Homemade Rye Bread

I always wanted to achieve perfection in baking home made fresh bread.  I acquired this recipe from a patient of mine, who is from Eastern Europe.  Again like any elderly person who is an excellent cook, she could  only give me verbal recipe without any specific measurements. 

I tried this recipe several times combining her recipe and some of the other recipes that I already had tried before.  l  finally reached perfection, so now I can share with you all.
This recipe yields 2 loaves, as you can see I only baked one loaf at a time.

Ingredients :

• 5 and 1/2 cups AP  flour
• 1/2 cup dark rye flour
• 3/4 table spoon salt (or 2.5 teaspoon)
• 3 and 1/4 table spoons  distilled white vinegar
• 2 packets of 1/4 oz (each) fast rising dry yeast  (it is little less than 2 tbl spoon)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 and 1/2 cups warm water
• Olive oil to grease the pans

Method: 

• Take 1/3 cup of warm water, dissolve sugar in it and then add yeast,  stir and cover and set aside for 5 min until foamy.  (If mixture doesn't foam, it may be be inactive and old yeast, discard and start over with new yeast.)

Method:

• Mix flour, salt, and vinegar in an electric mixer to combine at slow speed. 
• With motor running, pour yeast mixture and remaining warm water into flour mixture in the mixer, blending until dough forms a ball and pulls away from side of  bowl, about 1 minute.

• Transfer the dough in a bowl and cover and let it rise for an hour or so, until it fills bowl. 

• Once risen kneed the dough to deflate it.

• Generously oil bread pans with olive oil.

• Turn out dough onto a work surface and divide in half (dough will be very soft). 
• Press each half into a  rectangle and fold in the 2 short outer sides to meet in the middle, pinching edges together. 
• Turn over (seam side down), then roll and stretch into a long irregular loaf. 
• Put loaf, seam side up, in bread pan and turn to coat with oil, leaving loaf seam side down.

• Repeat procedure with remaining dough. 
• Let loaves rise, uncovered, in a warm  place for  30 minutes.

• Move the baking rack to 3 slot in the oven.
• Preheat oven to 450°F.
• Make 3 shallow diagonal slashes down length of each loaf with razor. Bake loaves 35 minutes covered, and then for 15 min uncovered or until brown to desired crispiness. 
• Carefully remove the pans from oven
• Remove bread from pans and turn upside down.
• Cool completely.
• Then slice with sharp bread knife to slices of  desired thickness 

Recipe adapted and modified by Surekha from  a verbal recipe by Mrs. Cindy S. and other recipes from various sources: cookbooks and online.

Photographs by Surekha