“The yogurt cheese and naan make a pretty good snack or meal on their own, but you could add olives, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, either on the side or rolled into a sandwich. Everything will store in the fridge for a few days, if needed. Reheat the naan in the frying pan, or wrapped in foil in the oven.”
This recipe is for a loaf of rye bread baked in a 1-pound loaf pan (see update below for 1.5-pound size, which I’ve found works better for sandwiches). It probably won’t differ much from rye bread recipes you’ll find in Joy of Cooking or any number of other cookbooks or online recipes, but this is what I arrived at after four or five tries, tweaking the ingredients etc. to get it just right. When done it will look like this and be as delicious as any store-bought loaf for about half the cost. Great for sandwiches or with dinner or simply sliced with butter. Yum!
Combine in a large mixing bowl:
2 tsp active dry yeast
1¼ cups above room temperature water
Let sit for five minutes. Water should be cloudy with activated yeast. A quick stir may be required to get the yeast to fully bloom. Add:
2 cups white bread flour
1 cup rye flour
1 tbsp caraway seeds
1 tbsp dill seeds
1 tsp coarse ground black pepper
1½ tsp salt
Mix on low until it becomes a slightly sticky blob of dough, dry enough that it is not stuck to the sides of the bowl. Shape the dough into a smooth spheroid and coat with olive oil. Cover mixing bowl with plastic wrap to retain moisture and let dough rise for 1-2 hours, until roughly doubled in size (rising time may vary based on local humidity, ambient temperature of room, etc.).
Remove dough from mixing bowl and compress slightly with hands, shaping it into an oblong which then put in loaf pan. If dough seems dry coat with additional sprinkle of olive oil and/or pre-coat loaf pan with olive oil. Preheat oven to 450°F and let dough rise in loaf pan (optional to cover with plastic wrap) until it rises above the lip of the pan.
Bake for 25 minutes until surface is a golden brown crust. Remove from loaf pan and place on cooling rack until cool enough to slice and enjoy with butter, jam, olive oil, or whatever strikes your fresh bread fancy.
I have just purchased a 1.5-lb loaf pan and am in the process of trying my first loaf in it, with all ingredients scaled up by 50%. If additional tweaking of ingredients or rising/baking time is required I will post the results here.
***UPDATE*** I’ve made a few loaves in the 1.5-lb pan and have found it much better for sandwiches etc. The revised ingredients go something like this:
1 tbsp active dry yeast
2 cups of water (above room temp)
Let yeast proof as above, stir if necessary (with fork e.g.) to make sure there are no dry clumps.
3 cups white bread flour
1½ cups rye flour
2¼-2½ tsp salt
3 tbsp seeds (caraway + dill, flax, etc.)
1½-2 tsp course ground pepper
(As for the seeds, at least 1 heaping tbsp of caraway is probably the only type required by the recipe (for that characteristic rye-bread flavor), and anything else you want in there to your taste including dill, flax, etc., up to 3 tbsp total (or more if you like your bread seedy). I’ve been very happy with 1 tbsp each of those three — any suggestions on other types of seeds to use?.)
Combine ingredients, mix etc. as above. Bake for 20 minutes at 450°F, then lower temp to 350°F for 15 minutes. This, combined with a good coating of olive oil on the dough while it rises, gives a good thick crust.
This bread has been excellent for sandwiches and toast with breakfast. I’m going to experiment soon without a loaf pan, for a baguette or French loaf style, and will post my results here.
