Savory

Rye Bread

Sometimes I feel like Steve Urkel.

Sometimes when I grab the sink-sprayer (…is that the technical term?) I spray water all over myself and the kitchen. And when I was making this bread I dropped the bag of rye flour open-side down on the kitchen floor and spilled a hefty amount. And when I grabbed a tea towel to let the dough rise under it, an entire stack of towels landed on my head.

I even knocked my big bottle of vanilla out of the cupboard. Thankfully it didn’t break or I probably would’ve cried all over the kitchen like that sink-sprayer. The other day when I was feeling good about not burning biscuits or ruining stew, I broke a bowl on the kitchen floor.

Despite feeling like Steve Urkel and despite the fact that I just want Laura Winslow to love me as myself and not as Stefan Ur-kel (the cool me), things are going well. I mean, how can they not be with one loaf of bread on the ready and the other loaf in the freezer on standby.

Even though I spilled all morning, this bread ended up tasty. Jake can’t get enough BLT’s all up on it. And I can’t get enough savory toast. And that’s how you know bread’s worth having around.

Rye Bread {makes 2 loaves}
Recipe from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 t active dry yeast
  • 2 cups warm, not hot, water*
  • pinch of sugar
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups rye flour, white, medium or pumpernickel
  • pinch of salt
  • 2 T brown sugar
  • 2 1/2 t kosher salt
  • 3 T butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup molasses
  • 1/4 cup nonfat dry milk
  • 1 T caraway seeds
Directions:
  1. In a measuring cup, dissolve the yeast and pinch of sugar in a cup of warm water. Set aside for a few minutes until bubbly.
  2. Meanwhile mix the rest of the water and the remaining ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the yeast water and mix in. Knead in a stand mixer using the dough hook attachment for 7 minutes or knead by hand for 10 minutes. The dough will be sticky, smooth, and elastic. Add additional flour as needed to make it manageable.
  3. Place the dough in a large greased bowl, turning once to coat. Top with a tea towel and set aside to rise for 60-90 minutes. It’ll rise, but it might not rise to double in size. Meanwhile spray two bread pans with cooking spray. Place a rectangle of parchment paper over the long part of the bread pan overlapping the sides.
  4. Gently deflate dough and divide between the two prepared bread pans, folding the dough under itself to make the top smooth and mounded. Set aside to rise for 60-90 minutes or until the dough is barely peaking over the top of the bread pans. Toward the end of the rise time preheat your oven to 350 F.
  5. Bake loaves for 35-40 minutes. Check after 20 minutes and if the tops are browning too quickly tent with foil. They should sound hollow when tapped and the center should be 190 F.
  6. Remove the bread from the oven and allow to cool in pans for 10 minutes. Remove by tugging the parchment paper flaps and cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

That’s a serious megabite. Chomp chomp.

11 thoughts on “Rye Bread”

  1. sometimes we’re just total Urkel’s in the kitchen…it happens man, but at least this bread came out of it unscathed! I bet BLT’s are amazing on this…and toast, always and forever!

  2. Mum – If there was any left, I’d totally mail it to you. ha!

    Cindy – I need a BLT immediately.

    Laura – haha! We’ve got similar skillz.

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