A Simple Rye Bread

The city was crazy last weekend, so to escape the flurry around both the Folsom Street Fair, and the opening of the CAS, we planned an excursion to the SFMOMA to catch the last day of the Frida Kahlo exhibit, followed by a picnic in the park across the street. Unfortunately, Frida was already sold out when we got there, but we still wandered around the museum for a good while, and enjoyed the park with tea and treats.


The best picnic-style sandwiches, I believe, require darker, more substantial breads. So I baked a very simple rye bread for the occasion. I made the dough in the evening, let it rise in the fridge overnight and baked in the morning, which kept things very convenient.

In the evening, dissolve 3/4 tsp. dry yeast and 2 tsp. salt in 2 cups warm water.




Add 2 cups all purpose flour and 2 cups rye flour.




Stir until a wet dough forms.




Add a little more AP flour until you can handle the dough with your hands (about 1/4 c). At that point, turn it out onto the counter.




Knead the dough, until the gluten is nicely worked out (about 7-8 minutes) and the dough forms a smooth and shiny ball such as pictured here. Add AP flour as needed, but don't turn it into a brick. You're looking to create the wettest dough you can handle to knead. I used maybe an additional 1/4 cup of flour during kneading.




Put the dough in a container, cover, and let rise in the fridge anywhere between 10 hours and a few days.




When ready to bake (the next morning in my case), preheat your oven to 450 F. Take the risen dough out of the fridge and shape it into a log roughly 10" long. Let rest for 10 minutes.




Put the dough in a 11" x 8" (or so) loaf pan and let rest another 10 minutes. The loaf pan is not strictly necessary (this dough could be baked freeform just fine), but I wanted uniformly shaped slices, so I used one.



Bake at 450 F for about 20 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 400, and bake for another 20-30 minutes, until done. The easiest way to tell if a bread is done, is to take it out of the oven, and stick a cooking thermometer in it. If the inside of the bread is around 180-190 F, it's done. Take it from the oven and let cool for at least half an hour.



This bread makes great sandwiches and toast.