Food & Drink

SWE-Dishes: Swedish Freak’s Rye Bread

This homemade rye bread from Swedish Freak has a soft center with crisp edges and the perfect hint of sweetness to complement the rye.

It’s a lengthy process, but well worth it, so be sure you plan enough time to bake this yummy goodness.

Ingredients

• 3/4 oz. (21 g) active dry yeast
• 1/4 c. warm water
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/4 c. mild-flavored molasses
• 1 tbsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. Crisco (or other shortening)
• 1 1/2 c. very hot water
• 2 1/2 heaping cups of rye flour
• 2 tbsp. finely chopped orange peel (or mandarin orange, tangerine)
• 4 c. all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Mix the yeast and warm water together in a small cup or bowl.
2. Separately, mix the salt, molasses, shortening and sugar in a larger bowl.
3. Add hot water to the mixture in Step 2 and mix.
4. Add rye flour to the mixture in Steps 2 and 3 and stir vigorously.
5. Mix the yeast and aforementioned mixture together, adding the orange peel.
6. Stir in the all-purpose flour. (Note: 4 cups is optimal for my purposes and turned out perfect. More or less can be added according to taste.)
7. Make sure the flour is well mixed; knead bread dough for 15 minutes.
8. Grease another bowl with butter or shortening (or Pam) and place dough in the bowl.
9. Let the dough rise, covered, for 2 hours.
10. After 2 hours, split the dough into two balls.
11. Cover the loaves and let them rise for 2 more hours.
12. Pour a small amount of melted butter over the tops of each loaf.
13. Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 30 minutes.

This recipe produces two round 8-inch loaves.

Hilary St. Johnn founded SwedishFreak.com in 2010 when she moved to northern Sweden and fell in love with the country. She continues to write from sunny Phoenix, Ariz., bringing Swedish awesomeness to whatever she can.  When she isn’t writing for Swedish Freak, she works on her blog HilarysHome.com and is the caretaker of four furry ferrets and one less-furry husband.