Note: This bread is at its best about an hour out of the oven. Don't slice it much before then.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup unbleached flour
- 1 cup rye flour
- 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal, preferably stoneground
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon caraway seeds
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 cups buttermilk
- 3 tablespoons unsulphured molasses
Directions
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Generously dust a large, heavy baking sheet with cornmeal and set aside.
Stir the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the buttermilk and molasses. Using a wooden spoon, blend the liquids with little strokes, then widen the strokes to mix the batter together; it will be dense and damp. Sprinkle a little flour over the dough and work it in with the back of your wooden spoon; just get it to the point where it isn't so tacky, then turn it out onto a floured surface. With floured hands, knead the dough gently for about 30 seconds. Divide the dough in half and shape the halves into fat footballs. Place them about 6 inches apart on the sheet. Make a few shallow slashes in each loaf, using a sharp, serrated knife.
Bake the loaves for 35 to 40 minutes, until the tops and bottoms are dark and crusty. The bottoms, when tapped with a finger, should sound hollow; they shouldn't seem rubbery. Transfer the loaves to a rack to cool. Store completely cooled leftovers in sealed plastic bags.
Makes 2 small free-form loaves.
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Submitted 6/13/05.
Source: Ken Haedrich's Country Baking
Submitted By: Linda Wilson
lwilson@gatecom.com
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