Have you been craving rye bread? No surprise - winter lingers and St. Patrick's day approaches. Whose thoughts wouldn't turn to dark, deeply flavored bread?
Welcome REALLY "Rye" mix, Luce's seasonal offering for late winter 2018.
I've got a special relationship to rye - it was the first true artisan bread I ever tasted. The year was 1974 and I'd just stepped off a train in Munich, Germany. Soon I found myself in the foodhall of a store named Hertie's. Amidst a wondrous display of cheeses, wursts and pickles sat a hemispheric loaf of dark rye bread the size of a generous Thanksgiving turkey. I ordered a sandwich of leberkase, sweet mustard, pickle and that gorgeous rye. What a reward it was!
There are few home ovens large enough to make a Hearties-size rye round, but no matter. A double measure of Luce's gluten-free REALLY "Rye" mix yields a 26-ounce loaf, big enough for a family dinner of grilled cheese, Reuben sandwiches, Kerelian "pies" or multiple thick slices of whole grain bread. A single package of the mix contains enough flour for 2 double and one single loaf.
Our "Rye" mix is made with shop-ground sorghum, buckwheat, brown rice, and dark teff flours. These rich and flavorful ingredients will put a big smile on your face. Even better, the EZ-bake method, spelled out on the back of every 48 ounce package, works supremely well.
All the photos in this newsletter were taken of a 26-ounce loaf made by EZ-bake in a home oven. The only modification we made to a single-loaf recipe was baking in a cast iron skillet, which solves a problem we occasionally encounter with big loaves of gluten-free bread.
Dough that rises very quickly - as happens with the EZ-bake method - can develop a cave. This effect is more likely when the dough is placed on an aluminum cookie sheet. Cookies bake best when heat is transferred quickly, hence aluminum. Bread is the opposite. Put the dough on a thick iron frying pan and the heat exchange slows enough to reduce the cave problem.
A double-size "Rye" bakes nicely in a 10 inch cast-iron frying pan. Make sure the one you use has oven-safe handles (not wood or plastic). If the pan is well-seasoned you can keep the dough from sticking with a thin coat of oil. A new pan will require a sheet of bakers parchment (which will further slow the rise to guard against that cave).
We like to sprinkle dough with buckwheat or corn meal to create a crunchier crust, but it's not necessary. Just be sure to give the dough a spritz or brush with cooking oil before turning on the oven.
But first you need to get your hands on some REALLY "Rye" mix, which we suggest doing soon. Once the spring batch we've just made sells out there'll not be another for some time.
Double-Size REALLY "Rye"
Yield:
One, 26-ounce loaf
Equipment needs:
Well-seasoned 10" or larger cast-iron skillet with ovenproof handle
Ingredients:
3 cups Luce's Gluten-Free Artisan Bread REALLY "Rye" mix.
2 1/4 cups warm water (100 F)
cooking oil
Procedure:
1) Measure bread mix into a large bowl. Add the water and stir until flour is thoroughly wet. Set aside to rest for 2 minutes, then beat vigorously for 50 strokes.
2) Lightly coat inside of skillet with cooking oil. Turn dough out into skillet. Using a wet plastic spatula or the well-wetted back of a metal spoon, shape dough into a smooth hemisphere. Allow dough to rest 10 more minutes.
3) Place an oven rack in the center position. Lightly coat dough with cooking oil. (Optional: Sprinkle with rice flour, buckwheat meal, corn meal or caraway seeds). Place skillet with dough into cold oven. Set temperature to 400 F. When oven reaches heat, set timer to 120 minutes. At end of bake time remove bread to a cooling rack.
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