Bready or Not, Here's Some Rye Bread

Every time I wander down the baking aisle at the grocery store, I eye up the types of flour I would really like to try.  I pick up a package, look it over, and put it back on the shelf.  Saturday was the day I finally broke down and bought the rye flour to test out. I mean being a prairie dweller, I should at least make the attempt at making rye bread, right??

For those who may not know, this region of the prairies is renowned for rye bread...there is even 'Winnipeg Rye bread'!! The lovely bakers at KUB bread do have it down to a science.  One of the things people who move away from Winnipeg constantly ask visitors to bring them is KUB rye bread!!

The package of flour I bought had a bread recipe right on the back so I figured I would just try this one out tonight.  Of course, I had to play around a little with the recipe so I made two batches tonight.  The first batch, I swapped out some of the white flour for whole wheat.  These loaves were a bit heavier, chewy, but still oh so tasty.  I added some vital wheat gluten to both batches, just because I have some kicking around so I wanted to use it.

Rogers Basic Rye Bread

• 2 1/4 cups warm water
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp yeast
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used Canola oil)
• 1 tbsp salt (I did use a little less than this)
• 1 tbsp caraway seeds (optional, I didn't have any so I didn't use them)
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 3 cups dark rye flour
• 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (I made one batch with 1/2 of this amount as whole wheat flour)
• 4 tbsp vital wheat gluten (not in the original recipe but it adds protein and some elasticity)

In the bowl of a stand mixer mix the warm water, honey, and yeast.  Let this mixture get all foamy and ready for bready.

Add the caraway seeds, oil, salt, and lemon juice and mix.  Then add the dark rye flour and beat on low speed with the dough hook for about 2 minutes, making sure all of the flour is is moist.    

Now add enough of the all purpose flour and the vital wheat gluten to make a soft dough.  Turn the dough out onto a floured counter and knead for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.  (you can do this with the dough hook but this works out soooo much stress....)

Form the dough into a ball and place it in a greased bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

Punch the ginormous dough ball down and form it into 2 balls.

Cover and let it rest for 20 minutes.

Roll each ball into a long, rounded loaf.

 

Place it on a lined baking sheet.

Use a sharp knife make about 4 shallow diagonal slashes across the top of each loaf.

Cover with a clean tea towel and allow to rise until double in bulk, about 1/2 to a full hour.

 

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes at 375F until baked and brown.

Moved baked loaves to a wire rack to cool.

 

Slice and enjoy! 

Now these loaves turned out incredibly tasty with a nice chewy texture.  It toasted great and went so well with peanut butter. I will definitely make these again, especially since I have the flour!

Until next time, stay warm and eat well!