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Rye Bread
1 cake yeast 1 cup milk, scalded and cooled 2 cups lukewarm water 5 cups rye flour 1 1/2 cups sifted white flour 1 tablespoon shortening, melted 1 tablespoon salt Dissolve yeast in lukewarm liquid, add 2 1/2 cups rye flour, or enough to make a sponge. Beat well. Cover and set aside in a warm place, free from draught to rise, about 2 hours. When light, add white flour, shortening, remainder of rye flour, or enough to make a soft dough, and the salt. Turn out on a board and knead 5 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise until double in bulk--about 2 hours. Turn out again and shape into long loaves. Place in shallow pans, cover and let rise again until light--about 1 hour. Brush with white of egg and water, to glaze. With sharp knife cut lightly three strokes diagonally across top, and place loaves in oven. Bake in a cooler oven than for white bread. One tablespoon caraway seed may be used, if desired. This recipe makes two loaves. Rye bread requires about 40 minutes to bake.
A plain sponge-method rye that needs almost no translation, apart from the yeast and the oven, both of which the original leaves to the cook's judgement.
- The yeast cakeOne cake of compressed yeast is roughly equivalent to 2 1/4 teaspoons (one packet) of active dry or instant yeast. If using active dry, dissolve it in the lukewarm water first, as the recipe directs; instant can go straight into the flour.
- Oven temperatureThe recipe gives no number, only 'a cooler oven than for white bread'. Period white-bread directions generally fall around 400-425F, so something in the region of 375F is a reasonable reading. The lower heat guards against the crust colouring before the loaf is baked through.
- Doneness over timingForty minutes is a fair guide for two long loaves, but rye holds moisture and can look done while the crumb is still gummy. Pull the loaves at an internal temperature of 200-205F.
- Which rye flourThe rye flour ordinarily sold in the early twentieth century was likely lighter than the dark or pumpernickel rye common today, so a light or medium rye is the closer match. Dark rye will make the loaf heavier and stickier, and you may want slightly less of it.
- Handling the doughRye has little gluten, so the five-minute knead is genuinely all it needs and all it will take. The dough stays tacky rather than becoming smooth and elastic like a wheat dough; resist adding flour past the point where it just holds together.
- Liquid quantityTwo cups of water plus one cup of milk against six and a half cups of flour is a slack dough by modern eyes. Hold back a portion of the water and add it as needed, since rye flours vary widely in absorption.
- The glaze and slashesEgg white beaten with a little water gives a thin, shiny crust rather than the deep gloss of a whole-egg wash. Cut the three diagonal slashes just before the loaves go in, and keep them shallow, as the recipe directs -- deep cuts in a low-gluten dough encourage the loaf to spread.
- CarawayThe optional tablespoon of caraway seed is best added with the second batch of flour so it distributes evenly. Toasting it briefly in a dry pan first sharpens the flavour.
- YieldTwo long loaves, each roughly 1 1/2 lb. They slice best fully cooled -- rye crumb is fragile while warm.