit of honey as you suggest - but not much as I don’t want them to be sweet. I’ll probably try 50% white and then see if I can get away with more next time. I really do want to reproduce the chewy texture that I remember.
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Thanks, that’s a good idea. It looks like it would mean buying her book - a brief search doesn’t show her recipes online, unless I’m missing something.
I have both of her books; I can scan the recipes and send them and post on this forum, if you like? Just let me know which ones you are interested in.
That would be great. Thanks! The ones I’m interested in are the Raisin Rye Bread and the Country Currant Rye Bread.
…errr not sure if this is what you meant, but please don’t post scans of a book in here. Though the list of ingredients and utilitarian instructions for a recipe cannot be copyrighted, the form and text of a published book can be and certainly are, and putting a scan of such a book in here could cause us all some hassle.
Sorry; I don’t mean to create any problems. Just trying to help.
Sorry, per request I will not upload the scanned pages. You can find the Raisin Rye bread recipe in:
Whole Grain Breads by Machine or Hand: 200 Delicious, Healthful, Simple Recipes, by Beatrice Ojakangas book, and the Country Current Rye bread recipe is in her Great Whole Grain Breads cookbook. You may find them at your local library or purchase them used on Amazon. I also found a Pain Au Seigle recipe in the “Bread Lover’s Bread Machine Cookbook: A Master Baker’s 300 Favorite Recipes for Perfect-Every-Time Bread-From Every Kind of Machine” cookbook, which is more of a French Rye bread, and you may find that by adding raisins to this recipe it accomplishes what you are looking for. Add a little steam to your bake to make the crust more chewy.
Hi Arlo48. Just got back from Christmas travels & saw your recipe request. Going thru my bread machine library I found a recipe for Raisin in the Rye Rolls in the book Rustic European Breads from Your Bread Machine by Linda West Eckhardt & Diana Collingwood Butts published in 1995. It sounds just like the recipe you are looking for & you don’t need a bread machine to make it, but if your hands are getting older a bread machine dough setting may be just what the doctor ordered. Hope this helps you recreate your Paris memories & satisfy your French spoiled taste buds!
Thank you for your time and effort! I will see if the library carries them.
Thank you, I will definitely look into this one!
Hello; I found another recipe for the Raisin Rye bread from King Arthur flour, so you might want to check their website (sorry, I know it is the competition).