Pumpernickel Bread with Caraway, Anise and Orange - Faster, Easier, Precisier

Yeah, I know that "precisier" isn't a word, but I'm still trying to see what magic my new gadget, the Precise Heat Bowl, can perform.

To be perfectly clear, I paid my very own money for this thing. Well, okay, I might have had an Amazon gift card burning a hole in my virtual wallet. But still, this is not a sponsored post.

After messing around with ice cream, lemon curd, and yogurt, I decided to turn my attention to bread. I made corned beef in my pressure cooker (an Instant Pot, if you must know) and I wanted corned beef sandwiches on rye bread. That's how I roll. So I figured that I'd use the bowl for my bread dough. It's pretty cool in my house this time of year, so it just made sense.

For the liquid in this bread, I used leftover whey from making strained yogurt, but water is perfectly fine.

Pumpernickel Bread with Caraway, Anise, and Orange

1 cup whey (leftover from making strained yogurt) or water
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup (4 1/2 ounces) pumpernickel flour (or any rye flour you have)
2 cups (9 ounces) bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon anise seeds

Plug in the Precise Heat Bowl and set it for 110 degrees. Add the whey (or water) and orange juice and wait for it to come up to temperature. Add the sugar and yeast. Stir to combine. If you're not sure your yeast is viable or if you're using a brand other than Red Star (my preferred; it has small grains so you don't need to let it soften before continuing) let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes. You should see bubbles.

Turn the heat down to 100 degrees. Add the flours, salt, and olive oil.

Attach the bowl to your stand mixer and attach the dough hook. Knead until the mixture begins to be smoother and less shaggy. Add the caraway and anise seeds and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and stretchy.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and place the cover on the bowl. Set the timer for 45 minutes. Check the dough when the time is up. It should have at least doubled in size. It will feel warm to the touch.

Sprinkle cornmeal on a baking sheet and preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Remove the dough from the bowl and gently form it into a round or oval. You don't want to knead or smash it, just gently form it. Place it on the baking sheet seam-side down. Cover with plastic wrap.

Put a cup or two of water in the bowl and place the baking sheet on top of the cooker. This will help keep the bread warm and speed the rise. Check the dough after 15 minutes. You're looking for it to double in size, and if you gently poke the bread with a fingertip, the dent should stay or fill in slowly. If it hasn't risen fully, give it more time, as needed.

When it has risen, remove the plastic wrap and slash the top of the dough. You can spray the dough with water before baking, if desired. Bake at 375 degrees until nicely browned, about 40 minutes.

Remove the bread from the oven and let it cool completely on a rack before slicing.

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Bread Machine Dark Rye with Caraway

If you were here, you'd never believe this bread came out of a bread machine.

Seriously. If it wasn't for the hole in the bottom of the loaf where the paddle was embedded, no one would know. It's that good. It's a little chewy in the crust, a little dense, the way a good rye is, and really, really good.

I made this bread specifically for corned beef sandwiches, but I might admit to eating a few slices with just a little smear of butter.

And right after the first loaf was gone, I made its twin.

You might think it's weird that I have a bread machine, considering I wrote a cookbook all about bread. But the truth is that I use that bread machine pretty often.

When I've got recipes I need to test, interviews I need to do, deadlines looming, and I want toast in the morning, using that bread machine for a quick loaf of bread makes an awful lot of sense.

I've made enough bread in the machine to know that I'm always going to get a decent sandwich loaf - and that's what I make most often.

Sometimes I experiment, but usually don't go too far from my standard recipes, because I know they won't fail. But I don't expect expect the machine to turn out something stunning.

Sometimes the results are better than I hope for. But this one was ... way better than that.

Dark Rye Caraway Loaf

1 cup water
1 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon active instant yeast
2 cups (9 ounces) bread flour
1 cup (4 1/2 ounces) dark rye flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon caraway seeds

Place all ingredients in your bread machine, in the order suggested by the manufacturer. Press appropriate buttons for a standard loaf.

When the bread is done, remove it from the bread machine and let it cool completely before slicing. Seriously. It needs to cool. But it's well worth waiting for.

Especially if you've got left over corned beef. Or ham. That would be good, too.

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Long little rye loaves

When I made a recipe for "chopped" chicken livers from the book 50 Shades of Chicken, I decided to make some rye bread to go along with the livers. That's how my mom served chicken livers (although she didn't make her own bread) and that's how a favorite restaurant in Chicago offered them.

You could certainly make this bread as one large loaf rather than long loaves, but this shape is better for appetizers, which was my intention.

You could also split the loaf lengthwise for sandwiches. Corned beef season is coming soon - how about corned beef on rye?

Or a reuben.

Dang, now I want corned beef!

Long Little Rye Loaves

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast*
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups (9 ounces) bread flour
1 cup (4 1/2 ounces**) dark rye flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cocoa powder*** (optional, for color)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons caraway seeds

Combine the yeast, sugar, bread flour, rye flour, and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer. Knead until it is becoming elastic. Add the oil and caraway seeds and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic, and the caraway seeds are well distributed in the dough.

Cover the bowl and set aside (in a warm spot, if your house is chilly) until the dough is doubled in size, about an hour.

Flour your work surface lightly and turn out the dough. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or sprinkle with cornmeal. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Divide the dough in half, and form each half into a log about 13 inches long. Place the logs on the prepared baking sheet, leaving space between them so they don't join when they expand.

Cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap, or, if you have another sheet of the same size, use that as a cover.

Set the dough aside to rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Remove the plastic wrap. Slash the loaves as desired and bake at 350 degrees until nicely browned (this is hard to tell if you used the cocoa powder), about 25 minutes.

If you like,  you can spray the loaf with water when you first place it in the oven and after about five minutes of baking.

Let the loaves cool completely before slicing.

*I had 1 1/4 teaspoons of Red Star Platinum yeast left from my bread machine experiment, so I used that, plus 1 teaspoon of active dry yeast. You can use whatever you happen to have on hand.

** Depending on the rye flour you buy, one cup might weigh more or less than 4 1/2 ounces. If you have a scale, weigh it. If you don't have a scale, you might need to add a little flour or a little water if your flour weighs more or less than mine.

*** It doesn't matter if the cocoa you use is regular, Dutch or dark. This is just for color.

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Bread Machine Rye (and a sandwich)

When I saw the sandwich kits that Good Cook was offering as part of the Kitchen Experts program, my first thought was the the sandwich keeper would be really handy for sandwiches for my husband's lunch. The sandwiches I make tend to be too big to fit into sandwich-sized plastic bags.

And I kind of hate buying plastic bags.

What really surprised me was how much I liked the little flexible plastic cutting boards.

Generally, a bigger cutting board is better. But when I'm making sandwiches, I need to cut one tomato, maybe some meat, maybe some cheese.

So either I'm rinsing or wiping one cutting board between each of those, or I'm putting one cutting board in the dishwasher and I'm grabbing another one. That's kind of silly.

But the little plastic boards are prefect for little tasks. I can slice a tomato, slice some meat, slice some cheese, and have them all ready for sandwich assembly. And they take almost no room in the dishwasher.

AND ... the colors should work well in photos, which is a plus.

So, I made a sandwich. But before I made a sandwich, I made bread. Because that's how I roll. I used my bread machine, since it heats up the house a lot less than the oven.

The cocoa in the bread doesn't add chocolate flavor - you'd never know it's in there. But it makes the loaf significantly darker.

Rye chops is coarse-ground rye. Not as chunky as rye flakes, but chunkier than flour.

Bread Machine Rye

1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 tablepoon sugar
1/2 cup rye chops
2 cups (9 ounces) bread flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoons butter
1 cup water

Place all ingredients in your bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer.

If your bread machine has setting, set for a medium loaf and a light crust.

When the bread is done, remove it from the bread machine and let it cool completely on a rack before slicing.

Picnic-on-a-Sandwich

This sandwich reminds me of a picnic - chicken, cole slaw, and fresh tomatoes are pretty common picnic items. I used chicken breast that I cooked on the grill, and the cole slaw was a very simple vinegar cole slaw recipe - nothing fancy. If I had used a mayonnaise-based cole slaw, I would have left the mayonnaise off the sandwich.

If you think that cole slaw on a sandwich is a little odd - well, it's not my idea. There's a very famous restaurant in Pittsburgh called Primanti Brothers that has been putting cole slaw on sandwiches for a long, long time. It adds crunch to the sandwich, along with more flavor than you'd get from a lettuce leaf.

Rye bread
Horseradish havarti cheese
Sliced chicken breast
Cole Slaw
Tomato
Mayonnaise

Since this is a sandwich, I'm not giving exact amounts - it's up to you how much of each item you want to stack on the sandwich. Pile it on, and have fun!

One tip - make sure the cole slaw is well-drained before you put it on the sandwich, or things can get a little soggy.

This post is sponsored by Good Cook as part of the Kitchen Experts program.

Check out the other sandwich recipes!

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A serious rye bread

I tend to make fluffy rye breads that are destined for sandwiches, but sometimes what I really want is a dense, chewy rye.

This isn't something you'd use for a sandwich (well, I wouldn't, but maybe you would.) But this kind of bread is perfect for slicing thin for appetizers or for tossing into the bread basket. This would be perfect for the chopped chicken livers that I made recently.

It would also be great for one of my favorite little snacks - cream cheese and raw onion on rye bread.

It's also great with a simple little smear of good butter.

Chomp, chomp, chewy rye

1 1/4 cup buttermilk
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 cup rye flour
1/2 cup oat flour
1 cup bread flour
1 tablespoon vital wheat gluten
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon caraway seeds

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the buttermilk, instant yeast, rye flour, oat flour, bread flour, and wheat gluten. Knead until the mixture is smooth. It won't be as elastic as a wheat dough, and it will be a little bit sticky.

Add the salt, olive oil, sesame seeds, and caraway seeds. Continue kneading until the ingredients are completely incorporated.

Cover the bowl and set aside until the dough has doubled in size, about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and sprinkle some cornmeal on a baking sheet.

Flour your work surface and turn out the dough. Knead the dough briefly and form it into a ball. Place the ball, seam-side down, on your prepared baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside until doubled in size - about 30 minutes. It's likely to spread sideways as much as it rises - that's fine.

Remove the plastic wrap and bake at 350 degrees until the dough is nicely browned, about 35 minutes.

Remove the bread from the oven and cool completely on a rack before slicing.

This has been submitted to Yeastspotting.

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Medium Rye Seeded Bread

I wanted rye bread, so I made it. Simple as that.

One small gaffe in the making of this bread. I had the oven cranked up to high heat for another recipe, and although I turned it down before this one went in, I think it was a bit too high.

I should have waited a little longer, but the bread had risen enough, so it was go-time.

No problem. The bread was good. It cooked a little faster than usual, but I pulled it in time. I've adjusted the recipe instructions for what the timing should be for this loaf.

Medium Rye with Seeds

1 cup water
1 tablespoon honey crystals (or sugar)
2 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 cup (3 1/2 ounces) pumpernickel flour
1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 ounces) bread flour
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the water, honey crystals, yeast, and pumpernickel flour. Set aside until it gets bubbly, about 10 minutes.

Add the bread flour and knead until the dough becomes elastic. Add the caraway, salt, and olive oil, and continue kneading until it is completely incorporated.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside until doubled, about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and sprinkle some cornmeal on a baking sheet.

Flour your work surface and turn out the dough. Knead briefly, then form it into your preferred shape. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside until doubled in size, about 30 minutes. Slash as desired and bake until browned and done, about 40 minutes.

Cool completely on a rack before cutting.

This has been submitted to Yeastspotting.

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Medium Rye Bread with Seeds

I love rye bread with caraway seeds, but this time I decided to add something different - a little bit of anise seeds. The flavor isn't so noticeable that most people would be able to pick them out, but they do add that subtle extra "something" that makes this bread a little more interesting than the usual rye.

I only added a small amount of the anise - feel free to increase the amount and see if you like it better.

I used whey in this bread, because I have it left over from making yogurt. Water would be fine as well.

Medium Rye with Seeds

1 1/4 cups whey (or water)
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 cup medium rye flour
2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
1/8 teaspoon anise seeds

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the whey (or water), yest, sugar, and rye flour and let it sit until it becomes bubbly, about 10 minutes.

Add the bread flour and knead until the dough becomes elastic. Add the salt, olive oil, and seeds, and knead until the oil is completely incorporated and the seeds are evenly distributed.

Form the dough into a ball, drizzle with a bit more olive oil and put the dough back into the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside until the dough has doubled, about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and sprinkle some cornmeal on a baking sheet.

Remove the dough from the bowl and form it into your preferred shape. Place it on the prepared pan, seam-side down, and cover with plastic wrap. Set aside to rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Slash as desired and bake at 350 degrees until nicely browned, about 40 minutes.

Cool completely on a rack before slicing.

This has been submitted to Yeastspotting.

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Caraway Rye Bread

This was sort of an experimental loaf. The ingredients were pretty standard, but I adjusted the way I combined them. I'm happy with the way the loaf came out. Flavor was good, texture was good, and elasticity was good when I was kneading and forming the loaf.

I'm not saying that anything I did was essential to making the bread, but it all made perfect sense at the time. Since I was using milk, it needed to be scalded before use, and then it had to be cooled before using so it didn't kill the yeast.

Since I keep my whole grain flours in the freezer or refrigerator, it made sense to add the cold flour to the warm milk to moderate the temperature.

Meanwhile, I mixed the yeast, yogurt and sugar while the milk and flour mixture was cooling off. I figured that it would give the yeast just a little bit of a head start at softening and activating.

Caraway Rye Bread

1 cup milk

1 tablespoon Greek-style yogurt

2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup (3 1/2 ounces) rye flour
1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 ounces) bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon caraway seeds

Heat the milk to just below the boiling point in a small saucepan, and set it aside to cool for a few minutes, then add the rye flour and stir to combine/ Set this mixture aside to cool until it is lukewarm.

Meanwhile, combie the sugar, yeast, and yogurt in the bowl of your stand mixer.

When the milk and flour mixture had cooled sufficiently, add it to the yeast mixture, stir to combine, and set aside for 10 minutes.

Add the bread flour and knead with the dough hook until the mixture becomes elastic.

Add the salt, caraway seeds, and olive oil, and continue kneading until it has all been incorporated.

Form the dough into a ball and put it back into the bowl (or a clean bowl, if you prefer) drizzle a little olive oil over it to coat, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Set aside to rise until the dough has doubled in size, about an hour.

Sprinkle some cornmeal on a baking sheet and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Sprinkle a little flour on your work surface and knead the bread briefly, then form it into your desired shape. I went with an oval loaf.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and set aside to rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Slash the loaf as desired and bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes, until nicely browned.

Let the bread cool completely on a wire rack before slicing.

This has been submitted to Yeastspotting.

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Buttermilk Rye Bread

This is a fairly lazy version of rye bread, and the result is a craggy, rustic loaf.

1 cup rye flour

2 cups bread flour

1 1/4 cups buttermilk

2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon caraway seeds (optional)

Put all the ingredients (except caraway seeds) into your food processor fitted with the correct blade for dough kneading, and process until the mixture comes together in a ball and cleans the side of the bowl. Add the caraway (if using) and process just until distributed. They don't have to be completely even, just mixed into the dough. You don't want to put the caraway in at the beginning, or you risk having the food processor break it up too much.

Drizzle some olive oil into a plastic bag and put the dough into the bag, making sure it's coated all over with the oil. put the bag in the refrigerator overnight. The dough will seem too sticky, but the flour will absorb a bit of the flour overnight and it will be firmer.

The next day, take the dough out an hour or so before you're ready to bake. Knead it a bit in the bag (you might need to open the bag to let the air out) and then set aside until it warms up and doubles in size, about 60-90 minutes

Flour your work surface, sprinkle some cornmeal on a baking sheet, and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Dump the dough onto your work surface knead it a bit, and form it into your desired shape. I went for a round loaf this time. Cover it with plastic wrap and set aside to double, about 30 minutes.

Chances are that the dough will crack on top on its own; if not, slash the loaf before baking.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes, until nicely browned and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped.

Cool completely on a rack before slicing.

This has been submitted to Yeastspotting.

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Crispy Rye Breadsticks

I adore breadsticks. They're nice at the dinner table with just a touch of butter, and they're a great little snack. And they're a lot easier to make than most people imagine.

As a snack, breadsticks aren't the worst you could do. They're not as salt-laden as pretzels or chips, and they aren't sugary like cookies. And if you're making them yourself, you can opt for more whole grains, or top them with your favorite seeds or nuts.

For these, I used both caraway seeds and nigella seeds. Both are optional. I also added extra gluten, which is also optional. It makes these breadsticks easier to handle, but it's not critical if you don't have it on hand.

Another great thing about breadsticks is that the crispy version has an extremely long shelf life. Unlike a moist bread that can get moldy, these are dry, like crackers. And since they're already dry, they don't dry out and get stale. In theory, they can last a long time. In practice, they disappear pretty quickly.

Since I bake a lot of breadsticks, I have a breadstick pan with ridges that keep the breadsticks in place. That sort of pan isn't necessary; a standard baking sheet is just fine. You just need to leave enough room between them so they don't touch while they're baking.

These bake at a relatively low temperature for quite a long time, because you want them to dry all the way through. A completely cooked breadstick will be crispy and shattery. An undercooked one will be like I imagine those rawhide dog chews might be.

The only difficult part about making these is that there's a fine line between being completely cooked and being overbrowned. Once they start browning, don't walk away from them for too long.

Crispy Rye Breadsticks

1 cup lukewarm water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
2 teaspoons gluten
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
1 cup (4 1/2 ounces)  rye flour
1 1/2 cups (6 3/4 ounces) bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
Caraway seeds (optional)
Nigella seeds (optional)

Combine the sugar, water, yeast, gluten, and rye flour in the bowl of your stand mixer, and set it aside until it gets fluffy and bubbly, about 10 minutes.

Add the bread flour and salt, and knead with the dough hook until the dough comes together, cleans the sides of the bowl, and begins to become elastic. Add the olive oil and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic and is no longer sticky.

Form the dough into a ball, drizzle some oil into a bowl and put the dough back into the bowl, making sure it's coated all around. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside until it doubles in size, about an hour.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

Flour your work surface and knead the dough briefly. Unless your work area is huge, it will be easier to divide the dough in half.

Roll the dough so that it's 1/8 inch thick, or a little less, about 12 inches high, and as long as it needs to be to get those other dimensions correct. Try to keep it rectangular, but don't stress about it being irregular. If you're using seeds, sprinkle them on the dough before you finish rolling, so that the final rolling will embed the seeds into the dough. If you prefer, you can brush the dough with eggwash or water, but that makes them a bit stickier to handle.

Using a pastry cutter or pizza wheel, cut the dough in half lengthwise, so you've got 2 6-inch strips, then cut vertically into 1/4 inch strips. None of this needs to be precise. If you like longer or shorter breadsticks, adjust your cuts accordingly.

As you pick up each strip, twist it several times, so you have a spiral. The strips will stretch as you do this, so you'll end up with breadsticks that are about 9 inches long. Place them on a baking sheet, leaving at least an inch between them. They won't rise that much, but they tend to move around while they're baking.

As you fill each pan (you'll probably have four pans) put them in the oven. There's no need to let them rest or rise. Bake for 25-35 minutes. until they're lightly browned and crispy. Depending on how even your oven heat is, you may need to rotate the pans during baking, or move some sticks from the ends of the pan to the middle. If they brown too much on the bottom, you can flip them over.

Cool completely on a rack before you store them.

This was published on Serious Eats and has been submitted to Yeastspotting.

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Light Rye Buns

When I was growing up, there were a couple local places that served burgers on rye buns. Not dark and hearty rye, like you'd use for a patty melt, but a light and fluffy burger bun with a subtle rye flavor.

And when I say subtle, let's just say that it took me quite a while to figure out the the buns had rye in them.

Okay, I was just a kid, but I knew rye bread - the serious seedy rye - and these buns weren't that serious and the rye wasn't that obvious. It was just an extra nuance that made those burgers different from all the other places.

Rye buns must not be popular, given that I've never seen them sold anywhere. But why not? Besides using them for burgers, buns are great for sandwiches of all types. And a little bit of rye makes them a lot more interesting.

This recipe uses a medium rye flour, but you can certainly use any type of rye you have available. And since I wanted these buns to be light and fluffy, I used one of my favorite secret ingredients - mashed potato flakes. If you don't have the flakes, skip them and increase the bread flour a bit to make up the difference. An extra 1/4 cup of flour should be fine, and add more if you need it during kneading.

Light Rye Buns

1 cup lukewarm water
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup medium rye flour
1/2 cup mashed potato flakes
2 cups (9 ounces) bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil

Mix the water, yeast, sugar, rye flour, and potato flakes in the bowl of your stand mixer. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 15 minutes.

Add the bread flour and salt to the mixture in the bowl, and knead until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl and starts becoming elastic.

Add the olive oil and continue kneading until the mixture is smooth and elastic and is no longer sticky.

Cover the bowl again with plastic wrap and set aside until doubled, about an hour.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees and sprinkle cornmeal on a baking sheet.

Lightly flour your work surface and knead the dough briefly. Divide the dough into 12 roughly equal pieces (you can be precise and weigh them out, but I don't mind having some buns that are slightly larger or smaller, for different appetites.)

Roll the pieces into balls, then flatten the balls. Continue flattening the dough disks, leaving the edges higher and flattening more toward the center. When the dough rises, it will want to rise more at the center, so this helps to make more even buns.

Place the dough disks on the baking sheet, leaving an even amount of space between them. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rise until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Remove the plastic wrap and bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes, until nicely browned.

Move them to a rack to cool. If you want a very soft crust, cover them with a clean kitchen towel while they cool.

This appeared on Serious Eats and has been submitted to Yeastspotting.

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Stone-Ground Rye Bread with Caraway

When I'm thinking ahead, I'll start making my bread dough the night before I'm planning on baking. Over the years, I've found that it's particularly useful to let alternative flours (anything except white flour) spend that extra time hydrating, particularly the coarse-ground or whole-grain flours.

The extra time gives those rough flours more of a chance to soak up the water and get a little softer.

There are a lot of different rye flours available, including light rye, medium rye and pumpernickel flour. However, my local grocery chains tend to have one brand and one type, and that's stone-ground rye. It's a coarser, grittier rye than most of the others that I buy online, but it still makes a nice bread. If your local markets have other varieties of rye flour, use what's available or what you like best.

When I have it on hand, I use whey instead of water in my bread dough, but it's completely optional. The whey I use is left over from making yogurt or cheese, so it's not something that I go out and buy. If I don't have it, I use water, and that's a perfectly acceptable substitute. The benefit to using whey is the additional nutrients, but also that the whey is a bit acidic, and yeast likes an acid environment.

Stone-Ground Rye Bread with Caraway

1 cup whey (or water)

1 cup stone-ground rye flour

2 1/4 teaspoons (1 package) instant yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

1 1/2 cups bread flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons caraway seeds

The night before you plan on baking, mix the whey and rye flour in the bowl of your stand mixer, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it sit overnight.

The next day, add the yeast, sugar, and one cup of the bread flour. With the bread hook, knead until it is thoroughly mixed, then add the salt and the rest of the bread flour, and knead until the dough begins to become elastic. Because of the rye, this can take a bit of kneading.

Add the olive oil and caraway seeds and continue kneading until the dough is elastic and no longer sticky. A rye dough will never have the elasticity of an all-white loaf, but you need to develop enough gluten so the bread will hold its shape rather than spread sideways.

Form the dough into a ball, put it back into the bowl, and drizzle it with olive oil to coat.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit until it has doubled in size, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Sprinkle cornmeal on the bottom of a cast iron dutch oven (or similar pot). Take the dough out of the bowl and knead it briefly and form it into a nice, tight, smooth ball. Put the dough into the dutch oven, cover it, and let it rest for 45 minutes.

It should be just about doubled in size.

Put the dutch oven into a cold oven, set the heat for 400 degrees and set the timer for one hour. Bake, covered.

After an hour, take the pot out of the oven and uncover. It should be nicely browned and fully cooked. If it's not as brown as you like, put it back in the oven for another five minutes, uncovered.

Move the bread to a rack to cool completely before cutting.

Yum, rye!

Here's a closeup:

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Medium Rye Bread with Caraway

Sometimes rye bread is just what you need.

Around here, there aren't many options when it comes to rye flour. About all I can find is one brand of stoneground rye, so I usually order just order from King Arthur Flour, where I can get a larger variety of ryes.

This recipe would probably work just as well with any type of rye, but obviously the result would be different.

Since rye doesn't have the gluten needed to make a loaf of bread, bread flour plays that role here. But even with the bread flour, rye breads can be a little tricky for new bakers, because it stays a bit sticky, even when it's done being kneaded. So the tendency is to want to add more and more flour, but then it just turns into a dense loaf.

A properly kneaded rye dough will be a little sticky, but it will also be elastic enough stretch nicely.

Medium Rye with Caraway

1 cup lukewarm water
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast (one package)
2 tablespoons demerara sugar
1 cup medium rye flour
1 tablespoon Greek-style yogurt
1 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon caraway seeds

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine water, yeast and sugar and let it sit until it's bubbly, about 10 minutes. Add rye flour and yogurt, and whisk to combine. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit until it's nice and bubbly and has risen in the bowl, about 20 minutes.

Uncover the bowl and attach the bowl to stand mixer. Add bread flour and and salt and knead until the dough comes together and is starting to get stretchy. Add caraway seeds and olive oil and continue to knead until the dough is elastic. It will probably be a little more sticky than a comparable white dough, but you should be able to handle it without it sticking to your hands.


Form the dough into a ball, put it back into the bowl (or a clean one) drizzle with a little olive oil to coat it, and cover it with plastic wrap. Let it rise until it has doubled in size.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and sprinkle some cornmeal on a baking sheet.

When the dough has risen, take it out of the bowl and form it into a nice tight round ball and put it on the baking sheet. Cover with plastic and let it rise again until it is doubled in size.

Slash the dough and bake until it's nicely browned, about 40 minutes.

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