finnish rye bread
rating:225g rye flour
300g strong white flour
7g (1 sachet) easy blend yeast or 15g fresh yeast
1 tablespoon dark muscovado sugar (I found this a little too much)
2 teaspoons salt (also too much for me)
300ml warm water
45g/3tablespoons unsalted butter (I used a good slug of olive oil)
optional: caraway or fennel seeds, or indeed any other
Put flours, yeast, sugar and salt (and seeds, should you wish) into a large bowl, slowly add the water while mixing with your hands or a wooden spoon, until you have something dough-like. Add the butter/oil and mix it in, then start kneading. I have poorly hands, so I transferred it to the Kitchenaid with the dough hook at this stage, but feel free to knead it by hand if you prefer :) You might need a bit more water, or a bit more flour (use strong white if so) - things can be very variable in bread making, depending on the flours etc.
Grease a bowl and turn the dough into it, cover with clingfilm, and leave to rise - overnight, or an hour or so in a warm place. I made this on a cold day, and our kitch is cold, so I set it by the woodburner (lit, of course!) for an hour or two. Anyway, leave it till it's doubled in size.
Then, punch it down, knead some more, and shape into a round(ish) loaf. Place it on a floured baking sheed, cover with a tea towl, and leave it to get puffy for 30-60 minutes, while the oven is warming to 190C/gas 5. Bake for 45-50 minutes. The recipe says to brush with some melted butter when you take it out of the oven, but that seemed quite unnecessary to me.
We had this instead of rice/potatoes/pasta with a beef pot roast, and it was realy lovely.
