Making Rye Bread - Part Two

I decided to bake this bread in a basket that I have because I like the designs it makes on a round loaf. I bought the basket from King Arthur Flour years ago for this very reason. So although the recipe said to shape the bread into a round and let it rise on a cornmeal sprinkled cookie sheet, I let the bread rise in the basket. It needs to rise about 50 minutes to double in the pan.

Note: I looked all over the Internet for the kind of proofing basket I use and never found it. It's an old-fashioned kind that has to be kept dusted with flour when it is used. I did find many sources of bread proofing baskets such as this one, but most are plastic these days.

When the loaf had more than doubled, I turned it onto the cookie sheet and let it sit while the over preheated to 375.



The bread bakes for 35 - 40 minutes. It is a dense, lovely loaf, replete with the scent and taste of the caraway seeds.


The finished loaf. It was huge. I wished that I had divided the dough and made two loaves. The slices from this one can be cut in half to make a decent sized sandwich.