Wednesday, May 4, 2011

A Pair of Medium Ryes

Late last fall, I was chatting with a local farmer about all the bread I make and how sometimes I end up with more than I can use. He said that if I wanted to trade bread for vegetables, he'd be all for it. Well, that's a deal, hmmm? A win-win for both of us.

Last fall, I didn't get around to doing any trading, since I'd already stocked up on fall vegetables. But this spring when the farmer's market opened up, I was there, bread in hand. And I walked out with a greens - or more accurately, lettuce and spinach.

The next week I showed up with buns and made another trade.

This time, I needed bread for myself, so I made a larger than usual batch so I could have two loaves. I decided  to make a light(ish) rye. Seedless. Yum.

Light Seedless Rye Loaves

1 cup (4 ounces) rye flour
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 1/2 cups (11 1/4 ounces) bread flour
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

In the bowl of your stand mixer combine rye flour, yeast, water, sugar and gluten. Stir to combine and set aside for 15 minutes - it will be very bubbly.

Add the salt and bread flour, and knead with the dough hook until the mixture is smooth and elastic. Add the olive oil and continue kneading until the olive oil is completely incorporated.

Form the dough into a ball, drizzle with a bit of olive oil to coat, and return it to the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside to rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Flour your work surface and preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Sprinkle 2 small baking sheets (or one large one) with cornmeal Turn the dough out and knead it briefly. Divide the dough into 2 pieces and for each into a ball or log (your choice). Place the dough on your prepared pans, seam side down. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

When the loaves have doubled, slash as desired and bake until golden, about 30 minutes.

Let the loaves cook completely on a rack before slicing.

This has been submitted to Yeastspotting.
Yum

1 comment:

Suzzanne said...

I smiled at the title of your post. My last name happens to be Rye, and I think of my husband and myself as a Pair of Heavy Ryes. Thanks for the recipe! I will try these loaves of bread.

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