Marble Rye Bread

Well it has been a little while since I have posted on here. You would think getting laid off would give me more time to update my blog, but alas, it turns out I am kind of lazy and have mostly been laying on the couch for the past week. I figured after the stress of my last job, I deserved a bit of time off from the real world before I dug back in. Now its time to start getting some stuff done around the apartment, and oh yeah, time to start finding a real job.

I will however, be making my foray into the restaurant world in a few weeks...as a hostess at a swanky new bar that is opening up downtown on Michigan Avenue. I have never done any hosting/server/waitressing before so needless to say, this should be interesting. In my free time I plan on working on my portfolio, looking for a 'big girl' job, cooking, and working on my blog and photography. I am actually quite excited at this break from the real world for a little while, although I am sure that will wear off once I realize I am broke.

A few weeks ago I dove a little deeper into my bread making adventures, and figured this would be a good first post, as an unemployed food blogger. It was cheap, easy, and makes for great freezer food. This marble rye bread is great for sandwiches, toast, or cubed and toasted for croutons. Although it may look a little complicated, it was actually quite simple, not to mention forgiving when I was pinched for time.

Marble Rye Bread

Adapted from A Bread A Day (adapted from Peter Reinhart's A Bread Baker's Apprentice)

My notes in Green

Makes 2 Loaves

Light Rye Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups Rye Flour

3 Cups unbleached Bread Flour (Or 3 cups minus 3 tablespoons all purpose flour, plus 3 tablespoons vital wheat gluten)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 3/4 teaspoons instant yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons caraway seeds

1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons room temperature water

1 tablespoon molasses

2 tablespoons olive oil

Dark Rye Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups Rye Flour

3 Cups unbleached Bread Flour (Or 3 cups minus 3 tablespoons all purpose flour, plus 3 tablespoons vital wheat gluten)

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 3/4 teaspoons instant yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons caraway seeds

1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons room temperature water

1 tablespoon molasses

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons cocoa powder dissolved in 2 tablespoons water

The recipe calls for making and kneading the dough in a stand mixer, but since I do not have one, I usually start my dough in a food processor with the dough blade, and finish it on the counter, kneading it by hand.

For the light rye:

Combine the flours, salt, yeast, and caraway seeds in the bowl of the food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Add the water, molasses, and olive oil. Pulse until wet ingredients are incorporated, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Turn out dough onto flour surface (the dough will probably be pretty shaggy and falling apart at this point) and knead until it forms a cohesive, elastic ball - about 8-10 minutes.

Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

For the dark rye:

Repeat same steps as the light rye, this time adding in the cocoa power with the rest of the wet ingredients. Place dough in a second oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

Let the doughs rise until doubled in size, about 90 minutes.

Working with one of the doughs at a time, turn out onto floured surface and press gently to deflate. Divide each dough into 4 equal pieces. Gently shape each piece into a ball and flatten slightly. Cover each piece with plastic wrap and let sit for 15-20 minutes.

Working with once piece of dough at a time, keeping the others covered in plastic wrap, roll out dough on a floured surface into a oval shape (about 5 x 8 inches). Repeat with remaining dough pieces and stack them, alternating light and dark, into two stacks of four layers.

Roll each stack up, jelly roll style, tightly pressing the dough together as you go. Place each roll into a lined loaf pan (I used small sil-pats in my loaf pans, but you can use parchment paper as well) seam side down so it doesn't come undone.

You can also place the dough onto lined baking sheets for a more rustic look. Cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap and let rise for 60-90 minutes until nearly doubled in size.

At this point I had a concert to go to (I got started on this project a little late in the day) so instead of letting the dough rise at room temperature, I let is rise for a few hours in the fridge and let then come to room temp before baking them off. They still turned out just fine.

Bake at 350 degrees on the middle rack for 40-45 minutes until deep golden brown. Let the bread cool for at least 1-2 hours before slicing.

I highly recommend making panini sandwiches with this bread, heavy on the Dijon mustard. Luckily my boyfriend doesn't like rye bread, so I have two loaves all to myself. Okay...there is only one loaf left. Enjoy!