Rye Bread

Paul (beloved hubby) did all the work making this loaf of rye. ;) He did a lovely job and his bread came out beautifully. I have to say though when giving instructions on how to work the dough I actually had to put my hands on it for a minute to see exactly how I work it....you make enough bread it's pretty much auto pilot mode. Honestly though everyone develops the strategy that works best for them when it's all said and done.


Rye Bread

1 pack active dry yeast
2 cups Rye flour
2 cups Spelt flour
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup warm skim milk
2 tbls oil
1 tbls raw honey
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cocoa powder
1/2 cup non fat plain yogurt
2 egg whites, beaten
3 tbls vital wheat gluten
3 tbls caraway seeds

Dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. (I just use warm water from the tap.) Add in warm milk, oil, honey, cocoa powder, caraway seeds, and salt. Stir in yogurt....I heat up my yogurt slightly just to take the cold out of it. It's not critical that you do that but it works for me. Add in rye flour and vital wheat gluten. Mix in the egg whites. Add in spelt flour. At this point your dough should be quite stiff. Turn it out onto a board and knead in as much flour as needed. Continue to knead dough for about 8 to 10 minutes adding flour to keep dough from sticking. Place in bowl and cover, letting rise in a warm place for about an hour. I generally use the microwave for this step...heating up a mug of water to steaming before putting my bread bowl inside.

After bread has risen turn back out onto your board and punch down. Work the dough for a bit before shaping it into a loaf and popping it into a greased loaf pan. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes in a warm spot. Preheat your oven to 350. Pop the loaf in the oven for 50 to 60 minutes or until it nicely baked through. Let cool on wire rack. Slice when cool.


A few pics of the process....
Pretty, pretty loaf getting ready to do it's 30 minute stint to rise.

After 30 minutes, the loaf should be all nice and poofy, doubled in size. I use vital wheat gluten in the recipe to help the dough rise. If you are making your bread without extra gluten you could need to extend your rise time. I usually tack on time in 30 minute increments if I have to extend it.

One of the things I like to do when kneading the dough it fold it over from time to time. One fold from left to right and one fold from top to bottom. Then continue kneading pressing the layers together. The folding just helpd me get the dough to the stretchy, stiffer texture I'm looking for.