Old Milwaukee Rye Bread Recipes

MILWAUKEE RYE BREAD

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, cover peeled potatoes with water. Bring water to a boil and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and mash; let cool. In a separate sauce pan, stir the cornmeal into the 3 cups water. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Stir in salt, sugar and shortening. Let cool to lukewarm.
• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add cooled cornmeal mixture and 2 cups of the cooled mashed potatoes. Stir in the rye flour and whole wheat flour 1 cup at a time; beating well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
• Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into three equal pieces and form into loaves. Place the loaves into three lightly greased 9x5 inch loaf pans. Cover the loaves with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 70 minutes, until loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.

OLD MILWAUKEE RYE

Steps:

• Prep:.
• To make the sponge, blend all ingredients of the Sponge above and stir 25 times with a wooden spoon. Cover tightly with plastic wrap to prevent moisture loss. It will rise and fall over the course of 3 days. Stir each day. Watch and smell the magic!
• This can be used as little as 6 hours after mixing, but I went the full three days with wonderful results.
• On the day you're baking, uncover and add the water, molasses, 1 tbsp caraway, egg, salt,rye flour, and about 2 cups of the white flour. Beat until smooth, about 100 strokes and add the shortening.
• Add the remainder of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time and stir or mix by hand until the dough is somewhat sticky still.
• Kneading:.
• Turn the dough out on a floured work surface and knead by hand with a strong push, turn and fold method for 8-10 minutes. Use a dough scraper to help and add sprinkles of flour to control stickiness.
• First Rise:.
• Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with wrap again. Leave at room temp until doubled, about an hour.
• Punch down and let rise an additional 10 minutes.
• Shaping:.
• I shaped mine into 2 round loaves as I mentioned, but I'm sure this could be panned or shaped how you'd prefer.
• Second Rise:.
• Cover loaves and let them double, about 40 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375F 20 minutes before baking.
• Baking:.
• Rye loaves should be cut on top. Diagonally for long loaves, or tic tac toe for rounds, but it's up to you.
• Brush tops with the egg/milk mixture and sprinkle with the last tbsp of the caraway seeds.
• Bake for 40 minutes until they pass the thump test or until they're done by your method of testing.
• Cool on metal racks.
• Keeps for a week in a plastic bag, or you can freeze it for months!
• Enjoy!

OLD MILWAUKEE RYE BREAD RECIPE

Steps:

• SPONGE: Dissolve yeast in water. Stir in rye flour. Cover tightly. May be used any time after 6 hours up to three days. On bake day, uncover sponge, sprinkle on the new yeast and add water. Blend well. Add molasses, egg, salt, rye flour and 2 cups white flour. Beat until smooth. Add oil, stir in the balance of the flour 1/2 cup at a time. Knead for 5 minutes. Let rise 1 hour & 10 minutes. Punch down and let rise 10 minutes. Shape into 2 loaves. Let rise 40 minutes. With a razor, slash diagonal cuts on loaves. Bake at 375F for 40 minutes. Brush with butter after removing from oven.