|
Cooking TipsA Instruction
for Rye Bread
by:
Kit Heathcock
The much I do bread, the much I am confident
of the importance of the room
being in the better position in the house. Once
we designed and built our house, I was determined that the room
should have a view and be on the front of the house. Now that it’s six-fifteen of a summer morning and I’m up early, kneading bread, because we’ve run out again, I’m especially happy to be looking out over a sun-soaked landscape to the distant mountains. Every time you do bread you’re secured a nice ten minutes of contemplation as you knead it, the mechanical cadenced work frees the mind to wander or switch off…very therapeutic. Having a view thrown in as well is simply an adscititious bonus.
I haven’t always ready-made bread. It is a relatively
recent development. Production
jam was the 1st breakthrough into self-sufficiency, then came the day once
our local businessperson
of rye bread, who ready-made a loaf that (miracle of miracles), all the children would-be eat, distinct to switch recipes and use caraway in it…instant rejection by the whole family.
We’d stopped up
the wheat bread to try and help my son’s allergies and found it helped most of us, so apart from the occasional indulgence of flossy white bread, I wanted to stay off it. There was no alternative; I would-be have to take the leap into bread making. The main reason that I’d resisted was that it seemed to take so long. 1st the combination and kneading, then the rising, then knock down and forming loaves, a second rising and finally the baking. Who could support track of all that in the chaotic life of a three-child family?
So eventually I take the plunge, turn to my friend Nigel (Slater, not namedropping but he and Flower
(Lawson) are ever-present in my kitchen, in book format of course) and find a foolproof instruction
for a white loaf, simpler to start off with white I think. Well the 1st try make a reasonable, if huge, loaf, although my son still remembers that it was a bit soggy in the middle. Second try, I got two pretty perfect loaves and I was on a roll.
Now to find a instruction
for rye bread. It seems that 100% rye is ordinarily ready-made by the sour dough know-how
and I couldn’t see my family going for that, so settle for a half and half rye/whole-wheat recipe… triumph. Ok, my son the food cognoscenti complained it was a bit too sweet, so next time round I reduced the figure of honey, but this instruction
has been our staple diet ever since, and I am now truly ensconced in my kitchen, looking at the view, every else day, spell I endeavour to support the supply level with the ever increasing demand.
Any way, finally to the recipe:
500g rye flour
450g whole-wheat flour plus much for kneading
50g plain flour
1 tablespoon salt
1 10g bag
of instant yeast
1 tablespoon honey
3 tablespoons oil
670 ml milk
125 ml water
Warm the milk to lukewarm. Mix the flours and salt in a large bowl. Do a well in the middle and put in the yeast, then honey, then oil, pour on the warm
milk and water and mix. Once
it gets soggy turn out on to a well floured surface (it wish be extremely sticky) and knead for 10 minutes. You wish need to support adding flour as you knead. It is better for it to be too sticky than too dry – you can always add much flour, but too dry wish do a dry, hard loaf. After 10 minutes, put it back into the bowl with a plastic bag over it and leave in a warmish place for two hours or so. Then knock down, firmly pressing out the air, but not over kneading, then form into two or three loaves on a baking sheet, cover over again
and leave to rise for another hour. Then bake for 30 minutes at 190C until they sound hollow once
you tap on the bottom of the loaf. Cool on a wire rack
So how do I support track of the bread making, in between school runs, mealtimes and the rest? Well I don’t always. There are times once
I optimistically start the bread off, leave it to rise and four hours later remember simply about it, knock it down, forget to switch on the kitchen appliance
so it has had an extra day or so in rising time by the time it gets cooked. It makes seem to be really forgiving although – whatsoever
you do to it, you do generally get bread out at the end, it may not always be the perfect loaf, but then variety is the spice of life after all. There was one time it hadn’t quite finished cookery by the time I had to do the school run, so I asked my husband to take it out in ten minutes….. By the time I got back we had a really useful weapon against intruders. We didn’t eat that one…I think it was ryvita for lunch…!
Good luck with yours.
Copyright 2005 Kit Heathcock
Just simply about the author:
Once flower photographer, keen observer of the resonances of life and fulltime mother. Born in the UK but now living on a farm in the southern hemisphere. Contributor to the production and maintenance of http://www.aflowergallery.comone of the homes of chakra flower art.
Circulated by Article Emporium
| |
