This is what I saw when I looked out my front door this morning, just the kind of day that I want to spend in the kitchen.

We’ve had a couple of weeks of bone chilling cold and icy roads.
There’s just nothing to do but bake bread.

I love rye bread, and when I found this recipe on The Stay at Home Chef I immediately wanted to try it out. Thank you Rachel Farnsworth for this simple recipe. Today’s the day I try baking rye bread, and I get to use my new pullman bread pans.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups warm water
• 1 tablespoon instant dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 2 tablespoons caraway seed (optional)
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup rye flour
• 4 cups all purpose flour

Instructions:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine warm water (about 110° F), yeast, salt, caraway seeds, molasses, unsweetened cocoa powder, and the rye flour. Using the dough hook, mix on a low speed until completely combined. Use a plastic spatula keep the sides scraped clean (do this carefully).
2. Add in 3 cups of the all purpose flour and knead until combined. Continue adding flour 1/4 cup at a time until thoroughly combined and the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
3. Remove from the bowl and form into a ball. Place in a lightly greased mixing bowl (I just wash the mixer bowl and use that – no point in making more dishes).
4. Cover the dough with a towel or piece of plastic wrap and set in a warm place in your kitchen and let the dough rise for 90 minutes.
5. After 90 minutes divide the dough into two portions and shape into loaves by stretching the dough and rolling the edges underneath. Do this several times.
6. You can bake this as a rustic loaf on your pizza stone, or try out your new fancy bread pans like I did.
7. Grease and flour the pan and line the bottom with a strip of parchment paper. Place the loaf in the pan and level the top of the dough. Cover the pan with the top (pullman pans have a top so you can make sandwich loaves.) If you want to use the pizza stone for a rustic loaf, sprinkle some cornmeal on your pizza peel or cutting board and place the dough on the board. 
8. Let the loaf rise for another 40 minutes.
9. Heat your oven to 450° and heat the pizza stone. Place a shallow pan filled with water on the second shelf to provide a nice steamy oven.
10. SPECIAL TIP: Dissolve 1/4 teaspoon of cornstarch in 1/4 cup of warm water. Microwave for about 45 seconds and stir. The liquid should be clear. Brush the top of the loaf with the liquid (makes the crust nice an crispy) and cut several parallel lines across the top of the loaf.
11. Place the loaf on the pizza stone. Add water to the shallow pan to create steam. Bake for about 30 minutes or until a thermometer reads the center of the loaf at around 190-195°.
12. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. The loaf should come out of the pan easily.
13. Allow the bread to cool completely before slicing.

Let’s make toast.

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