Rye Bread

My family and especially my wife love bread.  My wife has said that the favorite thing I make is bread.  This might be her bias but I accept it and I “knead” to work on it and support her.  I had previously made a rye bread using a recipe I found from Smitten Kitchen but it has 4 plus hours of prep time.  I did not have that much time.

I googled recipes and decided to go with an Emeril recipe.  I liked this recipe but I cannot say I loved it.  I would certainly encourage people to try it, especially when you pressed for time.

Recipe
Rye Bread:

Ingredients
1 envelope (1/4-ounce) dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 egg
1 cup warm milk (about 110 degrees F)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 cup rye flour
2 1/2 cups bleached all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 large egg, beaten

Directions
Combine the yeast, sugar, melted butter, egg, and milk in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Beat on low speed for 1 minute. Add the salt, rye flour, all-purpose flour, and caraway seeds. Beat at low speed until all of the flour is incorporated, about 1 minute. Then, beat at medium speed until the mixture forms a ball, leaves the sides of the bowl and climbs up the dough hook. Remove the dough from the bowl. Using your hands, roll into a large bowl. Lightly oil a bowl and place the dough in the bowl and turn it to oil all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm, draft-free place until it doubles in size, about 1 hour.  Take the dough out of the bowl, knead it again for 5 – 10 minutes and place back in the bowl and cover for another hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and spray a baking sheet.  I wanted it to be rustic looking so I did not put it into baking pans.

Use a pastry brush to brush the egg lightly over the top of the dough. Bake until lightly brown, about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on a rack.