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.

Making Rye Bread - Part One

Sometimes I am just in the mood for rye bread. My parents used to buy "cocktail rye" which was a small, longish round loaf and I would eat slice after slice. The caraway seeds have such a special taste.

This weekend, I was really in the mood for rye, so I made an "old World" recipe from one of my favorite old cookbooks: A World of Breads by Dolores Casella



The recipe has cocoa in it and makes a very dark bread. Here it is:

2 cups rye flour
1/4 cup cocoa (I used Ghirardelli cocoa
2 T yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 cup molasses
2 tsp salt
2 T caraway seed
2 T butter
2 1/2 cups bread flour or whole wheat flour

Combine the rye flour and cocoa. Stir with a whisk until mixed. Dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup warm water. Mix molasses, 1 cup warm water, salt, and caraway seed in large mixing bowl. Add the rye/cocoa mix, the proofed yeast, the butter and 1 cup bread flour or whole wheat flour.



Beat until the dough is smooth. Change to a dough hook or pour onto flour covered counter and knead in the rest of the flour. (I used the last of a bag of whole wheat flour - about 1/2 cup - and the rest bread flour). Place in greased bowl and cover. Allow to rise until double (about 2 hours).

Here's my dough in the rising bowl before I covered it with plastic wrap.