Ever since reading Bukowski’s Ham on Rye, I’ve had this insatiable urge to bake a rye bread. I finally got up my butt and bought a bag of rye flour. With the still lasting no-knead bread mania, there was never a moment of doubt regarding which technique I am to use. Plus, it’s been two months since my last bread recipe on this blog, which is inexcusable.

INGREDIENTS:

(Yields 1 medium loaf / 0.85 EUR)

2 cups rye flour (0.27 EUR)

1 cup whole-wheat flour (0.10 EUR)

¼ tsp active dry yeast (0.03 EUR)

1 tsp salt (0.01 EUR)

1 tbsp sugar (0.01 EUR)

3 tbsp ground flax seed (0.10 EUR)

3 tbsp pumpkin seeds (0.13 EUR)

3 tbsp sunflower seeds (0.20 EUR)

2 cups warm water (–)

METHOD:

In a large bowl, whisk together flours, yeast, salt, sugar, flax seeds, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds. Pour warm water over the mixture and stir with a spoon until mostly uniform. Be warned that this dough will be very sticky and will appear to be quite uncooperative but don’t worry. Cover the bowl with cling foil and allow it to sit in a warm room for 4-5 hours to ferment. The dough will become slightly bubbly and increase in size.

Once the dough ferments, place heavy oven-safe pot with its lid (I used cast iron) in the oven and set it all to preheat to 220°C, as you’re going to bake the bread in the pot. You’ll need about 30-40 minutes to get it all nice and toasty, so prepare the dough in the meantime. Turn the dough over on a well-floured work surface and just form it into a rough ball with a bench scraper. The dough will still be sticky and uncooperative, so don’t work yourself up by trying to fidget with it too much. Take a bowl similar in shape and size to the pot you’ll use for baking, line with parchment paper and gently transfer the dough inside for final proofing. Cover with clean kitchen towel and allow it to rest for 30-40 minutes, while the oven preheats.

Once ready to bake, carefully transfer the dough together with parchment into a preheated heavy pot, cover and bake for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes remove the lid and finish baking uncovered for another 10 minutes, so a nice crust can form. Transfer the bread on a rack to cool off completely before slicing into it.

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Od kada sam pročitala Ham on Rye od Bukowskog imam neopisivu potrebu ispaći raženi kruh. Napokon sam se i pokrenula i kupila paket raženog brašna. Sa mojom trenutnom manijom oko kruhova koji se ne mijese, uopće nije bilo upitno kakvu ću tehniku prvo isprobati. Također, prošla su već dva mjeseca od mojeg zadnjeg recepta za kruh, a to je jednostavno neoprostivo.

SASTOJCI:

(Za 1 srednju štrucu / 6,31 kn)

2 šalice raženog brašna (2,00 kn)

1 šalica integralnog brašna (0,75 kn)

¼ žličice suhog kvasca (0,25 kn)

1 žličica soli (0,01 kn)

1 žlica šećera (0,05 kn)

3 žlice mljevenih sjemenski lana (0,75 kn)

3 žlice suncokretovih sjemenki (1,00 kn)

3 žlice bučinih sjemenki (1,50 kn)

2 šalice tople vode (–)

PRIPREMA:

U velikoj zdjeli pomiješajte brašna, kvasac, sol, šećer, lan, suncokretove i bućine sjemenke. Prelijte toplom vodom i dobro promiješajte žlicom da bude jednolično. Malo upozorenje: ovo će tijesto biti poprilično ljepljivo i neće baš surađivati sa vama, ali ne brinite. Pokrijte zdjelu prijanjajućom folijom i pustite da fermentira 4-5 sati u toploj prostoriji. U tijestu će se napraviti mjehurići i ono će se napuhati.

Kada je tijesto isfermentiralo, stavite teški lonac sa poklopcem koji smije u pećnicu (ja sam uzela od lijevanog željeza), da se sve skupa zagrije na 220°C, pošto ćete u loncu peći kruh. Da se sve to dobro ugrije će vam trebati oko 30-40 minuta, pa u međuvremenu pripremite tijesto. Iskrenite tijesto na dobro pobrašnjenu radnu plohu pa ga strugalicom za tijesto oblikujte u približnu kuglu. Tijesto će i dalje biti ljepljivo i nespremno za suradnju, pa si nemojte otežavati život tako da puno oko njega petljate. Uzmite zdjelu koja je slične veličine i oblika onom loncu u kojem ćete peći kruh, obložite ju papirom za pečenje i u nju nježno preselite tijesto. Pokrijte sve čistom krpom i pustite da se tijesto još diže 30-40 minuta, dok se pećnica zagrijava.

Kada ste spremni za pečenje, pažljivo preselite tijesto skupa sa papirom za pečenje u zagrijani lonac i pecite poklopljeno 30 minuta. Nakon 30 minuta otklopite i pecite tako još 10 minuta da se uhvati lijepa korica. Preselite kruh na rešetku i pustite da se skroz ohladi prije nego ga krenete rezati.