1 1/2 tb Active dry yeast
1/2 c Warm water
2 c Dark beer, at room temp
2 tb Molasses or caramel
2 tb Lard or vegetable fat,
-melted
2 tb Crushed caraway seeds
1 tb Salt
3 c Rye flour
2 1/2 c To 3 cups white flour,
-preferably unbleached
Makes 2 round loaves In a large bowl dissolve the yeast in the warm
water. Stir in the beer, molasses, lard, caraway seeds, salt, rye
flour, and enough white flour until the dough becomes difficult to
stir. Turn the dough out onto a floured working surface and let rest
while you clean out and grease your bowl. Knead the dough, adding
more white flour as necessary; it will be very tacky, but up to 3
cups of white flour in all and about 8-10 minutes of kneading should
be enough. Return the dough to the greased bowl, cover with plastic
wrap, and let rise until double in volume – about 2 hours. Turn the
dough out, punch it down, and form into 2 rounds. Place far apart on
a greased baking sheet sprinkled with corn meal. Let rise covered
with a towel until double – about 45 minutes. If you have tiles or a
baking stone, heat the oven well ahead to 375 F to warm them, and to
get a good crust use a device to create steam. If you don’t want to
bother with a steaming device, brush the loaves with cold water
before they go in the oven and again two or three times during the
first 10 minutes. If you have tiles or a baking stone, slip the
loaves directly onto the hot surface; otherwise simply bake the
loaves on the baking sheet. After 10 minutes reduce the heat to 350 F
and bake another 40 minutes. Cool on racks.
Yields
1 Servings