John; You’re “spot on”. Do keep in mind that there are different types of rye flour, think of it as fine, medium, and coarse or rye meal. I personally like to use the medium rye flour at 20% of my total flour and then add 5% rye meal to the mix also for the added texture that it brings to the finished crust. You can use either whole caraway seeds or chopped seeds, I think the chopped seeds give you a bit more flavor allowing you to use less. Rye doughs are also somewhat “muddy” in color too (not like the rye bread that you buy in the store). To get that beautiful brown color to the rye dough/crust you will need to add some carmel coloring to the dough. So you don’t get a clash of flavors, use regular salad oil rather than olive oil when making a rye dough/crust. Here is a trick when making a seeded rye, put the seeds into a small amount of boiling water and allow them to soak in it until the water cools (an hour or so), then add the seeds along withthe water to the dough (the water that the seeds are boiled in should be considered as part of the total water added to the dough. For example, if you boil the seeds in 2 cups of water, reduce the water that you add by 2 cups. This gives the crust a much better flavor and may allow you to further reduct theamount of caraway seed used. If you want the crust to have a nice, rustic look to it, use rye meal as a peel release agent if you are peeling the pizzas into the oven. If you want the finished crust to have a brighter appearance to it try brushing or spraying the outer crust edge with a savory oil as soon as it comes out of the oven.
Enjoy!
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
