Off the Hook Rye Bread

Hi Everyone,

We only need to get through these two days then the weekend is here.  I have to say I have been enjoying the week.  It is gorgeous outside.  It’s gotta be in the mid 70′s here in Northern California.  They said cooler weather with a chance of rain over the weekend though!  Oh well, gives me time to do some cooking in the kitchen.  it’s going to be hard to cook when it starts to get hot out.  My Husband yells at me when I turn the oven on, when it’s above 75.

Now I know yesterday, I said I am cutting my bread back and I am, so far, none today, and I don’t plan on having any, but today’s recipe is a bread recipe.  But its a healthy bread that my Husband asked me to make.  As you can tell from the title of my post it’s Rye Bread and it’s the best dam rye bread I ever had, I’m not kidding you! Whats even more shocking is it’s healthy and my Husband loves it!!  So good…

What also surprises me is it’s my Husband favorite bread and he can’t stand wheat bread.  I think there kind of similar.   Being from Buffalo, rye bread is pretty common, but in California it’s hard to find a good rye bread.  It’s either really dense or it just doesn’t taste great.  So I decided on Sunday to make my Husband this bread as a surprise.  I even tried to make it heart shape, but that didn’t turn out so well.

I added two tablespoons of caraway seeds in the bread, but next time I think I will add three.  Other than that, that’s the only thing I would change.   I can’t wait to make grilled  cheese sandwich with the bread.  Oh and the calorie count is 104 calories a slice, but I honestly think it’s less.  I put 12 slices per loaf, but I think you can get more like 17, so that’s a big calorie difference.  Double bonus!!!

Rye Bread – Adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients:

2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast

2 cups warm water (110 degrees to 115 degrees), divided

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 tablespoon caraway seed

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 teaspoons salt

2 1/2 cups rye flour (I bought mine in the bulk dept. at Whole Foods)

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/2 cup warm water.

Add brown sugar, caraway, oil, salt and remaining water; mix well.

Stir in rye flour and 1 cup all-purpose flour; beat until smooth. Add enough remaining all-purpose flour to form a soft dough.

Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes.

Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top.

Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down; divide in half.

Shape each half into a ball; place in two greased 8-in. round cake pans.

Flatten balls to a 6-in. diameter. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 2 loafs, about : 24 slices total

Calories per slice:  104,  Fat:  .09,  Sodium:  195,  Potassium:  48,  Carbs:  22,  Fiber:  2,  Sugar:  3.1,  Protein:  2.4

NOTE:  I think you can get way more than 12 slices per loaf

After work instead of exercising, I decided to do some yard work and get my garden prepped for the spring season.  Do you have a garden?  I have a little area in my yard that I fenced off so I can have a vegetable garden.  Last year I had 5 tomato plants and they went insane.  The one plant was a Bog Boy and he grew out and up over 6′, not smart since he was in the center of my garden and totally took over.  So this year I decided on 3 tomato plants.  I’m thinking a cherry tomato, plum tomato and a beef steak.  I also plan on growing cucumbers and honey bear acorn squash and of course peppers.  I bought an Italian Pepper plant last year and it was so good, sweet and the size of a pablano pepper.  There perfect for stuffing and roasting.  I can’t wait to get my garden going.  So expect lots of vegetable recipes this summer.  Can you believe I am thinking summer?

Well I am signing off for the night.  Time to do dishes, maybe get some form of exercise in and just relax the rest of my evening.  I hope you have a wonderful Thursday!  Oh and this weekend, plan to make some fresh bread.  Make two loaves, and freeze one.  Pre-slice it before you freeze it so you can just take one out of the freezer and pop it in the toaster.  No need to de-frost.  Ok, I said my bread piece peace.  Have a great day!!!