Danish Rye Bread for #BreadBakers

This month is my first month joining  #BreadBakers, and our host with the most, Anshie Dhar of Spice Roots decided we should make a  Rye bread containing no refined flours or sugar.  Let me tell you...this was quite the challenge!!  One of the biggest challenges was getting out of Anshie's blog once I was there.  My goodness, she has recipes influenced by cultures world wide!!!  You know that is right up  my alley and you can be sure I will be visiting Anshie's blog quite often in the future.  You should too....I am telling you it is AWESOME!

But I finally had to pull myself away, wipe the drool from my chin and come up with a rye bread that did not contain processed flour or sugar.  Now nearly every recipe for bread that I have ever used calls for at least some all purpose or bread flour and I must confess the thought of only using unrefined flours and grains made me fearful that the bread was going to be more like a brick.  But I love a challenge so I flipped through my multitudes of cookbooks, magazines and recipes stuffed into boxes.  Then I went onto the internet and I finally settled for a recipe I found on Allrecipes.com that had been submitted by KNUDR.  This recipe was done in steps and contained only 1 c. of white flour that was listed as optional.  The recipe also called for white sugar which I replaced with honey. The recipe did not say whether you should increase the rye flour if you chose not to use the white but when making it, it was apparant that you needed to add the 3rd cup rye flour and then it still did not "come together" as the recipe said.  So then I added a cup of Old Fashioned Oats, and another cup and another cup and still it did not "come together" enough to be able to knead it as the recipe instructed.  I finally remembered that when I made Swedish Dark Rye Bread  the recipe had stated that it would be wet.  So I put the bread dough onto my baking pan, loosely shaped it and let it rise.

So at least it did not run all over the pan.

And it did rise some and it will rise more as it bakes, right??

Wrong!

It came out looking like a big old oatmeal cookie.

And it tasted.....like rye bread.

So, I waffled back and forth over whether I should go with this recipe or try another.  When I joined #BreadBakers, I had no idea how challenging my first month was going to be!!  Heck, I wasn't even sure if my using Old Fashioned Oats broke the rules for this month.  But when Frank went back and cut himself a second slice, my decision was made.

It may not be the prettiest loaf of bread.  It may not be the easiest of recipes.  I will probably never make this recipe again, with it's multiple steps and days worth of prep.  But it was tasty and, more importantly, it was finished.....so I'm using it!!

You can attach to the link above to try your hand at the original recipe....perhaps the problem was me and not it....or you can find my adaptation below.  Happy Bread Baking!!

Danish Rye Bread

adapted from Allrecipes.com, submitted by KNUDR

1 c. warm water (105-115*)

1 T yeast

1 T. honey

1 c. rye flour

1 t. yeast

1 t. honey

1/2 c. warm water

1 c. rye flour

1 T. honey

1 T. kosher salt

1 c. warm water

3 c. rye flour

3 c. old fashioned oats

In large bowl, combine first 4 ingredients. Cover batter with a damp cloth and place in a warm, draft free spot.

In the evening add the next 4 ingredients. Mix and cover with a damp cloth and set aside overnight.

In the morning, mix in remaining ingredients.  It will be very wet but able to be patted into a round loaf on a baking pan.  Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise for 45 minutes.  

Bake in a preaheated 375* oven for 30 minutes or until hollow sounding when tapped.  Print Recipe

Here are what the other bakers created this month

• Tangzhong Rye Bread by Stacy at Food Lust People Love
• Sourdough Rye Bread by Ansh at Spiceroots
• Potato Onion Rye Meteil by Karen at Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Swedish Rye Bread (Limpa) by Nicole at The 2nd 35 Years
• Rye Fennel Crackers by Renee at Magnolia Days
• Caraway Rye Crackers with Reuben spread by Jenni at Pastry Chef Online
• Artisan Dark Rye Bread by Cindy at Cindy's Recipes and Writing
• Chocolate rye bread by Rocio at Kidsandchic
• Pain d'Epice by Laura at Baking in Pyjamas
• Danish Rye Bread by Wendy at A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Hapanleipä - Finnish Sour Rye Bread by Robin at A Shaggy Dough Story
• Banana Rye Muffins by Adam at Bakers and Best
• Boston Brown Bread by Holly at A Baker's House
• Rye and Whole Wheat Bread by Kelly at Passion Kneaded
• Slow Cooker Boston Brown Bread by Mireille at Chef Mireille's East West Realm