A Recipe for Rye Bread

Bread else to do, I am convinced of the importance of the kitchen in the best position in the house. When we designed and had built our home, he had decided that the kitchen should have a vision and in front of the house. Now it's six fifteen in a summer morning and I get up early, kneading bread, because we have fallen again, I am especially pleased that overlooks a landscape of sun the distant mountains. Each time you make bread guarantees ten minutes contemplation as kneading, the mechanical rhythmic activity frees the mind to wander or switch triggers ... very therapeutic. Having a circulation view is also just an added bonus.

I have not always made bread. It is a relatively recent development. Making jam was the first breakthrough in self-sufficiency, then came the day when the bread our local supplier of rye, who made bread (miracle of miracles), all children eat, decided to switch recipes and use caraway in it. ..instant rejection by the whole family.

We had stopped the wheat bread to try to help my son's allergies and found it helped most of us, so apart from the occasional indulgence of fluffy white bread, I wanted to stay outside. There was no other alternative; He would have to make the leap into bread. The main reason that I'd resisted was that it seemed so long. First the mixing and kneading, then the rising, knocking down and forming loaves, a second rising and finally the baking. Who could keep track of all that in the chaotic life of a family with three children?

So finally make the leap, turn to my friend Nigel (Slater, not gaffes, but he and Nigella (Lawson) are ever-present in my kitchen, in book format of course) and find a foolproof recipe for white bread, easier to start with white I think. The first attempt produced a reasonable, if huge, loaf, though my son still remembers that it was a bit doughy in the middle. Second test, I have two very perfect loaves and I was on a roll.

Now to find a recipe for rye bread. It seems that 100% rye is usually made by the sour dough method and I could not see my family going for that, then settle for a half and half rye / whole-wheat recipe ... triumph. Well, my son the food connoisseur complained it was a bit too sweet, so next time round I reduced the amount of honey, but this recipe has been our staple diet ever since, and now I'm actually installed in my kitchen, looking at view, every other day, while trying to maintain the level of supply and increasing demand.

Either way, finally to the recipe:
 500g Rye flour450g whole wheat flour plus more for kneadingFlour 50g1 tablespoon salt1 10 g sachet instant yeast1 tablespoon honey3 tablespoons oil670 ml of milk125 ml water

Heat the warm milk. Mix flour and salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the middle and put in the yeast, honey and then oil, pour the hot milk and water and mix. When you put me back out pasty to a well floured surface (it will be extremely sticky) and knead for 10 minutes. You will need to keep adding flour and knead. It better be too sticky than too dry - you can always add more flour, but too dry will make a dry, hard bread. After 10 minutes, leave it there in the bowl with a plastic bag and leave over a fatal place for two hours or less. Then knock down, firmly pressing the air, but not over kneading, then form into two or three loaves on a baking sheet, cover again and let rise for another hour. Then bake for 30 minutes at 190C until hollow when you tap at the bottom of the loaf. Cool on a wire rack

How to keep track of the bread making, including school work, meals and the rest? Well not always. There are times when I optimistically start the bread off, leave it up to four hours after that, bring it down, you forget to turn on the oven so it has had a day or so in rising time by the time you fry. Seems to be very forgiving though - whatever you do, do generally get bread in the end, it may not always be the perfect loaf, but then variety is the spice of life after all. Once upon a time he had finished cooking by the time I had to do runs the school, so I asked my husband to take it in ten minutes ... At the moment I have we had a very useful weapon against intruders. We do not eat that ... I think that was collateral for lunch ...!