Deli Style Rye Bread

For quite a while, I have been planning to write a template of a food blogger’s will. I am sure, many like me hold their ingredients and blogging equipment very close to heart. I cannot imagine just about anyone having control on my dough scrapper or my favorite glass mixing bowl. I don’t even want to start talking about my photography props because however average my photographs are the props are amazing and worth committing crimes for. So these have to be bequeathed to special people who understand how valuable they are.

In the same list, I have my rye flour to add. I bought it after excessive effort of looking for it in shop after gourmet shop across cities. Finally, in a small shop tucked away near the staircase at the basement of a huge mall in Kuala Lumpur, I found this rye flour. I have been saving it carefully in order to use it for some classic and awesome recipes. What better time to start than a Baking Mega Marathon! So here is my first rye bread and I have to say I am in love. Me, a staunch follower of all purpose flour and discreetly shunning its less glutenous sibling, the whole wheat flour, is now in love with rye. Who would have thought that was possible?

While Rye Bread is originally from Scandinavian and North Europe, the USA has adopted it and made it its own. Traditional rye breads used more rye whereas its American version uses a lot of whole wheat flour and less of rye flour. In this version, I have used all purpose flour instead of the recommended bread flour. (I am still dunking into corners and hole-in-the-wall shops searching for bread flour.)  So here goes –

Makes a 10″ loaf

Country – USA

Recipe adapted from here

WHAT WE NEED

All purpose flour                 2 cup

Light rye flour                      1 cup

Salt                                          2 tsp

Instant yeast                         1 1/2 tsp

Honey                                     2 tsp

Canola oil                               2 tsp

Lukewarm water                  1 1/2 cup

Cornstarch                             2 tsp

Caraway seeds(optional)     2 tsp

WHAT TO DO

• Whisk the all purpose flour, rye flour, salt, yeast and caraway seeds in a large bowl
• In another bowl, add the honey and oil to the water and mix well
• Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix till a dough is formed without any flour left out
• Cover with cling wrap and set aside for 20 minutes
• Knead the dough well for 8 minutes on medium speed in the mixer or till it is moist but not sticky
• Shape it into a ball and place it in a greased bowl
• Cover with cling wrap and set aside till it doubles in volume
• Grease a 10″ * 3″ loaf pan
• Punch down the dough and knead it for 1-2 minutes
• Shape it into a loaf and transfer it to the prepared loaf pan
• Cover with an oiled cling wrap and set aside till it increases by half its size, around 30 minutes
• Preheat the oven to 230C
• With a paring knife, make three cuts on the loaf
• Reduce the oven temperature to 190C and bake for 20 minutes
• Rotate the pan and bake for another 15-20 minutes or till deep golden brown
• Dissolve the cornstarch in 1 cup of water and heat till clear and syrupy. It should take 2 minutes in the microwave oven
• Transfer the loaf to a wirerack and brush it on the top and sides with the cornstarch glaze
• Let it cool completely before slicing
• Enjoy with butter or jam or your choice of sandwich filling

This is my post for the Mega Marathon under the letter ‘D’

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 75

Please rate