Rye is a beautiful, fragrant, and unique grain. My bread is nearly perfect. Unfortunately, the only thing my bread is missing is caraway seeds. This is my second time baking this bread, and instead of kneading it by hand, I used my stand mixer. This way, I was able to avoid the extra flour that I had added from hand-kneading. Both breads turned out great, but this one ended up being taller instead of shorter and wider. However, this may be because of how I shaped the dough at the end. If you have a pizza stone, great! If not, you can followed the method from the NYT Cooking recipe for New York Deli Rye bread by stacking two baking sheets and adding a layer of aluminum foil.
More on the NYT Cooking recipe: it worked extremely well for me, both times. However, when I read the comments, it seems to be that this is not the classic rye bread that the recipe describes. The recipe states that this bread is closer to the classic, as many ryes are commercially produced now. Yet the comments say that a classic rye is a rye sour, which is something I plan to try in the near future. Otherwise, this bread is lovely: it’s rich in flavor, its crumb is so pillowy soft, and its crust is brilliantly speckled and deeply colored.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups or 310 g bread flour
- 1 cup or 155 g rye flour (I used dark)
- 2 tsp or 6 g caraway seeds (optional, highly recommended)
- 1 1/2 tsp or 5 g yeast
- 2 tsp honey
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 tsp cornstarch
Directions:
- Whisk together dry ingredients, excluding cornstarch in a stand mixer. In a separate bowl, mix 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water with the honey and olive oil.
- With a dough hook on low speed, slowly pour in the wet ingredients. Mix until no dry flour remains. This will take around 2 minutes, and scrape down the slides of the bowl as necessary. This can also be done by hand in a bowl then on the counter top.
- Cover the bowl with a plate instead of plastic wrap, and let rest for 20 minutes.
- Mix the dough on medium-low speed for eight minutes, or by hand. It should be moist but not too sticky. If kneading the dough by hand, add flour as necessary, but as little as possible.
- Shape the dough into a taut ball by hand, adding little extra flour as necessary.
- Oil, place in an oiled bowl, cover with a plate, and let rest for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
- Remove the dough onto a floured surface and punch down into a six by six square. Shape into a loaf: fold the top two corners down to the center. Fold the new top two corners down again. Fold the new top two corners down to the bottom fo the dough and seal the edges. You may fold in the outer two edges and seal as well.
- Place the dough on a pizza stone or two stacked baking sheets with aluminum foil. Oil the loaf to prevent it from forming a skin. Cover with a towel and allow to rise for 1/2 to 1 hours.
- When dough is almost ready, preheat the oven to 450F.
- Score the dough with 3 slashes. Place in the oven and lower the temperature to 375F. Bake for 35–40 minutes, or until the bread becomes a deep brown.
- When the dough is 5 minutes until ready, begin making the glaze. Mix together cornstarch in a bowl of water, about a cup, until dissolved. Microwave for 30 seconds, then mix. Repeat 2 to 3 times total, or until the glaze becomes syrupy and translucent.
- Remove the bread from the oven to a wire rack and immediately brush with glaze. Make sure to brush liberally, but make sure it isn’t too thick.
- Allow the glaze to dry and the bread to cool. Enjoy!
