Hearty Homemade Rye Bread

If you are looking to expand on your bread-baking knowledge and experiment with some new grains, rye is definitely worth trying to use when baking bread at home. This particular recipe requires a bit of kneading by hand, which can be more easily accomplished if you have a stand mixer with a dough hook.

The bread has wonderful flavor, and I personally really love the flavor combination of the caraway seeds and the rye.

If you are feeling really ambitious, which I strongly encourage, use this bread to make some homemade Reuben sandwiches, or a nice pastrami on rye.

Ingredients

2.5 cups warm water (roughly 105F)
2 Tbsp active dry yeast
2 Tbsp white granulated sugar
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp salt
2 cups rye flour
4 cups bread flour
2 Tbsp caraway seeds (or slightly more, if desired)

Instructions

Begin by warming 2.5 cups of water to 105F.
Combine the warm 105F water, active dry yeast, and sugar in a large bowl.
Let the warm water and yeast mixture stand for about 10 minutes at room temperature, or until it begins to foam.
After the yeast has activated, add the vegetable oil to the bowl and stir until the ingredients are completely mixed together.
Whisk together the rye flour, bread flour, and salt in a large bowl until evenly distributed.
Slowly add the flour mixture to the water and yeast, stirring until the mixture forms a thick dough.
When the dough gets too tough to stir, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it for 5-7 minutes.
*Kneading is hard! If it helps, you can think of it like getting in a quick workout! You can also do this with a stand mixer.
Add the caraway seeds to the dough at this stage, kneading them in until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough.
Lightly oil a large bowl and place the kneaded dough inside, turning it over so that the entire surface is lightly coated in oil.
Cover the bowl with a damp towel or plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours, or until it has doubled in size.
Once the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface again and knead it for another 1-2 minutes.
Grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans with butter or vegetable oil and set aside.
Divide the dough into two equal pieces and shape each piece into a loaf shape that roughly fits your prepared pans.
Place the loaves into the prepared loaf pans, and cover them with a damp cloth.
Let them rise again for 1-2 hours, or until they have doubled in size.
Preheat your oven to 370F.
When the loaves have risen, place the loaf pans into the preheated oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and a skewer inserted into the center of each loaf comes out clean.
When the bread is finished baking, remove it from the oven and allow it to cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes.
After the bread has cooled, turn it out of the pan and allow it to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing and serving.
Serve on a cold day, with heaps of softened Irish butter and a hot, hearty stew for dipping.

Notes

This bread keeps fairly well, if stored in a dry, cool, airtight environment. You can also freeze the bread and re-heat it in the oven. If you find the bread getting stale and want to use it once last time, sprinkle the outside of the bread with water and throw the stale loaf in the oven for 8 minutes at 350F. It should be nicer and softer, perfect to accompany a warm soup with some butter!
In case you don’t have the slightly higher protein content bread flour on hand and only have all-purpose flour, don’t worry! All-purpose flour will work great.