How to Make Rugbrod (Danish Rye Bread)

• Serves: About 18, one thick slice each
• Prep Time: 90 minutes
• Total Time: 3-5 hours

Ingredients

• 3 Cups Water
• 1 Cup Whole Grain Rye (actual grains of rye)
• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 3 Tablespoons Dark Molasses
• but you can substitute light
• as I did this time.
• 4 packages dry yeast. It's best to choose all of one type -- either fast-rising or regular. Fast rising will rise really fast. Don't even turn your back on it.
• 2 Cups Buttermilk. I used reconstituted powdered because I was out of fresh
• 5 cups Rye flour
• spooned loosely into measuring cups.
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons Salt
• 3-4 Cups all-purpose or bread flour
• 1 Egg
• l egg lightly beaten.

Instructions

First, bring the water to a boil in a saucepan of at least two quarts. When the water is boiling, add the whole rye grains, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes, watching carefully to make sure it doesn't boil over.

When rye is cooked, pour into mixing bowl with the cooking water. I used the bowl of my mixer. Add the butter. (I forgot and added it to the pan before pouring into bowl, and it didn't make any difference.) Cool to lukewarm.

Add molasses, yeast, and buttermilk. Mix with wooden spoon. Let rest until you see mixture begin to bubble and you know the yeast is working.

Stir in rye flour and salt, mixing well with spoon. If you are using a mixer, use a dough hook and turn it on for a few seconds to complete stirring.

Add three cups of the white flour, reserving the rest for final kneading. I stirred with the wooden spoon until the flour was moist and then turned on the mixer to finish stirring in flour. I then turned mixer down to kneading speed, using dough hook to almost finish kneading. See pictures below.

I finish kneading by hand on a pastry cloth. First I spread the reserved white flour on the cloth in a circle of about 11 inches. Then I remove the dough from the bowl to the center of the circle of flour. Scrape the last bits of dough out with a spatula and knife.

When all the dough is on the floured cloth, I pull the cloth up over the dough and let it rest while I grease two large bread pans (at least 8.5 x 5 x 2 inches) very well. Then I knead it by hand until it is mostly smooth, shiny, and elastic. (See video below.)

When bread is kneaded, shape it into two loaves (see video), and place each loaf into one of the greased bread pans. Cover first with wax paper, and then cover that with a warm, damp towel. With most breads, I just use the towel, but this one is very sticky and often rises so high it will stick to what it touches first. It's easier to unstick it from the wax paper.

Let it rise until double. If the room is warm, it will rise much faster than the 2-3 hours the original recipe says to allow -- especially if you used the fast-rising yeast. These loaves rose in about 45 minutes. It might not quite be double, but if you let it rise too high it will fall back on itself. See my pictures for guidance.

Preheat oven to 400 F.

When the loaves have risen, carefully remove towel and paper, using a knife to help, if necessary. Use a fork to prick the top in a series of rows, as shown in the pictures. When you finish pricking, brush egg over the loaves. If any dough hangs over the sides it's a good idea to push it back in. It's also a good idea to run a damp paper towel over the top edges to prevent baking bread from sticking to the top.

When oven has finished preheating, put loaves in oven and bake for at least an hour.

If you like a really crisp crust, you can remove it from the pans for the last 15 minutes of baking time, and finish baking without them. This will also help them finish baking faster.

When you think the bread is done, remove a loaf from the oven and put it upside down on a cooling rack to test. Take a toothpick or cake tester and stick it in the center of the bottom to see if it comes out clean. If so, and if it's nice and brown, and makes a hollow sound when thumped on the bottom, it's done. If not, stick it back in the over for another 10 or 15 minutes until it's a healthy brown and passes the toothpick test. Cool right side up on racks. Let cool completely, preferably overnight. (Ok, I violated this and sliced while it was still slightly warm because I wanted to make sure it passed the taste test before going home. )