A Recipe for Rye Bread

 The more I make bread, the more i'm convinced of the importance of the kitchen being within the best position within the house. once we designed and built our house, i used to be determined that the kitchen should have a view and get on the front of the house. Now that it©s six-fifteen of a summer morning and I©m up early, kneading bread, because we©ve run out again, I©m especially happy to be searching over a sun-soaked landscape to the distant mountains. whenever you create bread you©re guaranteed an honest ten minutes of contemplation as you knead it, the mechanical rhythmic activity frees the mind to wander or switch off©very therapeutic. Having a view thrown in also is simply another bonus.

I haven©t always made bread. it's a relatively recent development. Making jam was the primary breakthrough into self-sufficiency, then came the day when our local supplier of bread , who made a loaf that (miracle of miracles), all the youngsters would eat, decided to modify recipes and use caraway in it©instant rejection by the entire family. 

We©d stopped the wheat bread to undertake and help my son©s allergies and located it helped most folks , so aside from the occasional indulgence of fluffy light bread , I wanted to remain off it. There was no alternative; i might need to take the leap into bread making. the most reason that I©d resisted was that it appeared to take goodbye . First the blending and kneading, then the rising, then demolition and forming loaves, a second rising and eventually the baking. Who could keep track of all that within the chaotic lifetime of a three-child family?

So eventually I take the plunge, address my friend Nigel (Slater, not namedropping but he and Nigella (Lawson) are ever-present in my kitchen, in book format of course) and find a foolproof recipe for a white loaf, simpler to start out off with white i feel . Well the primary try produced an inexpensive , if huge, loaf, though my son still remembers that it had been a touch doughy within the middle. Second try, I got two pretty perfect loaves and that i was on a roll. 

Now to seek out a recipe for bread . It seems that 100% rye is typically made by the sour dough method and that i couldn©t see my family going for that, so accept a half and half rye/whole-wheat recipe© triumph. Ok, my son the food connoisseur complained it had been a touch too sweet, so next time round I reduced the quantity of honey, but this recipe has been our staple diet ever since, and that i am now truly ensconced in my kitchen, watching the view, every other day, while I endeavour to stay the availability level with the ever increasing demand.

Any way, finally to the recipe:

500g rye flour

450g whole-wheat flour plus more for kneading

50g flour 

1 tablespoon salt

1 10g sachet of instant yeast

1 tablespoon honey

3 tablespoons oil

670 ml milk

125 ml water

Warm the milk to lukewarm. Mix the flours and salt during a large bowl. Make a well within the middle and put within the yeast, then honey, then oil, pour on the warmed milk and water and blend . When it gets doughy end up on to a well floured surface (it are going to be extremely sticky) and knead for 10 minutes. you'll got to keep adding flour as you knead. it's better for it to be too sticky than too dry © you'll always add more flour, but too dry will make a dry, hard loaf. After 10 minutes, put it back to the bowl with a bag over it and leave during a warmish place for 2 hours approximately . Then knock down, firmly pressing out the air, but not over kneading, then form into two or three loaves on a baking sheet, cover again and leave to rise for an additional hour. Then bake for half-hour at 190C until they sound hollow once you tap on rock bottom of the loaf. Cool on a wire rack

So how do I keep track of the bread making, in between school runs, mealtimes and therefore the rest? Well I don©t always. There are times once I optimistically start the bread off, leave it to rise and 4 hours later remember about it, knock it down, forget to modify on the oven so it's had an additional day approximately in rising time by the time it gets cooked. It does seem to be very forgiving though © whatever you are doing thereto , you are doing generally get bread out at the top , it's going to not always be the right loaf, on the other hand variety is that the spice of life in any case . There was just one occasion it hadn©t quite finished cooking by the time I had to try to to the varsity run, so I asked my husband to require it call at ten minutes©.. By the time I came we had a really useful weapon against intruders. We didn©t eat that one©I think it had been ryvita for lunch©!

Good luck with yours.

Copyright 2005 Kit Heathcock