HOME-MADE BREAD
makes: cca. 1 kg of bread
300 g rye flour
500 g all-purpose flour
2 packs dry yeast
big pinch of salt
0,7 dcl hot water
seeds at will (sesame, sunflower, flax & pumpkin seeds)
Put the flours & yeast in a large plastic bowl (with a cover, you can also use a cloth for cover). Sprinkle with salt and gradually add the water, mixing well with a fork. Add the seeds and proceed to kneading by hands. Knead the dough really well, the more you knead, the better the bread will rise. You can even get creative and like throw the dough a few times onto the working area or punch it. The yeast really likes that. When you obtain a uniform smooth ball of dough, sprinkle the bowl with flour, place the dough on top and cover the bowl. Let the dough rest & rise for 1 hour in a warm place. Pay special attention not to cause drafts or let cool air in the room.
After an hour, knead the dough once more thoroughly. If you have time, you can let it rest for another hour. Otherwise, proceed to shape the dough into a desired form. I made 4 smaller loaves, but you can make a big one, or rolls or any other shapes. Depending on the shape you will need to adjust your baking time. The larger the shape, the longer the baking time.
When you shaped your bread, place it in a greased baking tray, cover with a cloth and let it rise for a good 45 - 60 minutes. If you want to have seeds on top, you will need to spread the dough with egg whites in order for the seeds to stick. I spread with some margarine and it did no good. Milk is a bit better, but I think egg whites are the way to go.
Heat your oven to 200°C. Gently (!! don't be to robust or clumsy at this point) place your bread in the hot oven and bake for 10 minutes. Then, reduce the temperature to 180°C and bake another 30 - 50 minutes, depending on the size of your final product. Do not open the oven for at least the first 30 minutes of baking or your bread will collapse. You really want it to develop a crust before going anywhere near the oven door.
I usually bake the bread on the middle, but maybe 10 minutes before it is done, I place it on the bottom rack, so it gets evenly baked on the bottom as well. But I have a weird oven (came with the apartment, not my choice).
If you can resist the aromas at all, let the bread cool of - cover the freshly baked bread with a cloth or two (you can even "soften" the crust by placing a wet cloth on the bread) and let it rest for 10 - 15 minutes, then remove from baking tray,wrap it in cloths and let it cool off completely.
It may sound complicated, but believe me - it's not. Making your own bread is really easy, it just requires time to rise (when you can do other things or even go out). Your own actually consumed time is 15 minutes tops when mixing and kneading.
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