Dave's Original Rye Bread

250 grams (~2 cups) unbleached all purpose flour

250 grams (~2 cups) rye flour

1 cup water

2 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

10 grams (2 teaspoons) salt

1 tablespoon molasses 

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon sugar

Optional:

1 tablespoon cocoa 

2 tablespoons caraway seeds

Mix all the flour and salt together in a large bowl. Add all of the other ingredients. 

The cocoa and caraway seeds are optional. The cocoa adds a slight chocolatey taste, and also makes the bread turn out darker. The caraway seeds add a lot of flavor to the bread. Experiment with using it verses omitting it and see which you prefer. I like it with and without.

Knead with dough hook or by hand. Put a little olive oil in a bowl and add the dough. Cover with plastic wrap or towel (I use both) and let sit for 2 hours, or until doubled in size. Fold dough ball into itself and make dough into a round ball. Place back in the bowl for 2 to 3 hours, or until doubled.

I like to bake my bread in a dutch oven. I use Le Creuset, but any will do. If you don’t have a dutch oven, you can bake the bread on a pan or in any bread tin.

If using a dutch oven, place in oven before preheating. If not using dutch oven, place a medium size bowl of water in the oven. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

When the bread is ready, take a piece of parchment paper and sprinkle it with flour (I use rice flour because it has a higher burn threshold). Then gently remove the dough from the bowl and place on the parchment paper. Sprinkle more flour on top of the dough. With a sharp knife (I use a x-acto knife), cut a couple of deep slashes across the top. Finally, pick the bread up by the parchment paper and place it in the preheated dutch oven. Try not to burn yourself.

If using a dutch oven, let the bread bake for 20 minutes, then remove the lid. Change the temperature to 425 and bake for 20 more minutes.

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If not using a dutch oven, make for roughly 30 - 35 minutes, or until you think it is done.

Once finished baking, let sit for an hour or so to cool and let itself continue to cook the insides.

Makes one dense loaf of bread.*

Dave

* Dave makes excellent bread.  He mills his own flour from whole wheat/rye berries. Grinding the berries keeps the bran and germ in the flour. The flour you buy in the store has the germ removed.  Since the germ contains oil, it would make the flour rancid while sitting on the shelf if it wasn't removed.  Grinding whole wheat berries as you need them keep the fiber, vitamins, minerals and antioxidants in the flour. 

Dave also made his own sourdough starter in May 2016 using whole wheat, green apple and water. He now uses 1/4 cup wheat berries and 1/4 cup rye berries for the starter. The wild yeast of the whole grain flour gives the sourdough starter it's life.

I was excited to be the recipient of a shared portion of his sourdough starter this past weekend and look forward to many delicious sourdough breads.  :)
Carol