Polish-Style Rye Bread
A dense and aromatic rye bread with a distinctive caraway flavor. Perfect for sandwiches and serving with soups.
Ingredients
- 200 g Rye flour
- 200 g High-quality wheat flour
- 10 g Fresh yeast
- 0.5 tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Honey
- 1 tsp Caraway seeds
Instructions
- Pour both flours, yeast, and salt into a bowl. In a separate container, mix the honey with 250 ml of warm water, then pour the liquid into the bowl and stir until a dough forms. Rye flour is very dry and absorbs water readily, so if the dough appears too dry, add more warm water. Turn the dough onto a work surface and knead for 10 minutes until smooth. Keep in mind that rye dough contains less gluten than wheat dough, so it will be less elastic.
- Transfer the dough to a well-oiled bowl, cover with cling film, and leave to rise in a warm place for 1–2 hours until it roughly doubles in size. Dust a bread tin (900 g) with flour.
- Turn the dough out onto the work surface and gently punch it down to release air. Add the caraway seeds and work them into the dough. Shape into a smooth oval loaf and place in the tin. Cover the tin with oiled cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for another 1–1.5 hours until the dough doubles in volume.
- Preheat the oven to 220 °C (200 °C with fan circulation). Remove the cling film and dust the top of the loaf with rye flour. Make several diagonal slashes and bake for 30 minutes until dark brown. The bread is done when it sounds hollow when tapped. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.