Dark Rye Bread

A good baker doesn't reveal her secret recipes, but she may suggest tasty alternatives. Sylvia Tucker of the Kempner Brick Oven recommends this dark rye bread, a close cousin to one of her shop's most popular products. The recipe comes from The Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book: A Guide to Whole Grain Bread Baking by Laurel Robertson with Carol Flinders and Brownwen Godfrey, published by Random House.

2 tsp. active dry yeast

1 c. warm water

3 c. whole rye flour

4 c. whole wheat bread flour

2 T. carob powder

2 1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. caraway seeds

1 c. tepid water

2 T. honey

2 T. cider vinegar

2 T. oil

1 c. tepid water to knead

Dissolve yeast in one c. warm water. Mix the flours, carob, salt, and seeds. Mix the liquid ingredients except for the last c. of water. Stir the yeast and then the vinegar mixture into the flour gradually, using enough liquid to make a very stiff dough. Add any remaining liquid, and then the c. of water as you knead, making the stiff dough gradually soft.

Form the dough into a ball and put it smooth side up in the bowl; cover. Let it rise in a draft-free place until a 1/2-inch poke from your wet finger leaves an indentation in the dough. (This will take about two hours in a warm kitchen.)

Press flat, form again into a smooth round, and let rise again as before. The second rising will take about half as long as the first.Deflate the dough and place in two eight-by-four-inch pans or shape into three hearth loaves. Let rise in a warm place until the dough slowly returns a gently made indentation of your wet finger. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven about 50 minutes.

From the December 1990 issue.

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