Bread Recipe

There has been a clamor for the recipe for the Swedish rye bread that has kept me out of the blogosphere for the last few weeks, so I thought I would devote at least one post to that:

Swedish Rye 

(makes 1 full size or 4 small loaves of bread)

First make the sponge:
Scald 1 cup of milk (whole is best, but skimmed works for those of you counting cholesterol)
Pour it onto a mixture:

• 1 tablespoon butter (can substitute margarine)
  
• 1/4 cup honey
  
• 1.5 tsp fennel
  
• 1.5 tsp instant coffee
  
• 1/4 tsp salt (can omit, if you want)
  

While the mixture is cooling, add 1 packet of yeast to 1/4 cup of lukewarm water, and let it bubble. Add it to the scalded milk mixture after that mixture has cooled to lukewarm.
Then add:

• 3 tablespoon sugar
  
• 1.5 tsp orange peel
  
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
  
• 1 cup of rye flour
  
• 1 cup of whole wheat flour
  
• 1/4 cup white flour.
  

Stir with a wooden spoon for 100 stirs and then leave the sponge to rise for 1-2 hours.

Then make the loaf:

Add 2 cups of white flour to the sponge, gradually kneading until firm and consistent.  Usually takes about 10 minutes for the whole loaf, and another 5 minutes if you choose to break it into small loaves.  Once your loaves are ready, let them rise in a warm place for an hour or two.

Baking:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bake 50 minutes for full-sized loaf, 35 minutes for small size loaf.

Cool on rack, and then:

Devour with honey or peanut butter (also makes a mean grilled cheese sandwich).  Both the making and the eating of this bread will improve your mental health.  Sunny Solstice, Happy Hannukah, Merry Christmas, Kwazy Kwaanza and a tip top Tet to all!