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.