Rye and honey

I like to experiment with different kinds of flour. There are so many grains and tastes and textures out there that it seems a pity not to experiment. However, this is often with disastrous results. For example I think I have to swear off chickpea flour. We just don’t get each other. But with rye flour it’s different. It works. I think it’s love…..

So when I bought two bags of rye flour the other day I thought I’d play with a Swedish rye bread recipe I had found. This is a great breakfast bread alone or toasted with a little butter or cream cheese. Also a good sweet bread for making open sandwiches I suspect. This recipe calls for buttermilk but plain or Greek yogurt thinned with a little milk would also work perfectly well.

Note: for this recipe I use 125gram empty yogurt pots to measure the flour. It gives a great moist yet dense loaf that stays fresh for ages

Preheat the oven to about 200 degrees. Line or grease a regular loaf tin.

This recipe is going here to try and help me win a cookbook!healty

Ingredients:

5 cups of rye flour
or 4 cups of rye four and one cup of wholewheat flour
(1 cup = 125 gr.)

2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teasp baking powder
1 teasp. salt

3 or 4 tablespoons of honey
a little hot water to mix with the honey and make it liquid
2 cups or 2 and a half of plain yogurt or buttermilk
I use buttermilk (lait fermenté) or kefir

*Sunflower seeds, flax seeds are good for the mix but totally optional
*A handful of rolled or instant oats and several tablespoons of maple syrup or honey for the topping
*A handful of raisins and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Making

Mix all the dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl mix the buttermilk or yogurt with the honey. If the honey is very solid add a little hot water to liquefy it.

Add the liquid to the dry ingredients slowly forming a round sticky dough. Add less or more buttermilk if you feel it’s too dry or to wet….

Then pour, push or pull the sticky mess into a loaf tin. No knead to need:) Sorry, couldn’t resist….
Smooth out the top and spread into the corners of your loaf tin

For the topping
At this point – scatter a generous layer of oats and some maple syrup (honey would do too) over the top before putting it in the oven so it forms a crunchy topping in cooking. This is perhaps the best part so don’t skip it.

Put in a hot oven at about 180 degrees c. for about 40 – 50 minutes…depends on your oven really. Keep an eye on it. When a knife comes out clean it’s done.