I've been on a bread baking kick, and I've especially been craving rye bread. I have to make my own because I can't seem to find a good loaf anywhere in the local stores. But that's okay! It's really easy to make. This recipe makes two loaves; I've often made one loaf, and stuck the second loaf in the fridge before the second rise. Then I let it proof at room temperature the next day for an hour or so, and bake it then. Super easy!
So, you'll need yeast. Because it makes two loaves, you'll need two packages.
Then pour in some warm water. Not too hot!
Molasses will be the sweetener. It'll flavor the bread, and also feed the yeast. And it'll give your bread a darker color, which I like.
Caraway seeds give the bread that distinctive rye bread flavor.
I'll admit. I've fallen in love with caraway seeds.
A slight drizzle of oil is next.
Now for the flour. You'll need both rye and white (or bread) flour.
These Bob's Red Mill bags are great. They're not big, so you don't have to commit to pounds and pounds of flour you might not use a lot of. And there are 5 cups of flour in each bag, which means there's the perfect amount for two batches of rye bread.
So, pour in the rye flour.
Mix it in completely.
Then add regular flour. Mix until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
You'll get a nice, soft dough. Turn it out into a lightly-oiled bowl.
Cover and let it rise somewhere warm for 45 minutes-1 hour or until doubled in size.
Like so.
Divide the dough into two, and place each dough ball into a lightly-greased round cake pan. Smoosh the dough ball down a bit, and then cover and let it rise again for another 30 minutes.
When you're ready to bake brush the top with milk, water, or egg white.
Then sprinkle the top with coarse salt and more caraway seeds.
Bake in a preheated 375F oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown and delicious looking. Let it cool for another 30 minutes before cutting into it.
Slather with butter, top with sauerkraut, or make into a sandwich. Whatever you choose, you know it'll be delicious!
Recipe: Rye Bread
1 tbsp. plus 1 1/2 tsp. (or 2 packages yeast)
2 c. warm water
1/4 c. molasses
2 tbsp. caraway seeds
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 1/2 c. rye flour
3 1/4 c. white (or bread) flour
caraway seeds and coarse salt
In a large mixing bowl, combine yeast and water. Add molasses, caraway seeds, vegetable oil, and flours. Mix well until dough comes together and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
Turn dough out into lightly-greased bowl. Cover with towel or plastic wrap and let rest for 45 minutes-1 hour, or until doubled in size.
Divide dough into two portions. Place each portion in a lightly-greased round cake pan. Pat dough balls down slightly; cover and let rise another 30 minutes.
Brush tops of dough with milk, water, or egg white. Sprinkle with caraway seeds and salt. Bake in a preheated 375F oven for 30 minutes. Let rest before serving.
I bet your house smells heavenly when this bread is baking.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for your recipe to try, we love rye bread, but have never actually tried making my own. You have made it sound not too bad to do.
Oh, it's so easy! I used to think making bread was piddly and time-consuming too, but really it's just a matter of find a good recipe or two and making it enough times where it becomes a second nature. (The stand mixer has really helped, too--I hate, hate, hate kneading bread. I hear bread machines are great for this too, although have never used one.)
DeleteI recommend starting out on a weekend day, so you won't feel rushed about having bread ready at a certain time. Then you'll have enough time to let the dough rise its full amount, and let it cool completely after. (I used to think that homemade bread was always kind of mushy--then I realized that I wasn't letting it cool long enough.)
I also recommend Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day (http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/) for people looking to get into the habit of breadmaking. It's not quite the same as a traditional loaf, and the name is a bit deceptive as there's still some rise time/oven preheating time to factor in, but turns out a pretty decent bread and makes bread dough available every day of the week if you want. It's pretty foolproof, and they give you multiple options on what to do with the same batch of dough. The book is a bit of an investment, and you'll need a few additional kitchen items (a foodsafe container to store the dough in your fridge, and a pizza stone for optimum crust), but it's a great way to introduce yourself to breadmaking.
Bread making is truly an art form, take a simple basic recipe and use it as a foundation and go from there. I did notice ( at least from your pics) that you didn't seem to use the dough hook. I hate to hand knead also so the dough hook does help even though we still have to do a small bit of hand kneading, and don't be shy I love caraway seeds also and instead of putting them on top i mix them in the dough. Take care
ReplyDeleteI love my Kitchen Aid and will share all the bread recipes I can and more. Good recipe's
ReplyDeleteHi Anonymous--I do use the dough hook on occasion--often to finish kneading the dough if it looks like it needs more kneading. Usually though I stick with the paddle (mostly out of a desire to not have to wash both, haha) unless it looks like the dough is being too rough on my mixer engine.
ReplyDeleteSince posting this recipe, I've started adding dried toasted onion flakes (from Penzey's) to the dough--a couple teaspoons' worth. I also sprinkle more on the top, along with the caraway seeds. It's wonderful.
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