Rye Bread
By: Anonymous
Published: Sunday, December 27, 2009 - 2:47am

Ingredients




2 cups warm water
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup molasses
3 teaspoons dry yeast or 1 ½ pkgs
3 tablespoons shortening
2 1/2 cups med. rye flour
3 1/2 - 4 ½ c. bread flour

Preparation

1 Measure warm water into a large bowl; add the brown sugar, molasses, salt, yeast and shortening. Stir together until dissolved. Add rye flour, one cup at a time. When rye flour is entirely in, beat dough until smooth. Then gradually add white flour, one cup at a time, becoming more and more sparing as you proceed. When too stiff to stir, begin kneading, add flour only a bit at a time. Dough is no longer sticky. Do not add to much flour otherwise bread will be more heavy and possibly coarse. 2 Knead about 10 minutes; grease hands lightly if necessary. Place dough in a large greased bowl, seam side down, grease top, cover and place in a warm place to rise, about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, until double in bulk (size). Punch down, knead lightly; use greased hands (add no more flour), place in bowl again and let rise a second time. Then punch down, divide dough in half, form loaves. Place in two greased standard sized bread pans; let rise (about an hour, in warm place). (Metal pans are suggested to prevent bread getting too brown.) Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes. Turn out and let cool on

About


Variations:
Caraway Rye: Add 2 or 3 teaspoons caraway seed to liquid before proceeding with flours.
Orange Rye: Leave out caraway seeds, instead add 2 tablespoons grated orange rind to liquid.
Anise-Flavored Rye: Leave out caraway seeds and orange rind, instead use 1 teaspoon anise seeds, add to liquid.
Round Rye Loaves: Use two round 8" greased cake pans instead of loaf pans. Form dough into balls instead of loaves for this.