Rye Bread

Rye bread has it’s place in the pantheon of breads, especially if you’re thinking about making a Ruben sandwich of having liverwurst on a slice of toast. It’s also a great bread to serve sauteed cabbage and sausage, which if home cooking for anybody from Poland. Like any good bread recipe, rye bread can vary all over the place in terms of ingredients and process, so what I am intending to present is a basic but classic version and once you master this, you can start to add your own flare. You will notice that rye flour is mixed with wheat flour, this is to keep the bread from becoming too dense while providing a good structure within the loaf.

Ingredients

• 16 g dry yeast
• 290 g rye flour – 2 cups
• 730 g bread flour – 5 cups
• 575 g warm water – 2 1/2 cups, (~100 F)
• 215 g molasses – 2/3 cup, (regular unsulphured;,not blackstrap)
• 2 TBL caraway seeds (optional)
• 15 g salt – 1 TBL
• 45 g vegetable oil – 2 oz
• 22 g cocoa powder – 1/4 cup, (unsweetened)

Process

1. Mise en Place – measure and prepare your ingredients prior to starting.
2. Pitch yeast: mix yeast with warm water. Cover and let sit for ~10 mins
3. Make Dough: In a mixer, combine, flour, molasses, yeast mixture, salt, oil, and cocoa powder. Mix at speed 1 for 4 mins. Then knead dough at speed 4 for 4 mins.
4. First proof: Place in bowl and cover with film. Let rise 90 mins at room temperature.
5. Second proof: punch dough down and divide into two loafs. Place each loaf into greased baking pans. Cover with damp cloth and let rise 45 mins.
6. Preheat oven at least 30 mins before baking to 350F or 320 F fan.
7. Score the top of each loaf with two diagonal cuts about 1/4″ deep.
8. Bake for 40-50 mins or ~30 mins fan.
9. Remove from pans and let cool on rack at least 15 mins before slicing.