After many years of my sweet brother encouraging me to open shop and call it “on the rye” (My nick name has always been ri).  I can say… well… I can say I made rye bread!  Hey, it is a start.  This recipe was so wacky and absurd I must say it was adapted to the point that it hardly resembles the original.  So, this is what I did:

Dissolve 1 tsp. of sugar, 1 tablespoon of yeast and 1/4 cup of warm water in a big bowl.  Add 3 cups of coarse ground rye flour, 2 cups of white flour, 2 cups of water, 6 tablespoons of molasses, 1 cup of brown sugar and a pinch of salt.  mix into a gooey mess, cover with a towel and let it sit for an hour.

After this first hour-long rise, add enough white flour (or wheat if you choose) until it becomes a texture you can knead.  I ended up adding at least 4 cups of flour at this point.  Knead it for a good ten minutes.  It is a sticky dough I assure you.

At this point you can shape the loaves into whatever type of pan you please.  It makes a LOT of bread.  I chose to use 6 mini bunt pans, 1 regular bread loaf, and one deep 9 inch pie pan.  Yes, this was quite glorious.  Make sure you butter the pans up really well.  Cover them up with a towel and let rise until they peek over the rims of your pans.

Pop in a 375 degree oven for about 30 minutes.  Less time is needed for the little bagel like loaves, more for the larger ones.  If you feel like it just stick a thermometer inside and make sure it registers 190.  This is a done temp for bread.  As soon as you get them out of the oven take them out of the pan (carefully!  don’t burn yourself!) and place on a cooling rack.  Brush them with a mixture of molasses and water.  This will give them a lovely sweetness and a beautiful glaze when they dry.

Yum..  On the Rye.