Rye Bread and Ruby

I used Ruby (Dutch Oven) for the first time last night. I didn't have the ingredients to do exactly what I wanted, but threw some last minute ingredients together to make a yummy taco stew.

Doesn't she make carrots and onions look beautiful??

It was fun to break her in!

So, as promised (I'm sure you were all dying in anticipation) :

Rye Bread!

My Great Grandma Nor-Nor and Grandma Bloom made Rye Bread a lot. I mostly remember Grandma Bloom's. In fact, while this was baking and after taking my first few bites, I was instantly brought back to my childhood.

I. love. rye. bread.

I don't have Grandma Bloom's recipe, but my mom sent me Nor-Nor's.

(Her name was Eleanor. As much as I love the name Harper, I still have moments of regretting not using that name. From the time I was about 15, my first daughter's name was going to be Eleanor Bloom. Just a little exciting fact for ya!)

Here they are rising and getting ready to go in the oven.

Here they are right out of the oven

And with butter brushed on top:

They are a ba-zillion Rye Bread recipes out there. This one is a little on the sweet side and more mild.

 It's delicious.

Recipe

2 T. salt

1/3 c brown sugar (I added a touch more)

2 T. shortening ( I used butter)

2 pkg. yeast

4 c. white flour

4 c. rye flour

1/2 c. molasses

2 c. water

2 c. milk

Put salt, sugar, shortening in bowl. Add scalded milk and water. Cool. When lukewarm stir in yeast which has been dissolved in a little lukewarm water. Then add 4 c. white flours and about 2 c. rye flour. Stir until well blended. Add molasses and stir again until well blended. Then add 2 more cups of rye flour and enough white flour to make dough easy to handle (about 2 c.) Knead for a few minutes, then place in greased bowl. Cover with a clean towel. Let rise in warm place ( I usually turn the oven on and let them rise there) until double in bulk (about 1 1/2 hrs). As soon as light, punch down and knead for a few minutes. Add a littel more flour if necessary. Again let rise. Then make into loaves. Put in well greased pans. Cover and let rise until almost double. Bake 10 min. at 425 degrees, then 30 minutes at 375.

Making bread is something, to me, that sounded too complicated and time consuming...but if you give it a try it's really not any of those. Well, if you have a day where you'll be home because it's too cold and yucky to go anywhere that is. Another thing that drives me nuts about bread recipes is when they aren't exact on how much flour to add, but I've realized (especially after watching RJ's grandma make her rolls) that it's not that big of a deal and baking bread dough does not have to be an exact science.

I've been interested in baking our bread for a long time and am just now getting really into it. I love the process of cooking and baking. Even when something takes an hour to prepare and only 10 minutes to eat....I still love it.

Dorky, eh?

Believe me though, there are days, and days that turn into weeks, where we eat grilled cheese, mac n' cheese, pancakes, etc and I don't do much of anything. I don't do this kind of stuff everyday!

Hope you all have a great Tuesday!!