100 Rye Bread Food

100% RYE BREAD

Steps:

• Refresh a portion of your sourdough starter using equal parts rye flour and water. This will give you a rye starter that you can maintain like your other starter if you wish.
• This dough is very sticky and cement-like. I find that frequently dipping spoons, scrapers and your fingers into water helps reduce the mess that this dough loves to make.
• Make the sponge using a cup of the refreshed starter, the 3 cups of water, and the 4 cups of flour. Let this ferment, covered in a 70F to 80F area for 4 hours or until it doubles in volume. I use a clear, straight sided container to know when the fermentation is complete.
• After fermentation, place the sponge into a large bowl and add the sugar, salt, molasses and caraway. Add the rye flour a portion at a time until all is well mixed. Cover and let rest for 20 minutes.
• Scrape the dough onto a wetted counter. Traditional kneading is not possible. Using a wetted bench scraper and wet hands, just fold and mix as well as you can for a few minutes.
• Divide the dough in half and form two balls of dough.
• Spray two 8" x 4" bread pans (standard loaf pans) with oil and line with parchment paper. I spray the parchment paper as well.
• Preheat your oven to 375°F.
• Press the dough into the pans, smoothing with wet hands. Seeds or white flour can be added to the surface if desired. Cover with oiled plastic wrap. and let rise in a 70F to 80F area until the loaves rise about 30% (about 2- 3 hours).
• Bake for 45 minutes or longer until the internal temperature is 200°F I rotate the loaves in the oven after 20 minutes of baking.
• Remove the loaves from the pans and cool on a rack thoroughly before slicing. The taste improves with time and the bread will last for several days or more at room temperature.
• Slice thinly - enjoy.

100% RYE BREAD

Steps:

• 1) Activate the yeast In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the warm water and yeast. Allow the mixture to sit for about 10 minutes so the yeast activates. 2) Whisk together the dry ingredients In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the dark rye flour, salt and cream of tartar until well incorporated. 3) Whisk together the flavor building ingredients In another medium mixing bowl, whisk together the molasses, sugar, caraway seeds, espresso powder and stir until just combined. Whisk in the warm water and yeast mixture from Step 1. 4) Mix the dough Add the dry ingredients to the bowl containing the wet ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon in one circular direction for 1 minute. Now stir in the opposite direction for 1 minute. 5) Coat the rye dough with oil Add about 1 tbsp olive oil to another medium mixing bowl and spread it around the inside with your fingers. Use a spatula to scrape the dough into the oily bowl. With dampened fingers, form the dough into a ball and rotate it around in the inside of the bowl so it's coated in oil. 6) Let the dough rise Cover the bowl with a plastic bag and let it rise in a warm place until it's doubled in size, about 1 ½ hours. Alternatively, place in the refrigerator for about 12 to 24 hours. Remember that we want our dough to double in size regardless of whether it spends a full 24 hours in the refrigerator or rises at room temperature. Feel free to let it rise in the refrigerator for some of the time and outside of the refrigerator the rest of the time. 7) Let the dough rise once more De-gass the dough by pressing on it with dampened hands several times until no more gas comes out of the dough. Form the dough into a ball again and let it rise until it's doubled in size, about 1 ½ hours. If you did your last rise in the refrigerator, do this rise at room temperature and allow 4 hours of rise time. 8) Proof the dough The dough can now be proofed by gently forming it into a lightly oiled loaf pan and allowed to sit covered with a plastic bag until it reaches about 80% to 90% of it's intended size, which should be about 40 minutes. The proofing stage is where the dough takes most of it's shape. It's important to leave room under the plastic bag so the dough can rise sufficiently. 9) Bake the rye bread to perfection Preheat your oven to 375°F (191°C). Remove the plastic bag so the dough can rest for about 10 minutes while your oven is preheating. During the baking process, the dough will rise another 10% to 20% of it's intended size in the process known as 'oven spring'. Bake until the internal temperature of the bread measured with an instant-read thermometer registers 200-210°F (93-99°C). Rotate the loaf 180° in the oven halfway through the baking duration for even baking. If you don't have a thermometer, this is about 40 to 45 minutes or until the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when the loaf pan is tapped with a blunt object like a rolling pin. 10) Let the bread cool completely Since this rye bread isn't bound together with gluten we need to wait until it cools completely before removing it from the loaf pan so the vegetable gums can solidify. For best results when slicing this bread, use a designated serrated bread knife and clean the gummy dough off the blade after every three slices. This bread is best stored covered in a cool dark place or pre-sliced and stored in a plastic freezer bag in the freezer.

RYE BREAD

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine yeast and 1/2 cup of lukewarm water (100-120 degrees Farenheit) and stir to dissolve any lumps. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside while the yeast rehydrates, 5 minutes or so. It will be a little bubbly and yeasty-smelling when it's ready.
• Meanwhile, gently heat 2 Cups of milk in the microwave or on the stovetop until warm to the touch but not bubbling.
• In a very large bowl, combine shortening, brown sugar, and salt and mix until well combined. Add the molasses and the warmed milk, stir. Take the temperature of your mix here if you can - anything warmer than 120 will need to cool a few minutes to avoid killing the yeast.
• Add your yeast to the milk mixture along with the rye flour, stir until combined. Once the rye flour is incorporated, begin adding the unbleached flour, 1 Cup at a time stirring in each cup before adding another, until the mix begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
• Turn your dough out onto a floured surface and kneed, adding flour as needed to prevent it from sticking too badly to your hands or counter, for 8-10 minutes. You could have a slightly springy, glossy ball when you're finished kneeding.
• Place your dough ball into a large bowl sprayed will nonstick spray, turning the ball over once so all surfaces are coated. Cover with a tea towel and set in a warm spot for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until approximately doubled in size.
• Turn your risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface and press the air out gently with your hands. Kneed again a few times, and place back into a greased bowl, turning once, and cover again to rise for another hour.
• After the dough has risen a second time, turn it out onto a floured surface. Press the air out of it gently, and cut in half with a large knife.
• Stretch each half into a rectangle, with the short side of the rectangles approximately the length of your bread pan. Starting on the short side, roll each rectangle up to make a log, and place seam sides down into 2 greased 5x9 pans. You can score the tops of the loaves now, if you like. Cover and allow to rise one last time, about one hour or until the dough rises at least as high as the edge of the pans.
• Preheat your oven to 350 with the rack positioned in the middle of the oven and bake loaves for 50 to 60 minutes. Remove from the oven and turn out of pans immediately. Cover with a tea towel and allow to cool completely before slicing.