When I go to the grocery store, bread is never on my list of items to buy. Why is that? It’s not because I don’t eat bread at all, but rather, it’s because I prefer to make my own homemade bread. Believe it or not, making bread is so much simpler than people think, and it’s actually really fun to make!
Growing up, my mom always made homemade bread using her bread machine, and because of that, I’ve never had a liking for store-bought bread. Homemade bread tastes so much better, is much fluffier and fresher, and it isn’t filled with crazy ingredients or artificial preservatives. Needless to say, store-bought bread just doesn’t stand a chance against my mom’s bread.
Fast forward a few years later, and I started to develop my love for baking. I wanted to branch out and try new breads, so I started making my own rolls or loaves without the convenient bread machine. It was definitely a lot of work, kneading the dough by hand and making sure it was the perfect texture, but thanks to the KitchenAid stand mixer I received as a gift one year, it has since gotten a lot easier, meaning that I make homemade breads all the time now!
One day as I was browsing through the baking isle at the grocery store, trying to figure out which new flour to experiment with next, I saw Bob’s Red Mill Rye Flour from the corner of my eye. I’ve always really liked rye bread, so I thought, “oh what the heck? I’ll try it out!” So sure enough, I threw it in my cart, paid for it, came home, and got straight to work making some rye bread.
The first recipe I made using my new flour was just a traditional rye bread made from my sourdough starter (that I named Herman!), and it turned out absolutely delicious. However, it was much lighter in color than other rye breads I have had in the past, so I was a little confused.. until I looked at the bag and noticed that I had purchased “light” rye flour.
Light rye flour is made from only the center part of the rye berry, so the flour stays fairly light in color. In addition, it has more of a milder flavor. On the other hand, dark rye flour is made from the outer part of the rye berry, which contains more of the coloring pigments. Sometimes, it also has molasses or cocoa powder to provide more flavor, as well as color. I was relieved to see that I hadn’t done anything wrong – I just had purchased the wrong type of flour. But nevertheless, the bread I baked with the light flour was still delicious and tasted great.
A few weeks later, I was craving a darker rye bread, but I didn’t want to purchase any more flour until I had finished up my bag of light rye flour. Therefore, I decided to add a little molasses to the mixture to give it a darker color and also a bit more sweetness. The result was this recipe for honey molasses rye bread, and my mom told me that this is one of her favorite breads to date that I have made!
The beauty about this recipe is that it doesn’t take long at all to prepare, and it doesn’t have to rise long, either. Some recipes make you wait hours and hours until the bread rises, but not this one! Nope, just wait an hour, punch it down, shape it into rolls, and then wait another 45-50 minutes, and it’s ready to be baked!
I shaped my dough into two loaves, however it could easily be made into 4, or even smaller dinner rolls or sandwich buns.
After the breads came out of the oven, they smelled so good that I immediately wanted to slice into them and try a piece! But instead, I patiently waited 15 minutes to let them cool down enough to cut them without tearing the loaf apart.
After slicing up the first loaf, I let the second loaf cool completely, wrapped it up tightly, and stuck it in the freezer to pull out when I needed it. This way it would be nice and fresh and wouldn’t lose any of it’s flavor or go stale without my family being able to eat it.
As for that first loaf that we did slice up? Well, it was gone within a matter of a day and a half. It was so fresh and flavorful and was perfect for sandwiches, toast, and just on its own spread with some homemade hummus.
Even though I love trying new recipes for breads all the time, this is one recipe that I can confidently say I’ll be making many more times in the future!
- 3 TBSP honey
- 3 TBSP molasses
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 TBSP butter
- 1 cup boiling water
- 4 ½ tsp. active dry yeast
- ¾ cup warm water
- 2 cups rye flour
- 3 ½ - 4 cups all-purpose flour
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the yeast and ¾ cup warm (not hot) water. Stir to combine, and then let sit for 5 minutes, or until dissolved.
- Boil some water, and then pour 1 cup boiling water into a bowl with the honey, molasses, salt, and butter.
- Stir until honey/molasses dissolve and butter is melted, about 4-5 minutes. Let cool slightly.
- Add the honey/molasses mixture to the bowl with the yeast/water mixture and then add 2 cups rye flour.
- Use the mixer with the dough hook to knead for about one minute.
- Add 1 cup flour, mix, add another cup, mix, and then add remaining 1 ½ cups flour.
- If mixture is too sticky, add additional flour. Continue to knead for 2-3 minutes, until the dough is elastic and springs back when touched.
- Flour a surface, pour the dough onto the surface, and then knead by hand for 1-2 minutes.
- Oil a bowl and place the dough ball into the bowl. Cover with a cloth and let sit in a warm place for 1 hour.
- After one hour, punch down the dough, knead it a few times, and then divide it into two loaves.
- Grease a cookie sheet with oil and place the two loaves on the sheet. Let sit in a warm place for 45-60 minutes.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 F.
- Bake for 25-35 minutes, ot until bread is browned. Let cool for 10-15 minutes before slicing.
