Ingredients
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup water
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup light molasses
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated orange peel
- 1 tabelspoon crushed fennel seed
- 1 tablespoon crushed anise seed
- 1 tablespoon crushed caraway seed
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 packages active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
- 2 cups light or medium rye flour
- 4 to 5 cups bread or unbleached all-purpose flour
- butter, at room temperature
Preparation
Step 1
In a medium-sized saucepan, heat the milk to scalding. Remove from the heat and add the water, butter, molasses, sugar, orange rind, fennel, anise seed, caraway seed and salt. Set aside until the mizture has cooled to 110 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, stir the yeast into the warm water. Let stand until the yeast begins to foam, about 5 minutes. Stir in the cooled milk mixture. Stir in the rye flour and beat until the mixture is very smooth. Let stand for 15 minutes.
Stir in 2 cups of the bread or all-purpose floour and beat the dough until it is smooth. Cover and let stand for 1 hour.
Stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a stiff dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and knead until smooth and satiny, about 5 minutes.
Wash the bowl, lightly grease it, then return the dough to it. Turn the dough over to lightly grease the entire dough. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place to rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
Grease two 9 1/2 by 5 1/2-inch loaf pans or 3 8-inch round cake pans.
Punch the dough down and turn it out onto a lightly oiled surface. Divide it into 2 or 3 equal parts. Shape each part into a loaf and place it in one of the pans, smooth-side up.
Let rise in a warm place until almost doubled, about 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake the loaves for 35 to 40 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
Remove the loaves from the oven and turn out of pans onto a cooling rack. Brush the tops of the loaves with butter.